Sturm Debunks Dak and Dunk

[Kevinicus]

Receivers have been running wide open downfield all year. Dak doesn't look down there yet. He will one day.

We hope.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Except we are not a low scoring team Dallas ranks 4th in the NFL with 26.1 points a game.

We are 20th in the league in passing TD. We are second in rushing TD.

 

[Doomsday101]

Yep. The amount of facts being glossed over in this thread are staggering.

True. As one who is a big Romo fan I can't deny what I am seeing in Dak. Yes there are things he must improve on and I think he will as he gains more and more experience. However we are not seeing a guy who takes off at the 1st sign of pressure he has shown he will hang in the pocket. He will go through his progression and his high completion rate moves the chains and his 20 TD throws and 6 rushing TD with only 4 ints has helped this team.

 

[erod]

Great analysis. And most importantly this seems to be what the Cowboys coaches think as well. It appears they are building the team for just such an approach, which is the exception in the NFL. Hopefully they will be rewarded for their return to smash-mouth fundamental football. Dak is a perfect fit for this team which is why he is the man.

Did you watch Romo in 2014?

 

[ringmaster]

Cowboys don't throw the ball deep because we don't have WRs that can get downfield fast enough before rush gets to QB. TW is the closest person we have to Terry Glenn type speed.

But even if they could or can, they can't catch it consistently enough on a long pass to make it a staple part of the offense.

So Intermediate and Short passes is what we do almost all the time.

btw. Cowboys not alone in that department.

Brice Butler can get down field too but the deep ball isn't the prerequisite in this offense and Dak does occasionally take a shot down field the 50yd bomb to Dez in the Steelers game for a TD is a prime example of this so if it's there he sees it he takes it.

 

[erod]

True. As one who is a big Romo fan I can't deny what I am seeing in Dak. Yes there are things he must improve on and I think he will as he gains more and more experience. However we are not seeing a guy who takes off at the 1st sign of pressure he has shown he will hang in the pocket. He will go through his progression and his high completion rate moves the chains and his 20 TD throws and 6 rushing TD with only 4 ints has helped this team.

It was working well early in the season, but the gears are starting to grind.

The offensive line and Zeke are in high gear, while Dak is starting to bog down the machine.

 

[Paniolo22]

Negative

Disagree. Yards...Per...Attemp. As opposed to Yards...Per...Completion. No need to over think this.

 

[Miller]

Impressive? He didn't throw a touchdown pass, and he led us to one TD the entire game. Wow.

His first two drives were going swimmingly until if idiot penalties that put us in long yardage situations. How is that his fault? He only missed 4 passes and we won

Am I in some bizzaro zone where people complain about 12-2 and a QB who just had a great game?

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

In this thread, Dak being a dink and dunker has been debunked, as has the team being low scoring...yet the negative beat rolls on around here.

Him not throwing downfield has not been debunked but instead affirmed.

His mediocre play in the RZ is also pretty established.

 

[DCBoysfan]

Did you watch Romo in 2014?

That Romo is in the past where he will stay. Its 2016 soon to be 2017, time to move on.

 

[SDCowboy]

Him not throwing downfield has not been debunked but instead affirmed.

His mediocre play in the RZ is also pretty established.

I'd like him to throw deep a bit more also, but him being a dink and dunker has been debunked as he's top 5 in AIR yards/attempt. I'm not saying he goes deep as often as some, but that also doesn't make him a dink and dunker.

 

[Direwolf63]

Look at Romo in 2014. He had a similar team to this one, and he should have been league MVP with 34 TDs, 9 ints, and 70% completion percentage. Played tremendously well against Green Bay in the playoffs.

Other years, Romo had to play Jedi with 4-12 rosters. Those are bad comparisons.

Romo has reached that rare level of understanding that few QBs do. And he has the team to take advantage. Dak is still feeling his way on pure instinct, and the big elite defenses are smelling his uncertainty.

I don't necessarily disagree with what you are saying. I love Romo. Always have. Always will. He will be in the Ring of Honor some day. And deservedly so.

