Mazi Smith slow off the snap

[ColoradoCowboy]

I’m sayin if you watch he’s just the last guy of all 11 to move. Probably a good 2-3 seconds after everyone else

Do you realize how long "2-3 seconds" is? Last year, I remember seeing a stat mid-season or so that said Dak's average time from the snap to the throw was 2.1 seconds. So if Hurts is about the same, your claim is that on almost every play, Mazi is still in his stance with a hand on the ground when Hurts throws the ball.

I'm not saying that he is swift off the snap or anything like that, but I AM saying that you are ridiculously exaggerating the issue.

Edit:

Found some stats from BEFORE the game yesterday. Hurts was the second slowest in the NFL at "Time to Release" with an average of 3.23 seconds. Unless you can produce a clip showing Mazi with his hand still on the ground when the ball is thrown or the RB hits the LOS, my point stands.
https://www.si.com/nfl/eagles/news/philadelphia-eagles-jalen-hurts-speed-up-delivery-nick-sirianni

 

[plasticman]

Is there the possibility that Quinn plays a type of "flex" for potential running plays?

This requires one of the DTs to hold the line rather than make an aggressive move forward until he can confirm it is a pass play.

Generally speaking, all rookies should get a pass their first season. There are individual players, certain positions, and coaching styles that require more training and more time to develop. In all fairness, opinions should be withheld until about halfway through his 2nd season.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Do you realize how long "2-3 seconds" is? Last year, I remember seeing a stat mid-season or so that said Dak's average time from the snap to the throw was 2.1 seconds. So if Hurts is about the same, your claim is that on almost every play, Mazi is still in his stance with a hand on the ground when Hurts throws the ball.

I'm not saying that he is swift off the snap or anything like that, but I AM saying that you are ridiculously exaggerating the issue.

Edit:

Found some stats from BEFORE the game yesterday. Hurts was the second slowest in the NFL at "Time to Release" with an average of 3.23 seconds. Unless you can produce a clip showing Mazi with his hand still on the ground when the ball is thrown or the RB hits the LOS, my point stands.
https://www.si.com/nfl/eagles/news/philadelphia-eagles-jalen-hurts-speed-up-delivery-nick-sirianni

I wouldn’t be shocked to hear he’s still got his hand In The ground Today as I type this

 

[Blast From The Past]

That's the thing, he never looked good in college. In 2 years starting at Michigan, he had 6 TFLs and 0.5 sacks.

Then why did we draft him? On potential?

 

[DUO_CORE]

Mazi should play guard. We'd never have to worry about a false start.

 

[Sydla]

When you watch Smith, there are things he does well and things he doesn't. Right now he is pretty good at overpowering interior guys in pass sets. He moves the pocket, but doesnt really have a pass rush plan to finish. As a run defender, getting of line quickly has been a noticeable negative. He actually hasnt played much 1T this year, but he did last night it was noticeable. Before when lining up at 3T it was like "ya he is kind of slow of the snap", but at 1T it was like "wow, yes he is". Most likely he will be playing 1T the rest of the regular season, so we will get alot of looks to see if there is any improvement

If anything, we are going to get a good long look at him as we head into the offseason. You wonder how much longer Hankins wants to play. Will they need to find another NT starter type or will they see enough from Mazi over the last month to think he can be the guy next year?

 

[vlad]

Even with Hankins, I still don't trust this defense to be able to stop the run consistently. Bell's too small, and Clark is not good enough.

So the Cowboys better still find ways to get a lead in these games, so that the opposing offense runs less and passes more. Else, in a tight game in the 4th quarter, I fear this team will just get pounded up the middle...and then they can't pressure like they want to.

The stripped fumbles were resourceful, but they call came after big plays by the Iggles. The Cowboys still give up a lot of yards. So they BETTER get turnovers, or just hold them to FGs. They did both tonight, and it was great.

But ultimately, the defense will have to be better...and in the next 2 games, on the road, against two fairly explosive offenses, we're going to find out just how good this defense can be. Quinn's philosophies will be put to the test over the next 2 weeks, and then a fairly hungry (and physical) Lions team will be coming to Dallas.

It's going to be 3 good tests for this defense, and I look forward to seeing it...to see where this defense stands at the end of December.

1 test down, 3 to go.

Go Cowboys!

completely agree

 

[Blackspider214]

Another Michigan bust. Add in the 2nd round spare TE we drafted and this 2023 draft was a huge waste. No idea what their fascination is with Michigan. Watching them, I would want nothing to do with most of their players. They play in the slow as molsses, farmboy Big 10. Where you can look much better than you really are on a weekly basis.

