We have to defer to the people who know his ability best and see him everyday.
They don't trust him at this point
*throws red flag*
The false assumption embedded in that statement that makes the conclusion false is pretty damn clear if one barely thinks about it...
You had Tony Pollard as the recognized bell cow back last season. They... "the people who know"... spent pretty much the entire season waiting for TP of 2021-22 to re-emerge after his season-ending injury vs. SF.
"So why wasn't Deuce the #2?"
Pretty damn clear if one barely thinks about it... again.
TP's biggest handicap was exactly what Deuce's is. Reasons sometimes are legit reasons, not excuses. You should anticipate that if your bell cow back isn't well regarded for his pass protection, you sure as hell are going to make sure your anointed #2 is someone who is, at least, decent at it. Rico is decent, if not good, at it.
So...
"don't trust him at this point"... ?!?
That merits a loud "nah dog."
2023 was 2023. 2024 is 2024. The Pollard era is out. And moreover, it's explicitly been said by those same "people who know" that the bell cow era has been set aside.
That means everything to this conversation.
First and foremost, "committee" as it is commonly understood across the NFL means you've gonna give all of your backs some pieces of the playbook. So, while we'll have to see for ourselves if the common understanding also applies in DAL, the conventional wisdom should be that, at minimum, three RBs are going to be getting some workload.
Second, somewhat obviously, that means there's not going to be the same reason for not playing Deuce. When Deuce is in the game, that's not going to be the dead giveaway that it would have been last season that the opposition can disregard the pass.
And that was the problem. To be fair to your claim, yes, they didn't trust Deuce to pass protect, but that was another way of saying what I just said... Deuce's presence in a game at any point when it was still contested automatically gave the defense a strong clue on whether a pass or a run play was coming. And that's a lot like having the advantage of hearing a trash can lid bang, and knowing you should anticipate something other than a fastball is coming.
Deuce isn't fast, he just look like he's running much faster than everyone.
You're not an idiot, but this is such a nonsense comment you made.
We're not watching how fast his legs are churning.
We're watching... and seeing... that legit high-tier FBS programs' DBs aren't tracking him down. They may be as fast, but they only keep pace, with very few exceptions. And his advantage over them quite often seems to be that he gets to his top speed... accelerates... faster than they can get to their top speed.
