No Blocking, No Pass Game

[TheSkaven]

I'm not one to stick up for Dak, but even the casual observer could see it. Tyron Smith, Connor Williams, and just about everybody sucked today up front. That said, Dak would not present any kind of threat to take this or any team deep into the playoffs. Not with some of the defenses in the NFC. He simply isn't feared by anyone

I tend to agree with you, though that 2016 season will always be out there as the anomaly. The kid went toe to toe with Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs and if not for a woeful defense he would have had the team in the NFC Championship Game.

As Parcells was fond of saying, you can’t just dial 1-800-QUARTERBACK. People who say we should draft a QB next fail to mention which college quarterback they’d like to tie our long term fortunes to.

 

[SlammedZero]

You can hate Dak all you want, that is fine, but you can't deny this o-line isn't doing him ANY favors. It sucks because this was supposed to be our strength.

 

[America's Cowboy]

I don’t want to get personal here, but let’s just agree that’s our fan base is rather uneducated about football. While our 285lb tight end (Conner Williams) continues to play guard, defensive tackles dance in the backfield on every play.

I don’t care if we have Romo, Aaron Rodgers or Johnny Unitas, no one is doing anything if the quarterback can’t set his feat.

Unfortunately fans watch QB throw bad balls under constant duress and they believe it’s all his fault. Oh well.

BTW - no defense of Dak here, he’s an average quarterback who can win you games when he is protected. But to anyone who knows football, the problem here is quite obviously the offensive line.

I've come to an understanding that not many understand this fact. I've said the same thing for years... the Cowboys Offense goes according to how the Oline performs.

I've seen under the past two Oline coaches lots of mistakes being committed by roughly this same Oline. They are not being taught correctly. That is the problem. Fix the Oline's coaching and techniques, and we will all see this Offense perform so much better.

 

[Proof]

I'm in vegas right now. Just lost two bets on the Cowboys. Being a homer is awful.

lol i know the pain and stupidity. keep up the good fight

 

[ryanbabs]

He held the ball when no one was open. These receivers couldn't get open against backups.

It’s just a big pile of everything. They all suck this year.

 

[pansophy]

He held the ball when no one was open. These receivers couldn't get open against backups.

He had Dez and Witten last year and same results. Oh, it's the coaching? Same coaches when Dak had his magical rookie year.

The only difference now is that teams are stacking the box to eliminate the run and throws in the middle part of the field. Throws to the outside are open but Dak can't hit them (yet). You even heard Aikman say late in the game that Dak missed a curl route when the defense is giving him that throw -- that he is playing against air -- and the throw was in the ground.

Nothing changes until Dak can make throws outside. If he does that the middle of the field will open up again and things will start to work again. It seems that the coaching staff doesn't believe Dak can make those throws (yet) and instead are opting for go-routes to force the defense to play the whole field since Dak has shown he can throw that ball. I will say that go routes require time that Dak didn't have today.

Still, if Dak is unable to make those outside throws before years end it may well be the end of the Dak era.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

Too long to process reads, no accuracy , can’t throw guys open.

 

[Big D]

I tend to agree with you, though that 2016 season will always be out there as the anomaly. The kid went toe to toe with Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs and if not for a woeful defense he would have had the team in the NFC Championship Game.

As Parcells was fond of saying, you can’t just dial 1-800-QUARTERBACK. People who say we should draft a QB next fail to mention which college quarterback they’d like to tie our long term fortunes to.

Ask 100 posters and you'll get 100 non answers. I have yet to see anyone suggest a replacement either in upcoming draft or free agency. I agree Dak can play better but our coaching staff seem to be idiots out coaching themselves at every turn.

- anytime something works in a game you can damn near guarantee we will not go back to it for fear that the other team is now expecting it.
-previously la'el was mauling people at the guard position. he is now at tackle which he does not like.
-Our star draft pick was a Tackle who is now playing guard.
-The best player on the team, Zeke, is having trouble getting as many carries as the opposing teams qb.
-half of our defense are projects who were either seriously injured or have character/drug problems coming out of college.
-we release our most productive receivers in an effort to upgrade and when it doesn't seem to work we bring back brice butler who i didn't even see on the field today.
-our genius offensive coordinator is so enamored with a scrub backup that when he can beat out a rookie for the 3rd spot he gets promoted to to qb coach.

The list goes on...

Theres plenty to be fixed but, to me, most of it is self inflicted.

 

[Zman5]

This was the case with Romo as the QB also. Only winning season he had with JG as HC was when he had a great OL in 2014. JG's scheme sucks and can't get anyone open quickly.

Only reason it somewhat worked without a great OL was due to Dez not needing to be wide open and Romo's scrambling Jedi skills. Ultimately Romo paid the price with his body.

