Steele Is Broken, so what now?

[Sheepherder]

I didn't say it's time to give up on him yet but if he's still not 100% he needs to sit down for a while.

Smart GM would treat this as his 100%. Really anyone coming off major injury should have to work their way up beating out the other guys at his position to get the starting job back. Steele right now is a terrible player, not even backup quality. Handing him a starting spot does the team harm.

Maybe but whatever we believe isn't gonna change anything here. The coaches have to be the ones making the decision on what direction to go.

 

[gtb1943]

He also thinks that paying a player gives them incentive to play better, when generally the opposite is true.

Steele has a top of the line work ethic though, and it’s not about that in this case.

It’s about a player who isn’t quite as talented as they wanted to believe, and a knee injury has apparently slowed him down a tick from there.

Everyone harped on him as a Run blocker ignoring the fact he was at best average as a Pass blocker. Clearly he is not as quick as he was nor as strong which all comes down to the injury. Some players take the full two years to return but SOME never do. No matter how good modern medical tech gets, that can happen. Might be what has happened here but he needs more time; unfortunately the team cannot afford it unless they are willing to just put up with it for the rest of the season

 

[nate dizzle]

Maybe but whatever we believe isn't gonna change anything here. The coaches have to be the ones making the decision on what direction to go.

Understood, just here talkin football.

 

[charron]

Maybe but whatever we believe isn't gonna change anything here. The coaches have to be the ones making the decision on what direction to go.

We don't know they have authority to make those decisions. I hope they do but who knows.

 

[Mr_437]

I can remember one time they brought help to the right side, I don't think there were many.

Right, one of those offensive coaches have to make an adjustment.

 

[Cowboyny]

This. Four pages of whining and crying before someone actually gives any respect to the opponent. The dude was facing Montez Sweat who's out there running like a receiver. I bet Micah Parsons probably couldn't block him.
It's more of a failure on the coaching staff not to give him any help but he should be fine when he's not playing an Olympic sprinter at DE.

Reddick had 16 sacks last yr, Sweat had 11. They are elite edge rushers, where MM/Solari had to game plan against. People forget it was Reddick who injured Purdy in the playoff game when the 49ers decided to use a TE to block him.

 

[buybuydandavis]

He also thinks that paying a player gives them incentive to play better, when generally the opposite is true.

Steele has a top of the line work ethic though, and it’s not about that in this case.

It’s about a player who isn’t quite as talented as they wanted to believe, and a knee injury has apparently slowed him down a tick from there.

No guarantee, but I expect Steele to be better next year.
But the big contracts to recovering players is getting old. When you front load injuries, you're front loading poor value.

 

[CCBoy]

The Cowboys management knew this, how could they not?

Their reaction to Steele's recovery process, losing McGovern and Tyron's ongoing injury issues bordered on criminal neglect. The same goes for their issues at the RB position. Their lack of a response to real issues on offense makes it one dimensional. All this talk about Dak being in a busdriver role and the running game being emphasized more is nothing more than that.....talk.

Nick Harris
@NickHarrisDC

Total pressures allowed by offensive linemen this season:
Tyler Smith - 4
Tyron Smith - 5
Tyler Biadasz - 14
Zack Martin - 13
Terence Steele - 28 (including 12 vs. PHI)
Chuma Edoga - 11

https://thelandryhat.com/posts/tere...-michael-gallup-cowboys-contract-01hek3ne408m


Team culture isn't the answer...solving problems is.

The Cowboys starting right tackle has not only been a weakness of the offensive line this season, but he’s been a liability. On Sunday night in Philadelphia, he made every bit the impact CeeDee Lamb made, but instead of for the positive, it was unequivocally for the negative. It wasn’t just one great player victimizing the floundering young tackle either. The Eagles were rotating left edge players in. It was as if Oprah were giving away pressures to the studio audience at LDE – “you get a pressure, you get a pressure, you get a pressure!”

By early count, Steele was credited with eight pressures on the day. It was the same number of pressures Steele yielded against San Francisco earlier in the season. For the sake of context, Micah Parsons, arguably the best pass rusher in the NFL, is averaging just over six pressures per game. In other words, these top teams have been getting an above Parsons-level performance by their rotation of bodies lined up over Steele. That’s like gifting the opponent an All-Pro player each game.

https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/2023/11/06/cowboys-terence-steele-pass-blocking-issues-2023/

There are a number of tackle alternatives that could work, or fix Steele.



Steele’s tremendous work ethic and determination assure he’ll do everything within his power to get back to form. Until he’s able to physically regain form, it’s up to the Dallas coaching staff to help him out. Giving him help blocking and frequent chips from TEs and RBs will be key to helping Steele survive this season. He can’t be left alone like he has been the majority of the time, or the results will likely be the same. Steele has been a massive problem for the Cowboys passing game and his run blocking is doing nothing to make up for it. While his issues are understandable given his recent injury, they cannot be ignored.

 

[CWR]

He is less than a year removed from an ACL injury, I am not going to write the guy off or say he got paid and fell off because of it.

As for this season they are going to have to look for alternatives if he doesn't improve in a hurry.

