The "Dak can't throw the deep pass" myth

[Ranched]

Don’t believe the haters. They know not what they talk about. They are just on an agenda filled hate fest. Very sad.

They went right from Romo to Dak. They'll continue on doing so till they die. Indeed "Very sad" & PATHETIC.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

There have been some pretty noticeable "misses" this year late in games on deep balls that would have sealed wins. He's overthrown Gallup on two deep passes where he was wide open for a TD. Now in fairness, his misses get way more attention. So those misses to Gallup get magnified, especially considering the importance of those plays and their potential effect on the game.

The other part of this is that Dak seems to be adverse to risk when it comes to putting the ball in the air. That can be a good thing but also be a bad thing. I think he's gun shy at times to put the ball down the field for fear of the interception. You can see his risk adverse self in the red zone when he almost always refuses to put the ball into the endzone, instead quickly going to the check down or dump off. Now again, in fairness, there are times when the scheme doesn't help him. There have been situations where we literally have run 4 WRs all doing curls from the goal to go. It's maddening. But there are other times when he's just missed guys or not been able to anticipate guys breaking free because he just is scared, for a lack of a better term, to make a tough throw.

Nailed it ........this is also the biggest issue of our red zone problems IMO coz everything's tighter with less time.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Both these posts are silly. They just are.

Since the dawn of professional sports, part of being a fan has always been cheering AND criticizing the team, the players, etc. It's inherent in being a fan. Are you telling me you guys have never had a player that frustrated you and you criticized them?

This is sports. I think few people hope Prescott fails. This idea that Dak criticizers take pleasure in him struggling at times is simply BS. I suspect if you asked most, there aren't many that wouldn't want Dak to be as good as Brady or Rodgers or Brees or even Mahomes. So this notion that there is some personal bitterness over this guy is poppycock.

There is this undercurrent in posts like this that if you aren't waving your pom poms 24/7, it somehow makes you less of a fan. It's ridiculous.

+1

 

[G2]

People see what they want to see. Prescott has thrown some awful passes, short pass, deep passes and has thrown nice looking and well placed deep passes.
Just like all QBs.
Stop dissecting every negative thing and enjoy the game.

 

[Ranched]

 

[Sydla]

They went right from Romo to Dak. They'll continue on doing so till they die. Indeed "Very sad" & PATHETIC.

Except it seems that it's the Dak fans who were the ones who are/were anti-Romo.

 

[Sydla]

People see what they want to see. Prescott has thrown some awful passes, short pass, deep passes and has thrown nice looking and well placed deep passes.
Just like all QBs.
Stop dissecting every negative thing and enjoy the game.

Sure all QBs make mistakes. But others make less. That's undeniable. And that's what people who are critical of Dak are basically saying. They want a QB that makes less mistakes than Dak does.

Your post reads like the QB position is a fungible position.

 

[kskboys]

This is a pretty weak post and you're a pretty good poster.

Sure all QBs make mistakes. But others make less. That's undeniable. And that's what people who are critical of Dak are basically saying. They want a QB that makes less mistakes than Dak does.

Your post reads like the QB position is a fungible position.

Both sides are guilty, Syd. There are quite a few Dak detractors who claim he has a weak arm and will always suck. Well, they sorta scream it.

And on the flip side, there are quite a few who believe he's a top 10 QB.

As is the norm, the truth is in the middle. Dak is OK. Has definite faults and definite areas for improvement. He's got a good live arm, but struggles w/ accuracy at times, esp when his footwork is bad, which it still is sometimes. Definitely could use some coaching up. However, this coaching staff has always been weak at developing players, and is notorious for leaving things as they are if they are deemed "good enough" and if we are winning.

 

[foofighters]

How do your explain this stat?



Seems pretty good to me.

44.... Wince

"Over the past 10 seasons"...Yet Dak has only 3 seasons under him. It's not bad but not good either. He really doesn't have the data (seasons) to really be included in this list.

 

[kskboys]

Nailed it ........this is also the biggest issue of our red zone problems IMO coz everything's tighter with less time.

