Return of the Dak

[kramskoi]

Way too early to write him off. He's got 33 games under him and this entire offseason to work on his craft. The offensive line is fixed, and Zeke is back.

Now, we will see.

I think he can improve...but he will sooner or later have to learn how to manage an offense when things are not totally ideal, when there are defenders in his face and at his ankles. It was one of the things that Romo had a talent for...extending the play under duress.

 

[Billyd]

Also for 2017.

Dak completion % on passes over 20 yards:
Target Butler 67%
Target Dez 21%

Dak all passes (any distance)
Not to Dez: 67%
To Dez: 62%

I see all of these stats and I wonder why Dak was throwing high to Dez on the goal line, Off target to dez for numerous uncatchable balls last year..

All im trying to do is provide a take, that will make you consider a few things..Contrary to some i have argued this point on the other side several times, just not in this forum..

I consider our offensive line, the suspension of Zeke, and his head being not right with ball last season the main culprit..I also hold linehan responsible for being out coached, and at times, Seeming to try and force Dak into some of that Shiteshow last year..

Oooo i think Dak knows he needs to play better, hopefully all of the issues melt away with Conner, moving back to a progression based, timing, Passing offense, and Elliot gets to put his stamp across all the dcords heads, in cleat in the NFL..

AS I stated to Jday, I usually am the most positive when I believe a team has proven they can overcome adversity and win anyway...I didnt see that last year, and until i see it..It didnt happen..

It could just be....subtraction..

 

[bud914]

Sure it can. But you have a choice: Be objective and understand the negatives as well as the positives. Why only focus on the negatives? Every team has deficiencies. It’s ok to talk about the negatives but when that’s all one does, it rings like some kind of character issue.

i truly believe there are a bunch of posters who would rather see Dak fail than the Cowboys succeed so they can be proven correct....it's sad IMO.

 

[Billyd]

I dont believe that. Worse though, are those the same people who wanted Romo kicked to the curve?

I Wish the best for Dak, but im not letting him off the hook for 2017 either. AS all players and coaches, they deserve their piece of criticism..Truely, i hate Jerry, Stephen, and Goober for the state of the NFL...Its about to be a too large of a brain pump, for some of us, to pay attention..lol

 

[GMO415]

I'll wait for the Cliff Notes.

But Dak should come harder than Return of the Jedi

 

[Beast_from_East]

There was a time in my life when I did not take losses well...especially of the season-ending variety. Over the years I've learned to get over it and myself. Like you said, what our team does is in no way a reflection of us fans...it just isn't. And at the end of the day, it ain't that serious.

Thanks for the kudos and taking the time to read!

I feel you bro..............I'm the same way

When I was younger and on my own, I would get pissed over losses, throw the remote across the room, cuss like a sailor at the TV, just acting like a mad man....LOL

Once I had a daughter, that all changed...........kinda changes your perspective on life when you have kids and things that seemed monumentally important in the past (like if the Cowboys won or lost a game) don't seem that important anymore in the grand scheme of things.

 

[jday]

I feel you bro..............I'm the same way

When I was younger and on my own, I would get pissed over losses, throw the remote across the room, cuss like a sailor at the TV, just acting like a mad man....LOL

Once I had a daughter, that all changed...........kinda changes your perspective on life when you have kids and things that seemed monumentally important in the past (like if the Cowboys won or lost a game) don't seem that important anymore in the grand scheme of things.

I have 9 and 6 year old boys..
You are absolutely right.

 

[CCBoy]

I see all of these stats and I wonder why Dak was throwing high to Dez on the goal line, Off target to dez for numerous uncatchable balls last year..

All im trying to do is provide a take, that will make you consider a few things..Contrary to some i have argued this point on the other side several times, just not in this forum..

I consider our offensive line, the suspension of Zeke, and his head being not right with ball last season the main culprit..I also hold linehan responsible for being out coached, and at times, Seeming to try and force Dak into some of that ****eshow last year..

