Tavon Austin - No Fumble Problem On Offense

[Bleu Star]

Can we stop the Tavon Austin fumble narrative?

On Offense he does not have a fumble problem.

In his 5 year career he has:
On Runs: 1 fumble
On Receptions: 4 fumbles
On Punt Returns: 17 fumbles

His fumble rate on offense for his career is better than:
Zeke 2016
Dez Career
Jay Ajayi 2017

Fumble Percentage On Offense:
1.32% Tavon Austin Career
1.41% Zeke 2016
0.96% Zeke Career
2.50% Jay Ajayi 2017
1.22% Jay Ajayi Career
1.81% David Johnson Career
1.57% Tiki Barber Career
2.59% Tiki Barber 2003
1.51% Dez Career

Lol... I see they're on your about the "look at me" second fumble thread bro....lol

But I appreciate the narrative & the message. I'm very excited about the added dimension Tavon will bring to our offense.

 

[Roadtrip635]

17 fumbles on punt returns is pretty bad. So we don’t let him return punts. Remember the 1 fumble Switzer had in the rams game? Changed the whole game and we lost. Not blaming Switzer himself for the team loss. But.

Averaging 1 fumble every 11 punts over a 5 year period is horrendous. It's mind boggling that any coach was still letting him attempt to return punts for that long. As, I said in the other thread, if this coaching staff uses him for PR, if /when he fumbles it's not on Tavon, it's on the coaching staff for putting him in that position. If someone isn't good at something, quit making him do it, very simple.

 

[xwalker]

Lol... I see they're on your about the "look at me" second fumble thread bro....lol

But I appreciate the narrative & the message. I'm very excited about the added dimension Tavon will bring to our offense.

I'm tired of thread titles that mislead and fuel false narratives.

 

[xwalker]

how many % did dez fumble?

It's at the bottom of my original post.
Dez 1.51%
Austin 1.32%

 

[xwalker]

Help me understand here...so the point of this thread is to ignore his 17 fumbles on punt returns?

What if Zeke was used as a punt returner once and fumbled? His fumble rate on PR would be 100%.

Would there be ANY reason for people to continually post about him having fumbling problems?

The Cowboys got Austin because Offensive Coordinator Linehan loves his abilities on offense.

 

[xwalker]

17 fumbles on punt returns is pretty bad. So we don’t let him return punts. Remember the 1 fumble Switzer had in the rams game? Changed the whole game and we lost. Not blaming Switzer himself for the team loss. But.

Yes, Linehan wanted him for offense.

His PR abilities are irrelevant to his abilities on offense.

 

[xwalker]

What's his problem on punt returns? Small hands? Catches like Twill with his body. Ball security. I see punt returns as a key roll for him with Switzer gone

They were going to find somebody else for PR even if Austin was not on the roster.

The Cowboys don't put a lot of focus into acquiring Punt Returners. Drafting Switzer was just a fall back pick after they just missed on a RB they wanted.

They'll likely use a sure handed PR. Somebody like Cedrick Wilson that they see also having upside at WR. They decided Switzer didn't have what they wanted at WR.

 

[Kevinicus]

For the dez supporters that is "classified!!!"

It's not high recently. He had 3 total in the last 4 years with no more than 1 in a season.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

What if Zeke was used as a punt returner once and fumbled? His fumble rate on PR would be 100%.

Would there be ANY reason for people to continually post about him having fumbling problems?

The Cowboys got Austin because Offensive Coordinator Linehan loves his abilities on offense.

I don't know about if his fumble rate would be bad or not but I do know 17 fumbles is bad no matter how you slice it. I just don't understand the insistance of pretending like this isn't a issue. Will it be a issue here? Hopefully not. But if we plan on having him at punt or kick return?He has to get that issue solved.

 

[xwalker]

I don't know about if his fumble rate would be bad or not but I do know 17 fumbles is bad no matter how you slice it. I just don't understand the insistance of pretending like this isn't a issue. Will it be a issue here? Hopefully not. But if we plan on having him at punt or kick return?He has to get that issue solved.

It has no connection to his status on offense.

They acquired him to play offense.

That has been made clear. It started with the post trade phone call where it waa obvious Linwhan wss the driving force to acquire him. It has continued with multiple comments from Linehan (Who does not talk to the press much) about how they will use him and how Linehan and Detroit tried to draft him.

Repeating his Punt Return issues is like hating the Gallup pick because he is not a Punt Returner. Maybe I should hate the Connor Williams pick because he is not a deep-snapper...

If they use him on PR and he loses a fumble, the ST coach should be fired mid-game.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

It has no connection to his status on offense.

They acquired him to play offense.

That has been made clear. It started with the post trade phone call where it waa obvious Linwhan wss the driving force to acquire him. It has continued with multiple comments from Linehan (Who does not talk to the press much) about how they will use him and how Linehan and Detroit tried to draft him.