I don't think so. We had the same red zone problems w/ Romo, though they are magnified w/ Dak. Our playcalling in the red zone is absolutely atrocious.

 

[Doomsday101]

Except it seems that it's the Dak fans who were the ones who are/were anti-Romo.

Myself big Romo fan. However Romo is not playing football any longer he has moved on and so have I. I have no issue with saying Dak needs to improve nor did I have issues saying a young Tony Romo needed to improve as a QB, some of his impulse throws while at times could be a big play would also at times cost the team. I watched Tony year after year working and looking to improve himself and in the end Tony was in my view a top QB in this league who at times was unfairly faulted and called a choker by many covering the NFL. As for Dak he has much to work on and improve on but shows a work ethic that makes me believe he can and will, he may never break a single Romo record and frankly I'm good with that because I think this team always asked too much out of Romo to begin with. I'm interested in this team winning championship not individual players and personal records. I also understand just as it was with Romo and other QB's of the Cowboys, they will always catch the heat until or unless they can help this team win it all.

 

[risco]

Don’t believe the haters. They know not what they talk about. They are just on an agenda filled hate fest. Very sad.

True that!

 

[Sydla]

Both sides are guilty, Syd. There are quite a few Dak detractors who claim he has a weak arm and will always suck. Well, they sorta scream it.

And on the flip side, there are quite a few who believe he's a top 10 QB.

As is the norm, the truth is in the middle. Dak is OK. Has definite faults and definite areas for improvement. He's got a good live arm, but struggles w/ accuracy at times, esp when his footwork is bad, which it still is sometimes. Definitely could use some coaching up. However, this coaching staff has always been weak at developing players, and is notorious for leaving things as they are if they are deemed "good enough" and if we are winning.

The extreme positions on both sides suck, frankly. The people who scream he's a bottom 5 QB in this league or the worst are just extreme fools that are letting their emotions get the best of them. Others just say it to get rises out of people, I would guess.

Dak is an average NFL QB. I am not a fan simply because I think the Cowboys need to be better at the QB position. I don't believe Dak will improve all that much from what he is now. Largely because what I see are issues that I am not sure are fixable. Sure, you can work on his mechanics and on his footwork, that at times, goes haywire. Things like that can be fixed I believe (for example, quite a few times he's moved out of the pocket and not facing pressure and has delivered an inaccurate throw because his footwork is not clean).

But his lack of pocket awareness at times and inability to "feel" pressure and move into the open spaces of the pocket concern me. So many times this year, he's created a sack by moving into the sack instead of stepping into a clean pocket and delivering a throw. I also am concerned about his inability to anticipate throws consistently. I think that's what separates the truly good to great QBs from the average ones. People like to point to his low interceptions numbers, which is great, but I think that also is a sign of the fact that he simply doesn't trust himself or can't make the tougher throws that elite and great QBs can make.

I just fear that he's got a lower ceiling than some other young QBs and because of that ceiling, the Cowboys themselves have a lower ceiling than they should. And yes, having said that, I also realize the options facing the Cowboys right now are very limited unless they want to dive into the Nick Foles pool this offseason.

 

[Kevinicus]

They went right from Romo to Dak. They'll continue on doing so till they die. Indeed "Very sad" & PATHETIC.

Romo haters tend to be Dak fanboys.

 

[Sydla]

I don't think so. We had the same red zone problems w/ Romo, though they are magnified w/ Dak. Our playcalling in the red zone is absolutely atrocious.

Not exactly. For example, in 2014, the Cowboys where 3rd in red zone scoring and 2nd in red zone TDs. In 2013, they were 2nd in RZ scoring and 3rd in RZ TDs.

They were in the teens in 2012 and 2011. They were 9th in RZ scoring and RZ TDs in 2010.

 

[Kevinicus]

Are there actually people in the world that believe the throw in that picture is indicative of having an arm?

