So confused about Dak

[Dre11]

He literally said that exact thing: that he does not want Dak to run 10 times a game.

Cowboys VP and Jones' eventual successor Stephen Joneswent on his radio show on 105.3 The Fan on Monday (h/t Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News) and sang a very different tune. He said “You can’t just consistently serve your quarterback up as a runner... I can’t necessarily see our plan being to run Dak 8-10 times a game. I think you use it to set everything else up.” Essentially, this suggests a philosophical schism between the two leaders of the Jones family. The patriarch wants Prescott to run so that the Cowboys can win now. The successor wants Prescott to stay in the pocket to preserve his health.

Again, where does he say He doesn't want Dak to run? Saying he doesn't want him to run 10 times doesn't mean he can't run? He ran tonight and half of them were from normal scrambles or because of good coverage. Understand what you're reading. No coach is going to design many more than 10 times for their qb, as Jones said it's not ideal. He didn't say he couldn't run, he actually said he could to set up other plays. Comprehension is your friend...lol

 

[atlantacowboy]

Shocked you can’t see it. Dak was allowed to play his game and the OL was much, much better. Dak will never be a great thrower but he is good enough. His toughness, mobility, and leadership is what makes him a good QB. The guy can play. He just can’t play when he has no protection and the morons running the offense try to crowbar him into Romo’s Offense. All you haters are going to eat crow.

Oh right, like you or anyone predicted a 40 point offensive explosion. The difference was that he was willing to take off and run. Nobody saw that coming. We haven't seen that on a consistent basis since 2016. He had over 80 yards rushing. The dual threat is what keeps defenses honest. You can't blitz linebackers if the QB can run. Now we'll see defenses respecting his legs again and see fewer blitzes.....which leads to a cleaner pocket.

 

[atlantacowboy]

You will see him if the Defense is playing poor against and he has a long time in the pocket and Zeke runs great. According to NFL.com he had the most time of any QB on Sunday ( forever in the pocket is the key to Daks success) , he will still miss wide open throws and I do not believe a QB can make his living running the ball.

I'm not betting he can lead the offense to 40 points every week either. I do believe that if he can continue to run when he can and hit a few 20 yard throws early that this OL can give him plenty of time on a regular basis. Its been 5 blocking 9 all season up front.

 

[mcmvp]

My primary concern about Dak from the game. Was the miss to Austin. Man if he hits they pass when Austin had the step on Ramsey. This game would have been even more of a butt whipping.

Dak’s pocket presence was better today. He stepped up into the pocket and threw some decent balls. I hope he continues to improve that facet of his game. When he does so, he can play with accuracy. We need more stepping up into the pocket and less trying to escape out of the back.

This is what made Foles a better QB last year. He had a terrible habit of retreating under pressure instead of maneuvering in the pocket. DeFilipo fixed that.

I didn’t see the game yesterday so I can’t comment on Dak’s play. Obviously it was good. You do have to wonder if it’s sustainable...the rushing part of it I mean. History shows QBs running that much can win some games, but it has its limits in the long run.

 

[Broges74]

Contrary to what others say, it the Jags lack of a game plan against Beasley. Beasley had over half of the receptions and yardage

The gameplan was to put Ramsey on him later in the game and it didn't matter. We must have one more guy to draw coverage or Beas will be bracketed every week.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Here's an underrated tidbit from yesterday..........Connor McGregor was on the sidelines getting them juiced up before the game. He was able to transfer his confidence and swagger and it showed. I haven't seen the team so ready to play and fired up in years.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Execution. By the OL and by Dak himself. For all the drama we read on this board it isn't really more complicated than that.

So, i guess you missed the 82 yards rushing? That was the difference. Linehan finally unleashed the guy. Dak is not a classic pocket QB. He's a dual threat QB and we need to continue letting him take off running when he's got 20 yards of open field in front of him. His willingness to run got the Jags defense off balance and had a snowball effect.

 

[Whyjerry]

Oh right, like you or anyone predicted a 40 point offensive explosion. The difference was that he was willing to take off and run. Nobody saw that coming. We haven't seen that on a consistent basis since 2016. He had over 80 yards rushing. The dual threat is what keeps defenses honest. You can't blitz linebackers if the QB can run. Now we'll see defenses respecting his legs again and see fewer blitzes.....which leads to a cleaner pocket.

Nobody predicted yesterday. My point was that Dak is better than he has looked and certainly better than what all haters say. I root for the guy. I think he has been unfairly treated by some.

 

[Rockport]

What the heck happened? I'm still processing this win. The defense has been good all year, but how can a team look so clueless on offense for 5 weeks and then put 40 points on the NFL's top ranked defense? Is this a harbinger of things to come or was the coaching just that bad for 5 weeks and now they figured it out?

My biggest question though is who was that guy at QB and will we see him next week.........

Dak is the same guy as he was in 2016 but better. What happened was defenses figured out how to defend him and our OC was very slow to adjust. Idiot fans just try to put it all on Dak because they have no clue.

 

[northerncowboynation]

What the heck happened? I'm still processing this win. The defense has been good all year, but how can a team look so clueless on offense for 5 weeks and then put 40 points on the NFL's top ranked defense? Is this a harbinger of things to come or was the coaching just that bad for 5 weeks and now they figured it out?

My biggest question though is who was that guy at QB and will we see him next week.........

