Trouty
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Sturm's very thorough and meticulous break down on Jaylon's 2017 season (for those of you with a sub to The Athletic)
Addresses his supposed better play as the season wore on, and how much of a fallacy that narrative is when dissecting his play.
His argument, which I agree with. Sorry. Have hope for the boy, and I am not some "hater" of Jaylon. I have enough posts in this thread that specifically state my opinion of him, and to do so further is just regurgitating what I've already said.
So here's Sturm, who's pretty much universally agreed on as a non-hack who knows his **** when it comes to football and our Boys, and never shoots from the hip:
**********
https://***BLOCKED***/304698/2018/0...-cowboys-need-a-top-linebacker-in-this-draft/
"I have heard a narrative take life over the last few months. It is the idea that Jaylon Smith got considerably better as the season went along. Now, I may be suggesting a clarification of semantics more than anything here, but I think it is important for us to say a few things on behalf of the Jaylon enthusiasts that are all true.
All of those three things are true. But I would not necessarily say he got better as the season went along; rather that the team got much better at playing him less and therefore keeping him out of situations where he would be routinely attacked and, unfortunately, roasted.
[...]
You might notice that almost all of these nice plays by Jaylon are “one-direction plays”. He is not stopping and heading in the other direction. When he may maintain his path, he is starting to look solid.
These plays are all positives and should grant some optimism. But the issue isn't whether there are some places to use him. The issue, with Hitchens gone and Lee a year older, is whether he can be a full-time linebacker in 2018 without being routinely targeted by opposing offenses.
And for that, I wanted to show you some very disconcerting things about the final month of the season. Why the final month? Because this was the only time all year that the Cowboys went four straight weeks with everyone available. This is where they showed us their best linebacker group and what role everyone would play when available.
I went through all four games to get a feel for everyone's role. Allow me to show you my findings from the Giants, Raiders, Seahawks, and Eagles games in Weeks 14-17 as the Cowboys made their last-ditch playoff push that ended against Seattle.
[...]
Jaylon Smith: In these four games, he played on a rotation. He usually played the third possession of the game or the first possession of the second quarter. He would play on first and second down. Then, he might play every other series (against the Giants) or every third series (Oakland, Seattle, Philadelphia). He played in every situation in those series, but that was often just 8-12 snaps per half. He was usually subbed in for Hitchens at MIKE and was noticeably less effective. Basically, the Cowboys had benched him but wanted to make sure he still played some."
***********
I cropped a ton of Sturm's GIFs out, and a lot of his analysis -- A TONNE of his 2017 Jaylon analysis (including comprehensive breakdown of how woeful he was in coverage). I can post more if anyone would like. I look up to Sturm due to his encyclopedic knowledge of our franchise and his non-"homer," straight-shooter approach to Cowboys' journalism. Some here, lately, have taken to crapping on him. Maybe he isn't your cup of tea. But I like him.
Still, there's some stuff there for ya, if you want to read it and don't have a sub to The Athletic, re:my previous arguments.
Go Jaylon, keep developing. Go Cowboys
Addresses his supposed better play as the season wore on, and how much of a fallacy that narrative is when dissecting his play.
His argument, which I agree with. Sorry. Have hope for the boy, and I am not some "hater" of Jaylon. I have enough posts in this thread that specifically state my opinion of him, and to do so further is just regurgitating what I've already said.
So here's Sturm, who's pretty much universally agreed on as a non-hack who knows his **** when it comes to football and our Boys, and never shoots from the hip:
**********
https://***BLOCKED***/304698/2018/0...-cowboys-need-a-top-linebacker-in-this-draft/
"I have heard a narrative take life over the last few months. It is the idea that Jaylon Smith got considerably better as the season went along. Now, I may be suggesting a clarification of semantics more than anything here, but I think it is important for us to say a few things on behalf of the Jaylon enthusiasts that are all true.
- Jaylon Smith played in 16 games this season and that is no small achievement, considering what he had to do to make that happen.
- Jaylon Smith finished third on the team in tackles this season (behind Lee and Hitchens) and while tackles are a horrendous way to judge performance, it still counts for something.
- Jaylon Smith registered 9.5 splash plays; not bad for a rookie.
All of those three things are true. But I would not necessarily say he got better as the season went along; rather that the team got much better at playing him less and therefore keeping him out of situations where he would be routinely attacked and, unfortunately, roasted.
[...]
You might notice that almost all of these nice plays by Jaylon are “one-direction plays”. He is not stopping and heading in the other direction. When he may maintain his path, he is starting to look solid.
These plays are all positives and should grant some optimism. But the issue isn't whether there are some places to use him. The issue, with Hitchens gone and Lee a year older, is whether he can be a full-time linebacker in 2018 without being routinely targeted by opposing offenses.
And for that, I wanted to show you some very disconcerting things about the final month of the season. Why the final month? Because this was the only time all year that the Cowboys went four straight weeks with everyone available. This is where they showed us their best linebacker group and what role everyone would play when available.
I went through all four games to get a feel for everyone's role. Allow me to show you my findings from the Giants, Raiders, Seahawks, and Eagles games in Weeks 14-17 as the Cowboys made their last-ditch playoff push that ended against Seattle.
[...]
Jaylon Smith: In these four games, he played on a rotation. He usually played the third possession of the game or the first possession of the second quarter. He would play on first and second down. Then, he might play every other series (against the Giants) or every third series (Oakland, Seattle, Philadelphia). He played in every situation in those series, but that was often just 8-12 snaps per half. He was usually subbed in for Hitchens at MIKE and was noticeably less effective. Basically, the Cowboys had benched him but wanted to make sure he still played some."
***********
I cropped a ton of Sturm's GIFs out, and a lot of his analysis -- A TONNE of his 2017 Jaylon analysis (including comprehensive breakdown of how woeful he was in coverage). I can post more if anyone would like. I look up to Sturm due to his encyclopedic knowledge of our franchise and his non-"homer," straight-shooter approach to Cowboys' journalism. Some here, lately, have taken to crapping on him. Maybe he isn't your cup of tea. But I like him.
Still, there's some stuff there for ya, if you want to read it and don't have a sub to The Athletic, re:my previous arguments.
Go Jaylon, keep developing. Go Cowboys
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