The Condemning Air Yards Stat

[Creeper]

Look, no one thought Dak deserved $60 million. I don't even think his strongest supporters felt he deserved that kind of deal. But at the same time no one here is blessed with seeing the future either. We knew what Dak was, but he has never been as bad as he has been this year, and it is not close. First, his passes are softballs. He looks like he is throwing beach balls out there, especially on sideline throws. His decisions are suspect too, much more so than last year. Keep in mind Dak was running up to the MVP last year. So if you expected Dak to be as bad as he has been so far before the season, they you are a fortune teller.

But, this is why I would not have given him $60 million, even if it meant Dak becoming a free agent after this year. There is always a risk. He could get hurt. He could regress, as he has. Every contract is a risk, but a good GM wants to minimize those risks. For example, If you sign a QB you think is a franchise QB, get him some protection. Get him a good RB. Get him a good offensive line. Get him some quality WRs. Jerry gave Dak $60 million and did none of those things. It is irrational.

I think Dak is better than he is playing just not worth the money they paid him. In fact, IMO, Dak will never be worth the money they paid him I don't care how high QB contracts go over the next 4 years. I just wonder what the Cowboys coaches are thinking when they see him lob a balloon to the sidelines. I imagine they are holding their breath hoping it is not picked off.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

Ridiculous stat. It’s about playcalling, dink and dunk. That’s what they call for Prescott. They make him get the ball out fast. I’m not sticking up for him or anybody else but it’s ridiculous. Just like all the rest of them. The only statistic I care about playoff wins.

And you got 2 wildcard wins in 9 seasons.................Giddy up.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

Add to the fact our offense is so boring and anemic!!!
OMG, I'd rather watch these 2 below go at it than another offensive drive with HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

 

[Ken]

IMO Air Yards tell you more about a QB than many other stats. I went back and manually looked at all 3 QBs in tonight’s game and looked at air yards relative to the line of scrimmage. While some screens are designed to be negative air yards, in general you want a QB that’s able to throw downfield when needed.

Kirk cousins had a net of 73 yards through the air, with everything else coming through YAC. That’s 3.7 Yards beyond the LOS per completion. Not bad bus driving.

Cooper Rush also had 73 yards on only 14 throws, and he would’ve had way more if Ceedee or Jaylen could’ve snagged their deep balls. That’s 5.2 air yards beyond LOS per completion. Well done, Coop. Way to sling it.

Dak had 22 completions, and netted a whopping 35 net air yards the whole game. He only had 8 net air yards in the whole first half! That’s 1.7 yards beyond the LOS per completion. That is objectively awful.

The question is, who do we blame this on? The Oline? The coaches for the scheme and play calling, or Dak for not seeing the field or having bad accuracy down range? Or maybe the scheme is a reflection of Daks issues.

You tell me

I appreciate you trying to understand the game. Unfortunately, your take here is not accurate.

Air yards are normally a great indicator of how a QB performs but not in an isolated game or handful of games.

For instance, your analysis fails to mention that Cousins was going against our horrific defense. Of course, you have more time to sling it downfield.

It also fails to include the clear objective of the game plan to use the short passing game as an extension of the run game.

It also fails to mention that this approach was scrapped when Rush came in as they needed two scores.

Not only this...but Dak for his career is very high in this category. I am sure he just forgot how to play the position though.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Yes, the postgame show said Dak only attempted two passes over ten years. Not completed... Attempted.

And how can it be the scheme when you had a different QB come in the same game and throw several down the field? A couple of which should have been caught.

 

[thunderpimp91]

Look, no one thought Dak deserved $60 million. I don't even think his strongest supporters felt he deserved that kind of deal. But at the same time no one here is blessed with seeing the future either. We knew what Dak was, but he has never been as bad as he has been this year, and it is not close. First, his passes are softballs. He looks like he is throwing beach balls out there, especially on sideline throws. His decisions are suspect too, much more so than last year. Keep in mind Dak was running up to the MVP last year. So if you expected Dak to be as bad as he has been so far before the season, they you are a fortune teller.