My biggest question was, when will this team play a complete game in all facets and can they do it consistently. It's easy to point fingers at one player or group of players, which many have, or coach or whatever the flavor of the day happens to be. When we lose many fans have all the answers as to why we lost and when we win they try to come up with answers as to why we won. Rather than questioning why we won or "who was that guy" enjoy the win. There will be more wins and losses. The NFL is like a football, oblong and unpredictable. 32 teams play every week, 16 win and 16 lose. When we figure out how "they figured it out" there are 32 teams looking for that wisdom and we can become something other than a couch coach, we will be a collective Nostradamus.

 

[BoysForLife]

I did say progressing. I dunno where you got what you spat out.

I was focusing on the comment where you said all the passes got caught this week and that was the difference

To me that reads like you are saying Dak has been playing awesome the whole time these idiots finally just started catching the balls

My apologies if I misunderstood

 

[JReed1000]

Question...Does Dak have small hands? These unforced fumbles drive me nuts.

 

[Bullflop]

What the heck happened? I'm still processing this win. The defense has been good all year, but how can a team look so clueless on offense for 5 weeks and then put 40 points on the NFL's top ranked defense? Is this a harbinger of things to come or was the coaching just that bad for 5 weeks and now they figured it out?

My biggest question though is who was that guy at QB and will we see him next week.........

A noteworthy post, sir . . . sometimes I wonder if the entire Cowboys' team might be bi-polar.

It's a fact that the extreme highs and lows are highly indicative of that particular disorder.

Either that or could it be this team's awareness that our leadership is woefully incompetent?

 

[ItzKelz]

What the heck happened? I'm still processing this win. The defense has been good all year, but how can a team look so clueless on offense for 5 weeks and then put 40 points on the NFL's top ranked defense? Is this a harbinger of things to come or was the coaching just that bad for 5 weeks and now they figured it out?

My biggest question though is who was that guy at QB and will we see him next week.........

I think the coaches went into this season saying that they were going to make things easier for Dak and took some things off his plate. By taking things off Dak's plate you limit the offense. Week by week you could see that Linehan was opening back up the playbook. Against the Jags it seems to have come together for at least that one game. Now we need to do it for a few weeks in a row. With the way our defense is playing if we can get some consistency from the offense we will no doubt win this division. Hopefully the Foreskins are the next victim of the Dak Attack.

 

[Cowboyluck]

Great one week suck the next. Like someone said this is the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over and over again with the same results

 

[HungryLion]

Question...Does Dak have small hands? These unforced fumbles drive me nuts.

I don’t think he does. Not sure though.

I agree the fumbles yesterday were agitating. But t be fair, that doesn’t happen often with him. Dak doesn’t fumble more than your average QB. He usually is pretty solid at ball handling, playfakes, etc.

 

[John813]

We need to keep this gameplan for the next 10 games.

Deep shots, playaction and designed/run plays if the first read or two aren't open. Make the defense have to worry about stopping a RB sized QB as well as guys like Bease and good Gallup.

I don't care if he can't average 300 yards passing as long as he can move the chains somehow. Either by air or by feet.
But trying to make him a pocket/statue back there isn't good for him or the offense.

 

[cwbyfn88]

I was focusing on the comment where you said all the passes got caught this week and that was the difference

To me that reads like you are saying Dak has been playing awesome the whole time these idiots finally just started catching the balls

My apologies if I misunderstood

I can't say all the passes were perfectly accurate last night either. They got there and were caught though. Some surprising ones like Gallup going through someone to catch it and then Gallup hauling in another high pass. Would have been a catch if his foot didn't get caught on his other foot. Hurns left a few plays on the field though

 

[G2]

Here's an underrated tidbit from yesterday..........Connor McGregor was on the sidelines getting them juiced up before the game. He was able to transfer his confidence and swagger and it showed. I haven't seen the team so ready to play and fired up in years.

I'm not a huge fan of the guy, but the players were strutting around and you are right. They were definitely fired up.

 

[pansophy]

I agree with most of that, but it's not the case that Dak's mechanics fall apart without a totally clean pocket, although that would actually be more "normal." In games when the QB was pressured on less than 40% of his dropbacks, Dak's passer passer rating when pressured was among the Top 5 last year. He doesn't need a clean pocket to be effective, and can be deadly when throwing on the run.

ATTEMPTS WHEN PRESSURED (2017)
< 40% pressure games only
Brady 119.3
Cousins 98.4
Prescott 94.6
Keenum 89.8
Winston 81.4

Dak's problem is when he's pressured consistently in a game. In games when pressures are at least 40% of dropbacks, Dak is terrible even from a clean pocket. The assumption is that the hits he took on the game's other plays put him in a state of mind where he's feeling pressure that isn't there. This is far from "normal."

ATTEMPTS FROM CLEAN POCKET (2017)
≥ 40% pressure games only
Winston 120.4
Brady 117.7
Ryan 117.5
Carr 117.5
Wentz 113.5
Cousins 113.4
Wilson 107.8
Stafford 106.1
Rivers 106.1
Rthlsbrgr 104.6
Keenum 102.3
Smith 94.5
Goff 90.2

Prescott 74.0

Talking out loud so don't know if this is true. Dak's rating fails off the cliff in 3rd in long situations when accuracy downfield is most needed. Generally teams rush hard in 3rd in long and so both the passer rating and % time under pressure may converge to represent success how often we are in 3rd in long situations. Perhaps more of an interaction than convergence.

Dak made throws last night I've been begging for, near the sideline past the 10 yard mark without Dak rolling out firs. Usually there are none, sometimes even without an attempt, and last night he completed a couple of those. Swaim even had to make sure his feet stayed in bounds.

In my mind those throws make everything work because the defense can't just crash the box to stop the run and double Beasley. I hope we see a lot more of that. It's all Dak has to do to make it IMO. He has all the other elements.