News: There is a reason Dak Prescott might be in a ‘slump’ and it’s not his calf injury

[America's Cowboy]

What would you do moving ahead....assuming everyone is healthy? I'd go back to what worked best.

If they do that, will they be able to gel as a unit quickly?

The whole working as a unit thing appears to be very much a factor for this group.

Agreed. Either move Connor Williams back to Left Guard...or move La'el Collins to Left Guard while starting Steele at Right Tackle.

The Connor McGovern experiment at Left Guard has been a failure because Biadasz is not good enough to help him. Plus, Biadasz has been struggling as well. Our weakest Oline links are right in the middle of our Oline. Opponents know this, thus are attacking us right up the middle, making it hard for Dak and our receivers to have the time to connect, much less be able to run whatsoever between the Tackles. HUGE PROBLEM.

 

[Einstein]

I still think there's a physical limitation, you can tell when he tries to run.

Agreed, or he hasn't gotten over it mentally like he said he did. Or he's having flashbacks after the calf injury,,,

 

[G2]

Agreed, or he hasn't gotten over it mentally like he said he did. Or he's having flashbacks after the calf injury,,,

For me it's hard to believe it's mental, but who knows.

 

[fivetwos]

Agreed. Either move Connor Williams back to Left Guard...or move La'el Collins to Left Guard while starting Steele at Right Tackle.

The Connor McGovern experiment at Left Guard has been a failure because Biadasz is not good enough to help him. Plus, Biadasz has been struggling as well. Our weakest Oline links are right in the middle of our Oline. Opponents know this, thus are attacking us right up the middle, making it hard for Dak and our receivers to have the time to connect, much less be able to run whatsoever between the Tackles. HUGE PROBLEM.

Sounds about right to me.

I know you like Farinok but aside from injury, they just aren't going to do that so the only real solution is to go back to CW.

Collins is an interesting option but the staff doesn't seem to be up for that at this point. I wonder how easy that transition may be for him at this point in his career and in this scheme.

I watched Biadasz very carefully early in the season, but not so much lately.

While he would get pushed around in the passing game here and there, Biadasz was excellent at run blocking early in the season, but that appears to have gone away. Why?

I did not play OL and can't speak to how much the guy next to you affects your own play, but it stands to reason that's a real factor. Maybe you can speak to it.

 

[johneric8]

I'm a huge Prescott fan and I can even see he isn't playing great right now, but I also remember many great Qb's struggling for games or even seasons at a time so that brings me to the biggest problems I see. The way to beat this coverage is timing routes and the short passing game. Once the linebackers start cheating up then you can gash them with some stunts and timing routes. I see one of our biggest issues is Kellen "the beaver" Moore not having enough in his playbook to get offense rolling, that is all this is. Right now we're seeing the online not opening holes, running backs struggling because of it, QB off his game, Coaching really needs to get it's head out.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Misused phrase.

It is...there are times you "throw a guy open" and it can result in a pick lol.....

 

[Denim Chicken]

You didn't read. This is stats. Defenses are not blitzing and putting an extra man behind the nose. This is not a debbie downers. It's an article really on defensive scheme vs Dak.

They are not blitzing bc they can typically get pressure with 4 guys. They are mostly going light box bc there is no run game, so more guys in coverage. Also, there has been more disguised coverage of late which Dak and the wide outs are struggling with.

 

[RomoplusDezEquals7]

Dak isn't on the injury report. And the team has publicly said that Dak isn't injured. Teams get fines and draft picks taken away for not putting an injured player on the injury report. Not to mention it would allow them to give credence to a reason for his sub par play. What reason would they have not to put him on the injury report if he had any sort of injury.

Dak's feet have always been slow. He's big and strong, but he's never had fast feet. His pocket awareness has always been average. These aren't new things with him. If he's injured it would be known by now, by him or the team.

 

[pancakeman]

I think two things need to happen and you mentioned one of them, play faster. I also think Dak needs to start running more. He only has 106 yards rushing this year and that’s 200 off his normal pace. The RPO is not even considered any more.

Betcha after the dangling foot, word came down from on high to not call run options.

 

[morat1959]

If you're tired of it you shouldn't have clicked it.

Practice some self control and just avoid/ignore the threads that annoy you.

Problem solved.

This is hilarious! Great response.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

I don't know XO all that well, so I can't even try to speculate as to why....or if there's even anything to it...but since Denver, our receivers seem to be blanketed by the DBs.

Didn't seem to be the case earlier on in the season.

I have noticed this as well. Our receivers are RARELY wide open like they were earlier in the year. I think teams have realized by playing man coverage with two deep safeties for help over the top they can pretty much eliminate anything going downfield. Our route combos seem to have changed little if at all to counter this strategy. We need to be ok with 5 and 6 yard gains on quick hitters in the passing game. Getting some rhythm and allowing Dak to hit some easy short ones to begin drives would actually probably go a long way toward jump starting this offense. It would also give our offensive line some help in the pass blocking department where they have not been stellar lately. Kellen has been a major letdown in the back half of the season IMO. Dak has certainly played awful, but Kellen is not helping.

