Lets talk about the (1-4) Lions

[MountaineerCowboy]

Whoa there Kimo-sabe... Did you see those PFF rankings for our guys Sunday night.. The only one ranked in the top 10 at his position was Steele at 9 .. Martin was 11th.. McGovern was 33 and Smith was 34. Biadasz was 22. I have a hard time believing they're ranked top 10 let alone top 5 at this point.. Where are you seeing that rating?

Dak is back.

The O-Line is bad again, guys.

 

[nate dizzle]

Dak is back.

The O-Line is bad again, guys.

Dusting off the old book of excuses in preparation.

 

[charron]

It comes down to how rusty is dak. He was pretty aweful in game 1. Then he's not really done much throwing till this week. It's a much more favorable matchup so there's a chance he can have a bad game and they still pullout a victory.

 

[RonnieT24]

We rank 3rd in sacks given up in the passing game, 4th in getting stuffed in the run game, 2nd in power success (Percentage of runs on third or fourth down, two yards or less to go, that achieved a first down or touchdown. Also includes runs on first-and-goal or second-and-goal from the two-yard line or closer.) And 8th in Adjusted Line Yards. This according to Football Outsiders.

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/nfl/basic-offensive-line

Fox sports has them at 5th.

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/nfl-offensive-line-rankings-eagles-chiefs-lead-the-top-five

I mean I may be off by a spot or two but there's really no arguing they are one of the top offensive lines in the league.

Wow.. thanks for the sources.. All I can say is that if our unit ranks that highly the rest of the link really stinks. I do have to mention though that were it not for Zeke and Pollard's ability to make something out nothing their stuff rate would be a lot higher. Our guys are breaking tackles in the backfield way more than any of us would like to see.

 

[RonnieT24]

they are playing well as Group though. better than most weve faced this year OL seems to be killing teams like GB, Cinci, bucs, and LAR etc even NYG had issues with our DL, Eagles are only top OL we have faced,

so when i see our OL as group its nice group..IDC about rankings.

Yeah I guess they're doing okay.. which in today's NFL is apparently better than most.. It's just that the number of times Zeke and Pollard have to fight their way out of the backfield colors my perception of how our line is playing. But I should never forget that in a lot of instances the guy breaking into the backfield and blowing up our play is left completely unblocked by design. So even though the play gets blown up all five of the guys up front could be graded as having done their job. Apparently expecting opposing DE's to be stupid is built into our blocking schemes.

 

[nate dizzle]

Wow.. thanks for the sources.. All I can say is that if our unit ranks that highly the rest of the link really stinks. I do have to mention though that were it not for Zeke and Pollard's ability to make something out nothing their stuff rate would be a lot higher. Our guys are breaking tackles in the backfield way more than any of us would like to see.

Who knows. Stats can always be deceiving. ESPN says our line has the worst pass blocking win rate in the NFL, but if that was accurate, you would think we would have given up a bunch of sacks to teams like the Commies and Eagles that are 4th and 5th in sacks, but we only gave up 1 in both of those games combined. The only team that we struggled with was LA and that was all Aaron Donald beating up our rookie LT, and he's just, well he's Aaron Donald. The Ramsey sack was on Pollard so...

 

[nate dizzle]

Yeah I guess they're doing okay.. which in today's NFL is apparently better than most.. It's just that the number of times Zeke and Pollard have to fight their way out of the backfield colors my perception of how our line is playing. But I should never forget that in a lot of instances the guy breaking into the backfield and blowing up our play is left completely unblocked by design. So even though the play gets blown up all five of the guys up front could be graded as having done their job. Apparently expecting opposing DE's to be stupid is built into our blocking schemes.

I think you see a lot of that due to us constantly handing off out of shotgun, which is so SO stupid.

 

[thunderpimp91]

Who knows. Stats can always be deceiving. ESPN says our line has the worst pass blocking win rate in the NFL, but if that was accurate, you would think we would have given up a bunch of sacks to teams like the Commies and Eagles that are 4th and 5th in sacks, but we only gave up 1 in both of those games combined. The only team that we struggled with was LA and that was all Aaron Donald beating up our rookie LT, and he's just, well he's Aaron Donald. The Ramsey sack was on Pollard so...

