Leonard Fournette

[D4KADON]

It’s time this front office admit they’ve made a mistake at this position. To help pollard, they have to bring in someone else to take some of the load. Fournette imo makes the most sense. I don’t know how they can continue without addressing this

 

[John813]

Got to poach him off the Bills Practice squad

 

[stiletto]

How does any running back fix an OL that doesn't create holes?

 

[Cowboysheelsreds058]

I thought that trip to the bills was cancelled. Ron Jones still out there.

 

[The Quest for Six]

How does any running back fix a OL that doesn't create holes?

100% correct, I don't know what some of these fans are watching, DT's are in the backfield on the handoff, where is Pollard suppose to run if the DT is in his face and when the DT's aren't in the backfield, there are NO HOLES for the backs to run too...

 

[Chuck 54]

It’s time this front office admit they’ve made a mistake at this position. To help pollard, they have to bring in someone else to take some of the load. Fournette imo makes the most sense. I don’t know how they can continue without addressing this

I don’t understand why Dowdle isn’t getting more carries. Like every game, he’s running hard with power and wiggle and getting more than what’s there. On two carries with very little blocking, he ran for 3 and 5. I’m not sure why we aren’t running him behind Loepke and between the Smiths in short yardage.

 

[big dog cowboy]

He is DONE.

 

[Chuck 54]

100% correct, I don't know what some of these fans are watching, DT's are in the backfield on the handoff, where is Pollard suppose to run if the DT is in his face and when the DT's aren't in the backfield, there are NO HOLES for the backs to run too...

Agreed. To be honest, even when we have our five best linemen on the field, against a good defense, most of what we generate on offense is off-script. The OL cannot block the men in front of them to get on a block at the second level. The pass game has to go to the short game because by the time a receiver gets to a deeper route, the QB is already dodging the rush. Zack Martin is still above average, but his age is showing here and there. Tyron is still stout when healthy but has lost some of his quickness. Biadasz has gotten stronger, but he cannot handle the best DTs when he’s on his own and he struggles with the handoff blocks resulting from stunts. Steele is clearly not back to what he was last season. He was an above average RT, decent at pass pro, but stellar at run blocking. Now he’s below average at both.

I don’t care what anyone says about the defense, the QB, the receivers, the RB, the coaching. The bottom line is you cannot win enough to succeed in the playoffs without a solid OL. Burrows failed with Mixon, Chase and Higgins the year his OL was bad. They rebuilt it in one year through FA and the draft. Mahommes couldn’t work his magic with Kelsey, Edward’s-Hillair, Tyreek Hill and several others the postseason when his OTs were bad. They had two new OTs the next season.

Fans have lamented the lack of depth on our OL for several years now, but nothing significant ever changes. OL depth shouldn’t just be some old has been LT as an emergency guy, which is how we’ve operated for years. OL depth is about drafting or signing free agents who not only provide depth, but also are developed to become future starters.

Think about it….Tyron has been falling apart for years. We never brought in his replacement until last year, and that guy is playing LG because we let Connor Williams and Connor McGregor both walk without ever bringing in their replacements. When Steele went down last year, who was his replacement? No one until our LT was healthy again and we moved him there. Who is prepared to step in and be Zack Martins replacement?

What good does it do to put so much money in your QB, RB, and receivers if your OL can’t get the job done against the best teams. We have a pretty decent defense, but we cannot win against the better teams expecting the defense to win because we also have neglected the DT position and the LB position. If we had one power DT frontlines who can push the pocket back and demand double teams, our DEs would thrive, but we also need LB help.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

Pollard was doing great when Zeke was taking the heat and getting the dirty inside carries.

Then Zeke was released, Pollard become the lead back, and has been doing no better than Zeke.

Zeke cleared waivers, could have been signed for cheap and let Pollard continue to do great. Zeke didn't have to be the lead back, he could have split carries with Pollard and helped wear down the defense, as well as keep teams off balance, defensively.

But noooooo, folks wanted Pollard, Pollard and more Pollard. So here we are 15th in the league in rushing. Pollards' ypc is no better than Zeke's last year.
Big whoop.

Even if Zeke was "washed up", there were other backs available. Fournette? Personally, I don't think Fournette is at this point any better than Zeke, but for the sake of argument let's say he is, where is he now? Not on the Cowboys. What about some undrafted 2023 college player? Are you telling me every single back with a modicum of skills was drafted?

You see, whether it be Pollard's fault, the line's fault, Dak's fault, McCarthy's fault, it still comes back to one person - Jerry Jones, our so-called general manager.

So gripe all you want, argue all you want, ain't gonna make a single bit of difference until Jerry is not running things....

 

[nhcowboysfan]

I believe the larger problem has little to do with our current lineman but rather our blocking scheme. We didn't have these issues last year with Joe Philbin as the OL coach. He was replaced this year with Mike Solari and I believe that his blocking scheme for lack of a better wordk - sucks! As for the comment pertaining to why Dowdle doesn't get more carries, that one is easy. In this organization, your playing time is directly related to your percentage of the salary cap - not your performance. If Dowdle averaged 5.5 yards a carry to Pollard's 3 yards a carry, Pollard gets the lion's share of carries because he costs the Jones cartel $10 million for this season while Dowdle probably earns 1/10th of that. The player is a financial asset on a balance sheet first, a productive player on the field second.

 

[WhizKid]

Problems with the running game:
a) Line cannot get push and create lanes.
b) Coaching staff insists on running Pollard up the middle over and over again, instead of catering to his strengths, getting him in space and running a bunch of plays to the outside. Could get the defense pulling hard to run side on play actions.

Dowdle deserves more carries since the staff lacks the creativity to utilize Pollard's skillset. Might as well play the guy who does fit what you want to do.