A lot of people suggested this would be the case, the issue is the true Dak hater crowd and the Dak supporters who called everyone haters all offseason really drowned out the actual good football conversation for the most part. Dak is a solid player in this league, certainly better than what he has shown so far in 2024. The issue is Dak has always been a guy that needs a strong supporting cast (which 95% of QBs do). Coming into the year no investment was made in the run game, the OL went with two rookies, an aging RG that showed signs of decline last year, and a RT who we were told would be magically better because hes another year removed from injury. Add in that Cooks clearly isnt a quality WR2 along with no established WR after him on the depth chart and it was clear that Dak (and the Cowboys overall) were in for a rough season.

Dak takes the blame because he is the QB and making record money, but this offense as a whole was simply set up for failure from the start. Paying him just sets this team back further as they likely need a year or two now to rebuild, but will be handicap by the salary cap, and by that time you're looking at getting out of that contract anyways.

 

[morat1959]

#1 scoring offense 2 of the last 3 seasons, and top 5 the other season because they played nothing but bad defenses all three of those years. Got it!

You sound totally reasonable and don't have an agenda against Dak at all. Thanks for proving my point.

Give up the Dak love. Are the Cowboys winning a SB with Dak, Rush or Lance? NO. Are you kin to Dak, a cowboys plant or MS ST fan? There’s no other explanation as to why you continue to defend him. He is awful.

 

[noshame]

You can tell by the look in his eyes that his confidence throwing downfield is gone.
The defense knew rush had to throw and yet he got it done anyway. Without a 100% CD lamb
i'd like somebody to just ask Jerry point blank. Why did you decide to sign Dak Prescott to that contract? Did you think he was going to be a Super Bowl winning guy? You've watched the guy melt down against every tough defense he's faced for the last 5 years. What was the point?

I'm beginning to wonder if Jerry has some unknown health condition that's making him try to win desperately this year.

 

[fivetwos]

IMO Air Yards tell you more about a QB than many other stats. I went back and manually looked at all 3 QBs in tonight’s game and looked at air yards relative to the line of scrimmage. While some screens are designed to be negative air yards, in general you want a QB that’s able to throw downfield when needed.

Kirk cousins had a net of 73 yards through the air, with everything else coming through YAC. That’s 3.7 Yards beyond the LOS per completion. Not bad bus driving.

Cooper Rush also had 73 yards on only 14 throws, and he would’ve had way more if Ceedee or Jaylen could’ve snagged their deep balls. That’s 5.2 air yards beyond LOS per completion. Well done, Coop. Way to sling it.

Dak had 22 completions, and netted a whopping 35 net air yards the whole game. He only had 8 net air yards in the whole first half! That’s 1.7 yards beyond the LOS per completion. That is objectively awful.

The question is, who do we blame this on? The Oline? The coaches for the scheme and play calling, or Dak for not seeing the field or having bad accuracy down range? Or maybe the scheme is a reflection of Daks issues.

You tell me

Im not trying to argue with you…your opinion is your opinion…but I’m not sure I’d consider yards to be the most important number when there’s a such thing as defenses trading them for time.

Same thing with how offenses and defenses are ranked in general, which is yards gained and yards allowed. A least a fair part of that is about how the game is played due to the scoreboard.

 

[morat1959]

A lot of people suggested this would be the case, the issue is the true Dak hater crowd and the Dak supporters who called everyone haters all offseason really drowned out the actual good football conversation for the most part. Dak is a solid player in this league, certainly better than what he has shown so far in 2024. The issue is Dak has always been a guy that needs a strong supporting cast (which 95% of QBs do). Coming into the year no investment was made in the run game, the OL went with two rookies, an aging RG that showed signs of decline last year, and a RT who we were told would be magically better because hes another year removed from injury. Add in that Cooks clearly isnt a quality WR2 along with no established WR after him on the depth chart and it was clear that Dak (and the Cowboys overall) were in for a rough season.

Dak takes the blame because he is the QB and making record money, but this offense as a whole was simply set up for failure from the start. Paying him just sets this team back further as they likely need a year or two now to rebuild, but will be handicap by the salary cap, and by that time you're looking at getting out of that contract anyways.

Give up the Dak love. He’s done. He’s a has been that never was.

 

[DIAF]

Dak has not played well, but this whole offense is bad and is being led by two offensive coaches who are, well, downright offensive. Brian Schottenheimer is a terrible play caller who has bounced around because his offenses are stone-age and terrible, and we all know about MM. The OL has some of the worst Tackle play we've seen in probably 2 decades, and our skill position grouping is one of the poorest in the league outside of CeeDee. Every play that's called is around the line of scrimmage, its not opening anything up downfield.