 

[kskboys]

Myself big Romo fan. However Romo is not playing football any longer he has moved on and so have I. I have no issue with saying Dak needs to improve nor did I have issues saying a young Tony Romo needed to improve as a QB, some of his impulse throws while at times could be a big play would also at times cost the team. I watched Tony year after year working and looking to improve himself and in the end Tony was in my view a top QB in this league who at times was unfairly faulted and called a choker by many covering the NFL. As for Dak he has much to work on and improve on but shows a work ethic that makes me believe he can and will, he may never break a single Romo record and frankly I'm good with that because I think this team always asked too much out of Romo to begin with. I'm interested in this team winning championship not individual players and personal records. I also understand just as it was with Romo and other QB's of the Cowboys, they will always catch the heat until or unless they can help this team win it all.

Romo's emergence in 09 directly corresponded w/ learning how to run an O from Kitna in his injured 08 season. Unfortunately, Romo's breakout corresponded w/ Jerry not even noticing that both the OL and DL were falling apart, so Romo had to deal w/ a horrific clusterfudge from 10-13. And that clusterfudge was Romo's downfall, as he got injured behind the worst OL in the league and was never the same.

The good thing is, Romo blackmailed Jerry into fixing the OL, which has helped tremendously.

 

[kskboys]

Not exactly. For example, in 2014, the Cowboys where 3rd in red zone scoring and 2nd in red zone TDs. In 2013, they were 2nd in RZ scoring and 3rd in RZ TDs.

They were in the teens in 2012 and 2011. They were 9th in RZ scoring and RZ TDs in 2010.

We had the same sort of problems in the red zone w/ Romo. Part of that was due to Romo being really bad on end zone fades, and the fact that our stud TE was not a great red zone threat. We talked about this ad nauseum on the old boards. Seems as if many have forgotten.

Our red zone woes were solved those years same as they were in Dak's rook year. Using our powerful OL and a great short yardage runner. That running threat opened things up greatly for everyone.

You notice the one year we didn't have the correct running back, 15, is the year you didn't mention. I suppose our red zone woes were bad that year? Of course, not having a starting Qb MIGHT have contributed!!!!

Were there red zone problems in 16? Prolly not as many. Good OL, good short yardage running game.

 

[kskboys]

The extreme positions on both sides suck, frankly. The people who scream he's a bottom 5 QB in this league or the worst are just extreme fools that are letting their emotions get the best of them. Others just say it to get rises out of people, I would guess.

Dak is an average NFL QB. I am not a fan simply because I think the Cowboys need to be better at the QB position. I don't believe Dak will improve all that much from what he is now. Largely because what I see are issues that I am not sure are fixable. Sure, you can work on his mechanics and on his footwork, that at times, goes haywire. Things like that can be fixed I believe (for example, quite a few times he's moved out of the pocket and not facing pressure and has delivered an inaccurate throw because his footwork is not clean).

But his lack of pocket awareness at times and inability to "feel" pressure and move into the open spaces of the pocket concern me. So many times this year, he's created a sack by moving into the sack instead of stepping into a clean pocket and delivering a throw. I also am concerned about his inability to anticipate throws consistently. I think that's what separates the truly good to great QBs from the average ones. People like to point to his low interceptions numbers, which is great, but I think that also is a sign of the fact that he simply doesn't trust himself or can't make the tougher throws that elite and great QBs can make.

I just fear that he's got a lower ceiling than some other young QBs and because of that ceiling, the Cowboys themselves have a lower ceiling than they should. And yes, having said that, I also realize the options facing the Cowboys right now are very limited unless they want to dive into the Nick Foles pool this offseason.

Pretty much, yup.

Pocket presence can be improved. Not that a guy who lacks pocket presence can be great at it, no, but there are things a coach can do to help overcome it. Calling long developing routes w/ 5-7 step drops is not one of them!!!!!

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I don’t hate Dak but I’d say it shows that Dak has a high rating when he throws deep passes in the fourth quarter over the last ten years with a minimum of 60 attempts. It’s an obscure stat that focuses on maybe 2% of playing QB.

let me add to that, in 4 O'clock games, in October and november, in out door games, when the wind blows west to east and temperature is above 47.5 degrees he is even better.....