Oooo i think Dak knows he needs to play better, hopefully all of the issues melt away with Conner, moving back to a progression based, timing, Passing offense, and Elliot gets to put his stamp across all the dcords heads, in cleat in the NFL..

AS I stated to Jday, I usually am the most positive when I believe a team has proven they can overcome adversity and win anyway...I didnt see that last year, and until i see it..It didnt happen..

It could just be....subtraction..

As a reason...that is fair.

I don't base my opinions on the basis of dysfunction, when the causes have been overcome through team actions dealing with personnel upgrades. Also, this is also the team that just the prior season of down falls, had the top record in the NFC.

That is a logic building block as well. Then, Romo was out for a season...and Sean Lee, LT Smith, and Elliott were out for much of the season as well.

Lol, that wasn't the quarterback missing again, but only three of the very best players on the team.

This team has overcome roster problems that were creating unproductive seasons. The main feature isn't a statistical relevant decline, but player return to a quality roster.

As to Dez, he would say that here he is...now throw him his favorite types of passes. They never had a true coming together in consistently. Dez just doesn't any longer dominate all selections.

Dak can now select open receivers and much more quickly in a play.

 

[CCBoy]

oh, and I also think Rico Gathers is going to be pretty doggone good.

Rico well may be the X-factor that drives opponents crazy, with the other changes that are being revealed daily.

 

[xwalker]

I see all of these stats and I wonder why Dak was throwing high to Dez on the goal line, Off target to dez for numerous uncatchable balls last year..

All im trying to do is provide a take, that will make you consider a few things..Contrary to some i have argued this point on the other side several times, just not in this forum..

I consider our offensive line, the suspension of Zeke, and his head being not right with ball last season the main culprit..I also hold linehan responsible for being out coached, and at times, Seeming to try and force Dak into some of that ****eshow last year..

Oooo i think Dak knows he needs to play better, hopefully all of the issues melt away with Conner, moving back to a progression based, timing, Passing offense, and Elliot gets to put his stamp across all the dcords heads, in cleat in the NFL..

AS I stated to Jday, I usually am the most positive when I believe a team has proven they can overcome adversity and win anyway...I didnt see that last year, and until i see it..It didnt happen..

It could just be....subtraction..

Many of the perceived off target throws were basically throwaways after Dez was in the wrong spot or not open. If you saw any with Dez near the sideline, the vast majority of those were throwaways.

There were two redzone throws that I remember that were high. Obviously some other throws were not perfect.

One things fans don't seem to understand is that throws in the middle of the field are often dictated by throwing in the open window between defenders which often does not line up perfectly with the receivers location. The receiver is required to adjust to those.

Considering that Tom Brady's completion percentage is around 64%, that means he does not complete 36%. For 2017 that was 196 failed attempts for Brady. There will be missed throws for all QBs.

Some fans seriously believe that Dak was missing Dez by 10 yards. In reality he was often throwing the ball away due to a Dez fail. The vast majority of throws that many fans thought were Dak missing by yards were with Dez as the target. If Dak was the problem it would have been the same with all receivers.

 

[xwalker]

I've seen those stats as well but honestly I'm less inclined to buy the direct correlation in accuracy to tight window throws because sometimes tight windows can by a symptom of inaccuracy (such as an underthrown ball) and/or poor timing, to say nothing of having a collection of receivers that struggle to separate.

The ranking is based on percentage, not total number of tight window throws.

 

[Falco78]

I absolutely believe the potential is there. They have a good (albeit not elite) collection of offensive weapons. There offensive line now has alot of different resources to throw at the LG spot and see who sticks. And the coaches clearly have a fire under their posterior to diversify their offense.

All the ingredients are there...the rest is in Dak's head.

I don't see it in Dak's head I see it in the lack or our game planning

 

[CCBoy]

Concerning Rico...