The vibes are bad here and don't look to get any better. It's an amazing combo of bad offensive coaching and play calling and a trash roster. Of course the Air Yards are going to be low.

 

[Redsfan_83]

If you watch Dak closely, any pass over 5 yards is thrown behind or 45' over the head of his intended target. I cannot make this stuff up

 

[PAPPYDOG]

Give up the Dak love. Are the Cowboys winning a SB with Dak, Rush or Lance? NO. Are you kin to Dak, a cowboys plant or MS ST fan? There’s no other explanation as to why you continue to defend him. He is awful.

Ignore the few that remain they are just trolling at this point.......

 

[morat1959]

Dak has not played well, but this whole offense is bad and is being led by two offensive coaches who are, well, downright offensive. Brian Schottenheimer is a terrible play caller who has bounced around because his offenses are stone-age and terrible, and we all know about MM. The OL has some of the worst Tackle play we've seen in probably 2 decades, and our skill position grouping is one of the poorest in the league outside of CeeDee. Every play that's called is around the line of scrimmage, its not opening anything up downfield.

The vibes are bad here and don't look to get any better. It's an amazing combo of bad offensive coaching and play calling and a trash roster. Of course the Air Yards are going to be low.

Dak limits the play calling. He always has. Why are his limitations so hard to see? He’s had them for 9 years.

 

[thunderpimp91]

Give up the Dak love. He’s done. He’s a has been that never was.

That's Dak love? I think the nicest thing I said in there was he is a "solid player"

 

[MyFairLady]

Everything you see is what Dak asks for. The whole thing revolves around him and his insane contract. Dak friendly is not good football.

 

[morat1959]

Ignore the few that remain they are just trolling at this point.......

What percentage of the fan base as a whole still defends Dak? My guess is 10-20 %.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

What percentage of the fan base as a whole still defends Dak? My guess is 10-20 %.

Maybe who cares our fans are just selling their season tickets for years now.

This franchise by the time Dak is benched will have reached new lows and ya we can primarily thank Jerry the idiot GM!

 

[DIAF]

Dak limits the play calling. He always has. Why are his limitations so hard to see? He’s had them for 9 years.

This is getting ridiculous. We can't talk about the offense on this board without it getting made into DAK THIS DAK THAT.

Look, Dak has 3 Pro Bowls, 2 top 10 MVP finishes (including a 2nd place finish in 2023), and has a career per-17 game season average of 30 TDs/11 Ints, 67% completion, and 4300 yards. He's never been ELITE but he's not limiting the play calling, don't be ridiculous.

He's not playing well at all this year and I think a huge part of that is coaching, playcalling, and the garbage supporting cast. That's not an excuse for his play it's just a fact. Unless you have Pat Mahomes or Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen, your QB isn't going to be successful under these conditions.

I would start by getting rid of Schotty and MM. You don't fix the offense without one or both of these things happening.

 

[Creeper]

A lot of people suggested this would be the case, the issue is the true Dak hater crowd and the Dak supporters who called everyone haters all offseason really drowned out the actual good football conversation for the most part. Dak is a solid player in this league, certainly better than what he has shown so far in 2024. The issue is Dak has always been a guy that needs a strong supporting cast (which 95% of QBs do). Coming into the year no investment was made in the run game, the OL went with two rookies, an aging RG that showed signs of decline last year, and a RT who we were told would be magically better because hes another year removed from injury. Add in that Cooks clearly isnt a quality WR2 along with no established WR after him on the depth chart and it was clear that Dak (and the Cowboys overall) were in for a rough season.

Dak takes the blame because he is the QB and making record money, but this offense as a whole was simply set up for failure from the start. Paying him just sets this team back further as they likely need a year or two now to rebuild, but will be handicap by the salary cap, and by that time you're looking at getting out of that contract anyways.

Exactly. This is why I suggested two years ago that Dallas build the team to run the football and play stout defense. Take the pressure off Dak, or make him dispensable. No need to pay him the ridiculous money they pay him.

And btw, who had Zack Martin falling apart on their Bingo card? Before teh season I think we assume he would be the same guy we have seen every year. His demise has really been a problem for the offense this year.