McClay (2017) on Rico in practice - "We can't stop him" against 1st teamers **merged**

[dallasdave]

During DallasCowboys.Com Cowboys Break, Steve Eatman asked Will McClay about Rico Gathers and everything sounds very promising. McClay even went on to say, “We can’t stop him”. And Rico/Romo were going against 1st teamers in byron jones, church and heath.

So his passcatching was called "unstoppable" against 1st teamers, but yet there are people who claim Rico is nothing special? That was in 2017, so people seriously now think he 'forgot' how to be unstoppable???

https://thesportsdaily.com/2017/05/03/will-mcclay-on-rico-gathers-we-cant-stop-him/

furthermore, Broaddus said during an episode of The Draft Show this week. “I will say this. I had people come up to me and say, cause I was always curious about Rico [Gathers], I had people come up to me and say ‘You ought-of seen what [Tony] Romo did with him today, ... Cause Romo was with him on scout team. And Romo just kept throwing him the ball because he was so much bigger. He was battling [Barry] Church, he’s battling [Byron] Jones, he’s battling [J.J.] Wilcox and [Jeff] Heath. The kid just kept making plays. The problem is not the athletic ability, it’s the mental side…he just hasn’t played football”

here is a video of a Mcclay gushing about Rico.

Nice post Putty, Rico is going to shine this year.

 

[waldoputty]

Dez Bryant has turned down contracts from 3 different teams at this point. So apparently somebody likes him

not at a price he wants.
he is still a decent wr but apparently not the amazing wr that wins the jump balls regularly

 

[eromeopolk]

I hope it is all a smoke screen to not have teams prepare for what Rico could do at TE for a QB. If your opponent does not respect a position on the field they usually put emphasis somewhere else. Defenses will naturally put a man in the box to stop Zeke. Then lean coverage to T Will or Beasley. So play action with a talent like Rico would be big play after big play and open up so much of the passing game. That is what Witten gave the Cowboys all of his HOF career. People forget that Witten came out of college running 4.6 40yd times at 6-5-250. Rico is 45 pounds heavier and ran a 4.66 and a 35 inch vertical jump at the Baylor pro day. If the Cowboys coaching staff can not make a former Mr. Louisiana Basketball player a TE it is their shame. However we all know how they were dead wrong at developing Martellus Bennett.

 

[waldoputty]

Nice post Putty, Rico is going to shine this year.

hopefully not for someone else.

 

[eromeopolk]

I hope it is all a smoke screen to not have teams prepare for what Rico could do at TE for a QB. If your opponent does not respect a position on the field they usually put emphasis somewhere else. Defenses will naturally put a man in the box to stop Zeke. Then lean coverage to T Will or Beasley. So play action with a talent like Rico would be big play after big play and open up so much of the passing game. That is what Witten gave the Cowboys all of his HOF career. People forget that Witten came out of college running 4.6 40yd times at 6-5-250. Rico is 45 pounds heavier and ran a 4.66 and a 35 inch vertical jump at the Baylor pro day. If the Cowboys coaching staff can not make a former Mr. Louisiana Basketball player a TE it is their shame. However we all know how they were dead wrong at developing Martellus Bennett.

 

[dallasdave]

I tried sending you a PM toots and your mail box is full again.

Toots? That's not going to go over well with Putty
Instead that's keep this thread on trac with how Rico is going to help the Cowboys win the Super Bowl this year.
Rico will be a monster in the Red Zone and move the chains the rest of the way down the field. Go Rico Go.

PS and you too "Toots"

 

[dallasdave]

hopefully not for someone else.

No Putty, Jerry and Steve will make sure Rico stays on the team and will be a wise move indeed.

 

[gimmesix]

r u saying dak cannot throw a fade at all
i think i have seen him get td's on those to dez
the dez fade was less of a threat with dak, but was that due to dez's decline?

No, this isn't about Dak's ability or lack of ability to throw the fade. Remember that the fade wasn't particularly Romo's favorite pass because he wasn't really great at it.

I think Romo's words about Dez better reflect what I'm saying:

“But Dez’s rare trait was over his head. I’ve never really seen another guy, maybe Calvin Johnson, but I’ve never really seen a guy be able to do the things he does. He still has that capability. Dez is never actually covered even when he’s covered. That’s a rare trait. If he was singled up, if you could put the ball in a certain spot he could always get it. There’s not really another guy that I ever played with who could do that. It kind of simplifies the offense a little bit in a sense. If Dez was kind of by himself, you’d just throw 15-20 yards, above his head 3 yards and however you want to guard him it doesn’t matter. You can’t go get that ball, he can. I worked hard with him at that because that throw requires timing, precision. You gotta throw it hard.“

As Romo said, throwing that pass takes timing and precision, but it also takes a belief that your guy is going to get that ball and not let the DB win it. With Rico, the same holds true. You've got to put it up there and let him win it.

Dak is more cautious/calculating about his 50/50 throws. He wants to put them where only the receiver can win them. (He doesn't always hit that target, but that's what he wants.) When you do that, you make it a more difficult catch for a receiver or tight end who can win a well-placed jump ball.

This isn't saying Romo was just throwing the ball up for grabs. He understood where he needed to put it for his receiver to win it. Dak doesn't like taking the chance that the receiver won't win it because of the risk of it turning into an interception. These are different approaches by the QBs that both have merits and detractions.