But you are just assuming that if Romo walks onto the field tomorrow he will be the 2014 Romo. But that was 2 years and several injuries ago. The fact is that Romo has barely played since the Dez catch/non-catch play in Green Bay 23 months ago.

We have no idea which Tony Romo we would see. If somebody can guarantee to me that we would get the 2014 Tony Romo, I would say make the change today. Right now. Immediately.

But I have no idea what Tony Romo can or cannot do today. On the other hand, I know that Dak can get us to 12-2 despite the fact that he needs to become a better player. Because he's a rookie and all rookies needs to get better. Especially rookie QB's.

I would rather stick with what we know than to take a blind shot into the unknown when we are 12-2 and about to lock up the #1 seed.

Just my opinion.

 

[Doomsday101]

Dallas destroyed bad football teams early in the season. The offensive line toys with them like a dog with a wounded grasshopper.

But those won't be the teams in the playoffs.

Oh please not the excuses all QB play so called easy teams including Romo so the point of that is what? Dallas has also beaten top defensive teams they have beaten division leading teams they have gone on the road and won big games. Dak deserves credit for what he is doing and after a bad game how he bounced back. Hell with all the voices hollering he should be benched he turns around has a big game vs a defense who giving up 12 point a game over the last few weeks and beat them.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Dak is not dink and dunk but he is a bus driver at this point in his career. Safe and not pushing the envelope.

 

[BoysfanfromCanada]

We are 20th in the league in passing TD. We are second in rushing TD.

Of which Dak himself has 5 or 6. He drives them to the red zone a lot, and in there they will use their strength, the running game to score, rather than always rely on a rookie arm.

If you guys aren't impressed with Dak so far I don't know what rookie qb would.

 

[willia451]

Last time Cowboys were in the playoffs against GB, Romo throws deep ball to Dez and he did not secure the catch (or whatever).

And somebody out here on these forums was complaining that he could have thrown the ball to a wide open Beasley for 10-15 yrds and a first down. Instead of taking a chance on Dez at > 30 yrds.

Not saying anything bad about Romo. But the situation is relevant to the discussion everyone is having.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Of which Dak himself has 5 or 6. He drives them to the red zone a lot, and in there they will use their strength, the running game to score, rather than always rely on a rookie arm.

If you guys aren't impressed with Dak so far I don't know what rookie qb would.

For a rookie QB he is great. I'm interested in winning in the playoffs and they don't handicap in the NFL.

He sure looked like Steve McNair to me on the QB draw. I like Dak a lot and have high expectations for the future but I am also not afraid to acknowledge his limitations.

 

[Clove]

Look at Romo in 2014. He had a similar team to this one, and he should have been league MVP with 34 TDs, 9 ints, and 70% completion percentage. Played tremendously well against Green Bay in the playoffs.

Other years, Romo had to play Jedi with 4-12 rosters. Those are bad comparisons.

Romo has reached that rare level of understanding that few QBs do. And he has the team to take advantage. Dak is still feeling his way on pure instinct, and the big elite defenses are smelling his uncertainty.

Romo brought a lot of those thing upon himself by not tossing the ball away, escaping buying time taking unnecessary hits and now it's caught up with him. Prior to 2014, I was trying to tell the board that he needs to get rid of the ball quicker and stop taking those hits. I was telling the board that he needed to read the defenses quicker like Eli Does, and of course, I was called a hater.

Well now he's injured all the time. I guess I'm not a hater now.

 

[SDCowboy]

Dak is not dink and dunk but he is a bus driver at this point in his career. Safe and not pushing the envelope.

He couldn't be further from a bus driver. Bus drivers don't routinely make plays. Don't mistake Dak making smart plays instead of costly stupid ones for being a bus driver.

 

[Doomsday101]

We are 20th in the league in passing TD. We are second in rushing TD.

True Dak has 20 passing TD and yet his rushing 6 TD gives him 26 TD on the season. In my eyes that is a pretty damn good weapon in the redzone when the defense can cover all WR but because of Dak athletic ability can't account for him in those situations.