This is one of the advantages of Rush over Dak. The offense under Rush was quick reads and get the ball out. The Cowboys really picked their spots on when to dial up the longer developing plays. Dak will make more big plays, but that also means holding onto the ball for longer periods of time so that pass block win rate becomes a much bigger issue. Not saying it is right or wrong, it's simply philosophy and using different players to their strengths, but there is a reason this Oline got blasted week 1, and looked like a different unit in Cincinnati.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

lions defense gives up a crap load of pts and yrds.

Yes but let’s hope it is not a shoot out like the egirls game against them.

 

[Coogiguy03]

Dak's the one that's been talking cocky.

Saying once the offense is healthy (meaning him) that they're going to roll.

He needs to back it up now.

Back it up severely! Don't go up and score a lot on the lions, go against the Vikings and Packers and score a combined 20pts

 

[Coogiguy03]

Lions rank 29th in rush defense and are in the middle of the pack on pass defense. Seems like a pretty easy game plan.

Bears rank 31st in rush defense.

Seems to me a pretty clear path to follow and allow Prescott to ease into it and not have to show off much. Of course, we never know what marching orders McC and Moore will be given.

You know us, all it takes is one of their guys to disrupt the run game all game long who we can't block, and that's it time to pass it all game

 

[Coogiguy03]

When I watch the Lions the thing that jumps out about them is those two backs run their tails off. Jared Goff is .. well Jared Goff.. if you give him time he can light you up but he's got to be one of the worst QBs when pressured that I've seen in the past 20 years. He's almost as bad as.. dare I say it? Carson Wentz..

Oh and on defense.. they are just putrid. Our offense should be ashamed if they don't hang 40 on that bunch.

If they have a decent corner in their deck secondary, he will play lights out all game

 

[Smith22]

Why wouldn't I?

It's one of the worst defenses in the NFL and the man is back at QB.

It's 35 points or bust.

A win only scoring 20ish was criticized with Rush. It will be coitized with Dak also.

We have a QB returning who hasn't played football in about 6 weeks, and until recently wasn't even throwing a football.

35 or bust? Comical.

 

[Risen Star]

Coming off of a bye after getting shut out.

Prescott back.

I lean Lions.

 

[RonnieT24]

I think you see a lot of that due to us constantly handing off out of shotgun, which is so SO stupid.

Almost inexplicably, both Zeke and Pollard have much higher ypc out of shotgun than they do under center. Zeke is 5.1 to 3.7 and Pollard 6.1 to 5.1. Zeke is skewed down by the number of short yardage totes he gets but we have run it surprisingly well out of shogun. Though I suspect those numbers are skewed by one or two big runs and some cheap yardage in the two minute just before half. I'll have to look to see if I can find that later.

 

[cowboyec]

Yes but let’s hope it is not a shoot out like the egirls game against them.

i doubt that happens vs this defense.

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

We have a QB returning who hasn't played football in about 6 weeks, and until recently wasn't even throwing a football.

35 or bust? Comical.

You're using the "rust" excuse and on another thread I saw the "but the O-line isn't that good" one being thrown around.

Talk about comical.

 

[Ranching]

....regardless, the record. Goff and Co aren't going to lay down.

I expect a good game. Of course, all eyes will be on Dak.

This could be his breakout of funk game.

We're 4-2 with a backup QB....what funk are you talking about? We're lucky to be where we're at.

 

[Smith22]

You're using the "rust" excuse and on another thread I saw the "but the O-line isn't that good" one being thrown around.

Talk about comical.

Nope. Just stating facts. But carry on.

 

[RonnieT24]

We're 4-2 with a backup QB....what funk are you talking about? We're lucky to be where we're at.

I think he was referring to Dak's funk.. He has looked terrible the last two times we saw him.. But according to the folks on the dallascowboys.com podcasts he was razor sharp during his pre-pregame workout Sunday. I expect him to maybe start out off-target a bit until the adrenaline wears off after which I expect him to absolutely strafe the Lions. But not 400 yards and 4 TDs.. I'm talking about 250 yards, 2 TDs, no mistakes and let the running game and defense control things.