 

[dogunwo]

They will never draft another DT high again like most of you were crying about lol

 

[KingintheNorth]

When you are the strongest and probably most powerful player on the field, and you choose not be strong and powerful, there's something wrong. The knock on him was that he doesn't love football.

Stop ignoring obvious red flags.

Trysten Hill.

Kelvin Joseph.

Mazi Smith.

This team has made HUGE strides in improving their drafting. Unfortunately for Cowboys fans, Jerry stil involves himself too much.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

Mazi just doesn’t have it. Taco should more potential as a rookie than this dud.

I actually think I agree with you here. I've seen enough to say that Mazi just probably isn't going to become an awesome player.

Good players & players with actual potential don't need to be coached on how to get off the ball on time by the 14th game of the season. It isn't exactly a highly technical skill or even require a huge level of athleticism. He is so slow it is almost comical. In fact, I don't think I've ever even seen anything quite like it in pro football from such a highly touted prospect.

I sure hope all he needs is another NFL offseason to build on.

 

[EPL0c0]

I wanna see what he can do now that the weight will be on his shoulders.

The slow off the snap thing is odd. We saw clips of it earlier this year but ultimately it worked out OK on those plays.

I'm curious if it's deliberate on his part or if he's really just late. We'll see.

 

[HungryLion]

It won’t ever get fixed. His college tape is horrible, never shoulda been drafted in round 1

He was first team all Big Ten in his last season at Michigan.

Is that because his play was horrible or you just didn’t watch and/or don’t know what you were watching.

 

[KJJ]

I actually think I agree with you here. I've seen enough to say that Mazi just probably isn't going to become an awesome player.

Good players & players with actual potential don't need to be coached on how to get off the ball on time. It isn't exactly a highly technical skill or even require a huge level of athleticism. He is so slow it is almost comical. In fact, I don't think I've ever even seen anything quite like it in pro football from such a highly touted prospect.

You see flashes from players that are destined for greatness, right from the start of their first training camp. Even good, solid player shows something as rookies. We saw a lot of flashes last season from Bland. You could tell as a rookie he was going to be a real good player. Ferguson showed flashes as a rookie and he starting to look like a real beast. The best players the Cowboys have drafted showed something as rookies and they continued to improve every year. The high picks we drafted that went bust were disappointments as rookies. We could all see that Bobby Carpenter and Taco were never going to be a great players right from the start. They both ended up not being any good. It’s been the same thing with Mazi, he hasn’t look good from day one. I’m just hoping that somehow he becomes at least serviceable, but it’s obvious to me and others that he will not see a second contract with the Cowboys. It won’t be long before we’re looking for another DT.

 

[darthseinfeld]

If anything, we are going to get a good long look at him as we head into the offseason. You wonder how much longer Hankins wants to play. Will they need to find another NT starter type or will they see enough from Mazi over the last month to think he can be the guy next year?

Im curious as to what the actual plan is for him. Judging by how he has been used, it seems they want to develop him into a power rusher like Hankins was early in his career. Its one of the reasons why Im interested in Sweat from Texas

 

[pancakeman]

I’m sayin if you watch he’s just the last guy of all 11 to move. Probably a good 2-3 seconds after everyone else

2-3 seconds?!?!

 

[1942willys]

2-3 seconds?!?!

It is noticeable if not that bad.

 

[charron]

Here's the sad thing about the draft.

Players late in round 1 are drafted for size, strength, agility and not for ability or technique fairly often. Mazi, trysten, taco are all drafted for being physically gifted with the hopes they could learn the technique to succeed. These guys often underachieve and rarely live up to the hype. The hope should be Mazi is servicable and don't expect him to be Micah. Macah is crazy and wasn't even drafted to Play along the DL, that was a very small after thought of him maybe contributing there because he was a smaller guy compared to what they look for at DE.

 

[Captain43Crash]

How can he be consistently slow off the ball, unless his reaction time is slow?

This should have been fixed in Pee We football, unless he has extremely slow reaction time.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

You see flashes from players that are destined for greatness, right from the start of their first training camp. Even good, solid player shows something as rookies.

I 100% agree here. It doesn't need to be consistently great play, but a young player that has what it takes to make it in the NFL should be showing that they can make a few plays at all.

There are very few instances where a player lays a total egg like Mazi has this year and they magically turn into a good player in years 2 and 3.