 

[waldoputty]

I hope it is all a smoke screen to not have teams prepare for what Rico could do at TE for a QB. If your opponent does not respect a position on the field they usually put emphasis somewhere else. Defenses will naturally put a man in the box to stop Zeke. Then lean coverage to T Will or Beasley. So play action with a talent like Rico would be big play after big play and open up so much of the passing game. That is what Witten gave the Cowboys all of his HOF career. People forget that Witten came out of college running 4.6 40yd times at 6-5-250. Rico is 45 pounds heavier and ran a 4.66 and a 35 inch vertical jump at the Baylor pro day. If the Cowboys coaching staff can not make a former Mr. Louisiana Basketball player a TE it is their shame. However we all know how they were dead wrong at developing Martellus Bennett.

we will find out soon enough.
i think rico runs a 4.8 now or so, but i suspect witten lost a few steps also.

 

[dallasdave]

we will find out soon enough.
i think rico runs a 4.8 now or so, but i suspect witten lost a few steps also.

Yeah but Rico is Gronk Like in size, hard to defend Rico

 

[waldoputty]

No, this isn't about Dak's ability or lack of ability to throw the fade. Remember that the fade wasn't particularly Romo's favorite pass because he wasn't really great at it.

I think Romo's words about Dez better reflect what I'm saying:

“But Dez’s rare trait was over his head. I’ve never really seen another guy, maybe Calvin Johnson, but I’ve never really seen a guy be able to do the things he does. He still has that capability. Dez is never actually covered even when he’s covered. That’s a rare trait. If he was singled up, if you could put the ball in a certain spot he could always get it. There’s not really another guy that I ever played with who could do that. It kind of simplifies the offense a little bit in a sense. If Dez was kind of by himself, you’d just throw 15-20 yards, above his head 3 yards and however you want to guard him it doesn’t matter. You can’t go get that ball, he can. I worked hard with him at that because that throw requires timing, precision. You gotta throw it hard.“

As Romo said, throwing that pass takes timing and precision, but it also takes a belief that your guy is going to get that ball and not let the DB win it. With Rico, the same holds true. You've got to put it up there and let him win it.

Dak is more cautious/calculating about his 50/50 throws. He wants to put them where only the receiver can win them. (He doesn't always hit that target, but that's what he wants.) When you do that, you make it a more difficult catch for a receiver or tight end who can win a well-placed jump ball.

This isn't saying Romo was just throwing the ball up for grabs. He understood where he needed to put it for his receiver to win it. Dak doesn't like taking the chance that the receiver won't win it because of the risk of it turning into an interception. These are different approaches by the QBs that both have merits and detractions.

the risk of the pass also depends on execution on a particular play.
if they press rico, there would be a big % of time where he would be quite open because the defender missed on the press, resulting in him being more open.
rico is the best receiver for making a play on that route.
it does not make sense to cut that option on the chess board particularly speed becomes a smaller advantage. as does route-running with less space to roam, but to a lesser degree.

 

[waldoputty]

Yeah but Rico is Gronk Like in size, hard to defend Rico

rico is slightly bigger and slightly slower.
which is different than putty, who is significantly bigger than coachie

 

[dallasdave]

the risk of the pass also depends on execution on a particular play.
if they press rico, there would be a big % of time where he would be quite open because the defender missed on the press, resulting in him being more open.
rico is the best receiver for making a play on that route.
it does not make sense to cut that option on the chess board particularly speed becomes a smaller advantage. as does route-running with less space to roam, but to a lesser degree.

Rico is the leading receiver

 

[dallasdave]

rico is slightly bigger and slightly slower.
which is different than putty, who is significantly bigger than coachie

Rico will get better and better and the season goes on.

 

[waldoputty]

Rico will get better and better and the season goes on.

which makes it so stupid when they did not take him off the ir so he could practice last season
all in a season where the team was without zeke and tsmith for many games

 

[dallasdave]

↑
daboyzruleperiod said: [URL='https://cowboyszone.com/goto/post?id=8356883#post-8356883']↑
I tried sending you a PM toots and your mail box is full again.[/URL]

.
Toots? That's not going to go over well with Putty
Instead that's keep this thread on trac with how Rico is going to help the Cowboys win the Super Bowl this year.
Rico will be a monster in the Red Zone and move the chains the rest of the way down the field. Go Rico Go.

PS and you too "Toots"

 

[Future]

My simple answer is 'Why isn't he now?'

No one has an agenda against him - JJ and the FO wants to see him excel so he can show everyone how smart he is, the coaches want him to shine so they can display their great ability of molding clay, and Rico wants to be the best because... well, wealth, fame, all that.

Time to stop making excuses and either nut up or shut up.

We don't know that he isn't now. This comment from McClay is about 1-on-1s with a clearly defined pass route or maybe scout team. Rico is still, presumably, winning those battles.

It's assignment discipline that the Cowboys don't trust with Rico, he wouldn't still be here if he wasn't physically dominant, in some sense.

 

[waldoputty]

↑
daboyzruleperiod said: ↑
I tried sending you a PM toots and your mail box is full again.

.
Toots? That's not going to go over well with Putty
Instead that's keep this thread on trac with how Rico is going to help the Cowboys win the Super Bowl this year.
Rico will be a monster in the Red Zone and move the chains the rest of the way down the field. Go Rico Go.

PS and you too "Toots"

i guess raunchy coachie did not satisfy.

 

[Future]

r u saying dak cannot throw a fade at all
i think i have seen him get td's on those to dez
the dez fade was less of a threat with dak, but was that due to dez's decline?

Dak absolutely struggles to throw a fade.

fwiw, it took Romo a few years to throw it well consistently too.

 

[panchucko]

Dude, you have issues with Gathers. All of the "potential" talk was LAST YEAR. Do you get that?
Did I say he forgot to be unstoppable? No, I didn't.
What I am saying is that he is NOT unstoppable now.

LAST YEAR!

So was Mclay talking of 2016, Church wasn’t on team in 2017 and Rico was on IR