Question: Is there a reason that Rico Gathers is not being touted more as a successor to Jason Witten? Rico Gathers has impressed when given an opportunity in pre-season. The injury last year was a setback, but he almost seems to be written off. Which brings up another criticism of Dallas coaching, how will we know how good a young player is if they don’t play?

Mosley: The Cowboys completely failed with Martellus Bennett. That’s why Jason Garrett had to encourage his brother John to go find another gig. The Cowboys have run through seven or eight TE coaches during Witten’s time, maybe more.

They haven’t given up on Gathers, it’s just that he had lingering concussion issues. I think he’s really talented, but he didn’t play college football. There’s such a huge learning curve for him. And the Cowboys want someone out there who can block. The Hanna retirement is probably a lot bigger than we’re playing it.


https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/201...-offense-in-2018-dak-prescott-ezekiel-elliott

 

[casmith07]

Rico well may be the X-factor that drives opponents crazy, with the other changes that are being revealed daily.

If he can run that "Y-Option" relatively consistently, like Witten, he'll also be a nightmare to defend running a skinny post.

 

[MrPhil]

The number of people here actively rooting for a member of the team to fail is mind-boggling.

 

[jday]

The ranking is based on percentage, not total number of tight window throws.

Be it based on percentage or count, the issue remains the same. I am very familiar with the study you are referring to because I'm the one that dropped the video on it. The guy that conducted this study explained they went threw every pass thrown by QB's last year and counted all the catches completed to receivers who had a defender close by.

So think about it: Sure, a portion of those passes may have spoke to Dak's accuracy, however, I'd bet there are a few of those passes they used to support this claim that wasn't a result of accuracy but in fact inaccuracy. For instance, what about all those times where the receiver beat the corner responsible for covering him and had a couple steps on him when Dak threw, but because the ball was underthrown or late, the defender was able to close the window before the ball arrived. On the surface, that catch may have looked like a really accurate pass, but the ugly truth is had he put more air under it or thrown it a second sooner, the receiver would have been able to catch the pass in stride, still had the step and would have likely taken the ball further if not for a touchdown.

Please understand. I am not one of those advocating Dak be replaced. I believe he is the franchise QB. Furthermore, I'm not one of those lazy analyst that looks at the stats accrued over the course of the season, note the disparity between his first and second season and assume he had a Sophomore Slump. As I hinted in the OP, up until the Atlanta game, Dak played great. After that Atlanta game, however, the offense simply fell apart and regressed to it's 2015 self.

Is it all Dak's fault? Absolutely not...not even close, in my opinion. I blame coaching before I blame anyone for that Atlanta debacle. But it did happen, it did clearly impact Dak's game and so I am hoping whatever was broken down the stretch was fixed over the course of the offseason.

 

[jday]

The number of people here actively rooting for a member of the team to fail is mind-boggling.

Who is doing that?

 

[MrPhil]

Who is doing that?

Perhaps "writing off" would be a more accurate way to describe it but, I have no doubt in my mind that multiple posters are rooting for Dak to fail. From this thread alone, I would put WillieBeaman, and PAPPYDOG in that category.

@bud914 summed it up better than I did in post #143, kudos bud, could not agree more.

Nice write-up BTW @jday, I did read the whole thing.

 

[jday]

Perhaps "writing off" would be a more accurate way to describe it but, I have no doubt in my mind that multiple posters are rooting for Dak to fail. From this thread alone, I would put WillieBeaman, and PAPPYDOG in that category.

@bud914 summed it up better than I did in post #143, kudos bud, could not agree more.

Nice write-up BTW @jday, I did read the whole thing.

Just making sure you hadn't misconstrued what I wrote to be down on Dak. Even if I thought he was going to fail, I certainly wouldn't root for it. I love the Cowboys more than being right.

Thanks for taking the time to read and the kudos!

 

[Section446]

Put me down as a very hopeful pessimist, I don't want to have to look for another QB.