Agreed. He either starts playing better or they rotate in someone else. I don't know how much is his recovery and how much is the new oline coach. The line as a whole hasn't been good though. If it was only him we'd at least be able to run left.

 

[CWR]

No guarantee, but I expect Steele to be better next year.
But the big contracts to recovering players is getting old. When you front load injuries, you're front loading poor value.

The other thing with these injury contracts is we don't seem to get all that great of value. If it was at a discount I'd make some sense of it, at least.

 

[john van brocklin]

We can't keep sending him out there every week when he is consistently dragging this line down. At this point he's probably the lowest graded RT in the league. So what should the plan be? Clearly Steele is still not 100% and needs some time to rest. Or maybe this is his 100% now and it's time for a more permanent change?

Can Richards play RT any worse than Steele right now? This seems like the least disruptive option?

Should we move Tyron to RT and put Richards at LT?

Move Tyler to LT, Tyron to RT and Bass to LG?

Any FAs out there? That can come play RT (or LG to give us some flexibility)

Thoughts?

Move Martin to RT.
Make him earn that new fat contract.

 

[Teague31]

This reminds me of an old thread back on the DMN forum where someone suggested Ebenezer Ekuban move to TE and Larry Allen to DT.

Larry would have killed it as a DT

 

[conner01]

Logical? He was also coming off a torn ACL/MCL.

So you let a guy who had 2 really good years walk over an injury that most players return to form from?

 

[John813]

Time to use Fasano, I mean Schoonmaker, aka Mr elite blocker to help Steele, right?

 

[vicjagger]

Martin --->RT
Bass ------>RG

 

[dfense]

You guys are crazy. The guy is coming off a major injury. Just because he can play doesn't mean it will be at a high level. I bet you are all going to lose your mind when Diggs play falls off next year. You'll all say it's because he got paid and ignore the catastrophic knee injury he suffered.

There's high level, and there's 12 pressures and a couple sacks allowed. A bit of a difference.

 

[nate dizzle]

Move Martin to RT.
Make him earn that new fat contract.

Has Martin ever even played T? I don't know if that's a better option than moving Tyler to LT and Tyron to RT with Bass to LG. Or Richards/Edoga to LT, Tyron to RT. Or Richards/Edoga to RT.

 

[nate dizzle]

Someone just doesn't forget how to play football. I wonder how much of this is related to O-line coaching. Perhaps he is not fully recovered from his injury.

I don't think he forgot anything. I think it's injury related. Doesn't matter what it is, he clearly should not be out there right now.

 

[quickccc]

This is a really tough situation for the Cowboys. First, they just paid him a huge contract so he has to work out for them. Then, he is reportedly a very hard worker who does all the right things. He is coming off an injury and what we do not know is how much has he recovered. He was never a great pass blocker, but he was adequate. Now he is horrible. But if he just needs a year to recover and regain the straign and mobility in his leg then we don't want to destroy him lentally, like they did with Chaz Green.

What concerns me about Steele is not just his pass blocker. He was a road grader in the run game last year. I saw him bulldoze Flether Cox a few times and that is no easy task. This year he is not moving anyone. We have to remember that after knee surgery a player is unable to work out his legs and his muscles atrophy. It takes time to rebuild the strength in the leg. If Steele can come back next year as strong as he was in 2022 then we want him back.

The question is can they give him some help? Can they use a TE to make sure the Edge guys don't out-flank Steele to the outside? I think benching him might be bad for him mentally. But I don't know the play

Before his ACL injury, ...Steele had only surrendered one, lone sack ( to Detroit stud DE Aiden Hutchison) last year in 2022. He was a clear upriser. young and athletic, and he was a solid, underrated run blocker.
Seems poised to make some future pro bowls.

- No doubt That seemed to all go to he/// with his major ACL injury. And yes, its a major recovery issue to
which he simply has to play it out on the playing field, to know if he is capable of returning to previous form.
Just dunno when it comes to these type of major injuries.

-This maybe a wait and see next year- but Cowboys also cannot allow Steele issues sabotage the health
of our QB.
Just as we have a Plan B with Tyron Smith .... we have to have a Plan B, when it comes to Steele.

- What further has hurt our OL depth, imo ... the disappointing development of Mark Waletsko and Josh Ball.
Two big draft pick misses.

- Hopefully rookie Asim richards is one to watch develop.
The reserves are down to moving Tyler Smith to LT again, Chuma (who played well after the Arizona game)
and the rookie Richard.

 

[quickccc]

Has Martin ever even played T? I don't know if that's a better option than moving Tyler to LT and Tyron to RT with Bass to LG. Or Richards/Edoga to LT, Tyron to RT. Or Richards/Edoga to RT.

yes, (if no one has already responded to this.)
I believe Martin was moved to and played RT in 2020, before he got eventually hurt with calf injury.

Ex- OL coach Joe Philbin eventually benched rookie Steele who struggled badly, before Steele was forced to return
after Martin got hurt a RT.

BTW, we don't wanna move Martin at RT, outside on an island, at this stage and point of his career.
In a phone booth type area, he can still be quite effective and among top OGs, imo.