Repeating his Punt Return issues is like hating the Gallup pick because he is not a Punt Returner. Maybe I should hate the Connor Williams pick because he is not a deep-snapper...

If they use him on PR and he loses a fumble, the ST coach should be fired mid-game.

Huh? There have been reports and articles about Austin being our punt returner or kick return guy. He's going to have more than one role here.

I'm not even sure what your point was of bringing up Gallup and Connor. Poor examples IMO.

 

[xwalker]

Huh? There have been reports and articles about Austin being our punt returner or kick return guy. He's going to have more than one role here.

I'm not even sure what your point was of bringing up Gallup and Connor. Poor examples IMO.

Reports?

Speculation by the media is not a "report".

I'm sure they'll give him some practice snaps and preseason snaps at PR but they do that with multiple players as contingency plans.

They didn't acquire him because of his PR ability.

If he gets a regular season snap at PR it will be because he is on the roster and the ST coach convinced himself it will be OK, not because that was the plan at the time of the trade.

The Cowboys with Stephen Jones running the show would not pay 3M for a Punt Returner.

They acquired Austin because Linehan wanted that type of player on offense. They tried to draft a hybrid RB/WR last year. They probably had some on their draft board this year.

They traded Switzer because they liked Jihad Ward (Marinelli and crew coached him at the Senior Bowl).

Rumors were already out that Switzer irritated Linehan last season. Switzer confirmed on twitter that he had expressed discontent about his role.

 

[xwalker]

He didn't he copied it from the other thread

That is not remotely true.

The other OP didn't have the info I provided.

I can post my spreadsheet if you would like.

 

[Verdict]

Can we stop the Tavon Austin fumble narrative?

On Offense he does not have a fumble problem.

In his 5 year career he has:
On Runs: 1 fumble
On Receptions: 4 fumbles
On Punt Returns: 17 fumbles

His fumble rate on offense for his career is better than:
Zeke 2016
Dez Career
Jay Ajayi 2017

Fumble Percentage On Offense:
1.32% Tavon Austin Career
1.41% Zeke 2016
0.96% Zeke Career
2.50% Jay Ajayi 2017
1.22% Jay Ajayi Career
1.81% David Johnson Career
1.57% Tiki Barber Career
2.59% Tiki Barber 2003
1.51% Dez Career

On one hand, it is good to see that he does not seem to have a fumble problem on offensive carries. On the other hand one might argue that a fumble is a fumble, and why should we differentiate between the two?

I think you would have to go look at each fumble to see the cause of the fumble in order to try to separate the situations, and maybe you could, and maybe it would be legit. I'm just not sure we can just say it's not an offensive problem simply because a majority of his fumbles were during returns.

Maybe all fumbles are just fumbles and the fumbles on returns are an outlier. Having said that, statistically it is very interesting that the fumbles are clustered up mostly in the return game.

 

[cern]

We liked Dunbar but he fumbled too often and got hurt too often. Austin should be better in every way, but can't fumble the ball. If he holds on to the ball, he'll be great.

 

[waldoputty]

Can we stop the Tavon Austin fumble narrative?

On Offense he does not have a fumble problem.

In his 5 year career he has:
On Runs: 1 fumble
On Receptions: 4 fumbles
On Punt Returns: 17 fumbles

His fumble rate on offense for his career is better than:
Zeke 2016
Dez Career
Jay Ajayi 2017

Fumble Percentage On Offense:
1.32% Tavon Austin Career
1.41% Zeke 2016
0.96% Zeke Career
2.50% Jay Ajayi 2017
1.22% Jay Ajayi Career
1.81% David Johnson Career
1.57% Tiki Barber Career
2.59% Tiki Barber 2003
1.51% Dez Career

how did his fumbles break down per year?
he had wrist surgery before 2017 season - could that have affected things?

 

[Corso]

How many of the punt fumbles are muffs and how many are actually fumbles? Without that information, the numbers are useless. For actual fumbles, and not muffs, it is irrelevant which they came on, they are still fumbles.

As long as they don't put him on punt return, then this whole thing is pointless. No matter the muffs, or fumbles, or any such what-not.

 

[Corso]

how did his fumbles break down per year?
he had wrist surgery before 2017 season - could that have affected things?

Look, let's keep this simple: don't have him do punt returns.
Everything else is good.

Why complicate that? If this team puts him on punt return...

Then we have a meaty discussion.

 

[Verdict]

I think the acquisition of Austin was a pretty good risk/reward proposition for the Cowboys at his rate of pay, no matter how it turns out. He was a top 10 pick when he was drafted and still has speed to burn.

 

[waldoputty]

Look, let's keep this simple: don't have him do punt returns.
Everything else is good.

Why complicate that? If this team puts him on punt return...

Then we have a meaty discussion.

u just want meat