 

[Cebrin]

He held the ball when no one was open. These receivers couldn't get open against backups.

There's almost never no one open. I'm sick of this statement. I think Dak has the tools to be good, but he's enabled by Garrett. That being said, I saw a blend of both today. Awful lineplay, and times where Dak made the line look awful. His inability to hit a spot accurately is why he holds the ball too long. He doesn't trust himself to throw to anything other than WIDE open. However, again, I think he's capable. He shows it when he's not hampered by horrible play call.

 

[Proof]

It's funny that is exceptional years don't count in your book. It shows a complete lack of objectivity.

there's been 2 out of 8, which ended in the same fashion, and the rest were embarassing. objectively he sucks.

 

[ItzKelz]

Dak took a lot of hits b/c he holds the ball too long. Go re-watch. Dak has plenty of time to look over the field. He's just indecisive. Dak's inability to conduct a passing attack is what hamstrung the offense last year and its the same story this year. The guy has failed to pass for 200 yards in 8 of his last 10 games. Quit blaming the OL.

I would suggest you to look at the tape. Tyron and Zack should give back this week's pay check. This team was built around our OL to include the decision to move on from Romo and go with Dak. Certainly Dak can and should be better but our OL doesn't resemble the 2016 unit at all for the last 2 seasons. It's comical to say that Dak is holding to the ball too long specifically this season.

 

[CCBoy]

This looks like a 5-11 team. And that may be optimistic

Oh boy, another 9th pick in the draft...

 

[ConstantReboot]

Dak took a lot of hits b/c he holds the ball too long. Go re-watch. Dak has plenty of time to look over the field. He's just indecisive. Dak's inability to conduct a passing attack is what hamstrung the offense last year and its the same story this year. The guy has failed to pass for 200 yards in 8 of his last 10 games. Quit blaming the OL.

What do you mean? Dak did not have time to hold onto the ball. The defense was in his face the whole day. Are you blind?

 

[Batman1980]

Dak took a lot of hits b/c he holds the ball too long. Go re-watch. Dak has plenty of time to look over the field. He's just indecisive. Dak's inability to conduct a passing attack is what hamstrung the offense last year and its the same story this year. The guy has failed to pass for 200 yards in 8 of his last 10 games. Quit blaming the OL.

At this point I'm ready to call the season. Or at least sit Dak down and lose for awhile with Rush at QB. Let him sit for awhile and watch someone else play and hopefully grow from being benched. By the way, the OL IS part of the problem. There were plays he had 1-2 seconds to throw before the rush got there. That'd make any QB skittish.

 

[jwooten15]

The kid went toe to toe with Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs and if not for a woeful defense he would have had the team in the NFC Championship Game.

That's the most confusing/frustrating part of this entire situation.

To regress this dramatically is just weird.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

The problem with the offense begins at Jason Garrett and the hiring of a talentless hack to serve as QB coach.

lol.....The Problem starts and ends with the "Jones" family.......who we as fans have made filthy rich and continue to do so supporting a team run by football idiots!

 

[Verdict]

Stop it.

He missed WRs. He threw a couple behind open WRs.

He’s not playing well and some of that is what’s going on around him but some of it is his own doing.

To suggest otherwise just is ignorance and frankly stupidity.

You hate Dak because Dez is gone and you want to put that on Dak. Dak MAY be part of the problem, but like I said in another thread it's really hard to evaluate Dak as bad as this OL has been.

Dez needed to go and he's gone. He still doesn't have a job and yet you guys have a cult following of Dez which is a bit strange, really.

Bash Dak if you want. I personally wanted Romo to start when he was healthy but that ship has sailed. So has the Dez ship, off to the land of madden 2018 and his couch and twitter and cream puffs.

You guys can ***** all you want about Dak but I sincerely doubt Dak is going to get discarded until the team can properly evaluate him, and that's probably going to require the OL to at least play on some sort of semi serviceable level.

 

[Verdict]

I'm not one to stick up for Dak, but even the casual observer could see it. Tyron Smith, Connor Williams, and just about everybody sucked today up front. That said, Dak would not present any kind of threat to take this or any team deep into the playoffs. Not with some of the defenses in the NFC. He simply isn't feared by anyone

The way this line is playing that's pretty much a lock. That MAY change if he gets decent OL play.

 

[Verdict]

Here's the thing. Cleveland's pass protection looked awful when Taylor was at QB, but suddenly looked decent when Mayfield played. Why?

Because Mayfield was decisive and got rid of the ball. Taylor waited, looking for that wide open receiver and time ran out.

Mayfield processes information quickly which is the single most important factor for a QB.