What I see is Dak looking for the big play down field and holding on as he is waiting for WR to come open, when they don't he checks back down but by that time the defenders are on top of the check downs and limit it to the catch no yards afterwards. What I would like to see are more quick hitters in the passing game and take a page out of the WCO where your short quick passes are an extension of the run game. Right now we seem to be big play or nothing, this offense needs to get back to taking what the defense is giving and move the chains and allow the big plays to come off of the more conservative passing game. Much like KC and Mahomes had to do as early in the season he was looking for the big play down the field and only when they got back to quick hitters allowing his playmakers to take shorter passes and allow them to make plays in space, that is when KC offense started to back to life.

This right here is very true. There are other things going wrong for sure, but Dak seems to be fixated on looking for the big play every down. Teams are playing coverage and are not going to allow it to happen. It is a nearly identical situation when you compare what happened to KC in the first half of the year. If we can start being ok with making teams pay with 5, 6, 7 yard passes we will be able to move the ball and the big plays will become available. Might not be as explosive as earlier in the year, but it is just how it is going to have to be if this team wants to make noise in the playoffs. For everything that Dak is not, he historically has been very good at taking what the defense is giving him. That is what has made him a low turnover chain mover over the course of his career. This year he seems too eager to force feed his weapons low % passes and it is really doing damage to our offensive efficiency. We can't even manage a first down on 40% of our drives. That is unacceptable given the level of playmakers we have on this team. I hope Kellen and Dak can adjust. If not, this season may flame out the same way it has every time the last decade.

To the OP, thanks for the excellent post to begin this thread.

 

[CowboyoWales]

For me it's hard to believe it's mental, but who knows.

When you say 'mental', i'd argue that it's his reaction to pressure. The argument that Dak can play against the blitz is supportable that when playing to timed routes (eg Coops TD vrs ***) he appears excellent....where he struggles is when he has time (especially against a defense that's not pass rushing and doubling up in the secondary).

It's as if defenses are gambling that Dak doesnt have the accuracy to beat heavy coverage and that that's a better use of manpower rather than rushing him.

This could well be compounded by his undeniable present lack of confidence in his ability.

 

[G2]

Get out of shotgun and give Zeke a FB. This delayed handoff crap isn't effective for his running style. I feel like 80% of our run plays come out of shotgun. I don't know if this is because Dak struggles in dropping back and/or reading defenses from under center or what

There is a time for shotgun, but in general I can't stand it.

 

[Nexx]

So let’s recap. It’s a book on Dak that he’s best against man coverage. When you blitz typically you’re in man. When you keep everyone back you can zone which Dak is not good against. That’s why you have been seeing a lot hesitation and holding the ball too long. Simple read by the Broncos head coach.

 

[CWR]

What would you do moving ahead....assuming everyone is healthy? I'd go back to what worked best.

If they do that, will they be able to gel as a unit quickly?

The whole working as a unit thing appears to be very much a factor for this group.

What we do best we aren't given the opportunity. Dak is best torching the blitz. Teams have caught on and don't blitz as often. Then we have LBS and safeties crowding the center only to drop into coverage and take away the quick reads. So he's having to wait longer for pass catchers to get open. The oline is struggling against 4 men rushes and the run game can't take advantage.

So the suggestion is Dak run the ball more often and we roll out more, as well as unbalanced alignments. Who knows if it works, but KM can't keep doing doing same thing.

 

[nate dizzle]

There is a time for shotgun, but in general I can't stand it.

Agreed. You are either telegraphing that it's a pass play or you are causing the rb to pause to get the handoff rather than getting a head of steam going into the line, which for a power back like Zeke seems to be the best way to play to his strength. If they operate from under center they can at least keep the defense guessing as to run or pass and would also help the running game. Anyways, that's my simplistic take on it.

 

[Ringo88]

That doesn’t matter to Dak’s boys. He does no wrong in their eyes.

Just like he does no good in your eyes. The exact same thing can be said for people who hate on him, even when he plays good.

 

[fivetwos]

What we do best we aren't given the opportunity. Dak is best torching the blitz. Teams have caught on and don't blitz as often. Then we have LBS and safeties crowding the center only to drop into coverage and take away the quick reads. So he's having to wait longer for pass catchers to get open. The oline is struggling against 4 men rushes and the run game can't take advantage.

So the suggestion is Dak run the ball more often and we roll out more, as well as unbalanced alignments. Who knows if it works, but KM can't keep doing doing same thing.

Nice post

That would seem to call for a reverse or jet sweep here and there as part of the run game to maybe loosen things up, no?

Those don't seem like part of the offense at all.

 

[glimmerman]

nothings interested reading bunch of nonsense from fans with 45 Dak threads open at the same time..jeez..

9-4 , 4 to go, 3 up in the division, headed to the playoffs ..enjoy it it doesnt last long..smh ughh

you all are soem debbie downers..

Lol. I hope we enjoy this weekends game. Should be over by halftime. And maybe Dak gets some confidence back. He started running with the ball last week. But he maybe getting greedy. Lol. Our O-Line just needs to get better. I would fire the O-Line coach. They are saying Elliot is getting better and believe it or not Pollard is going to have a limited practice.

 

[Rack]

Bull.

The reason Dak has not been able to see our receivers get open late is because our Oline is not giving him the time.

Fix our Oline and our receivers have to start getting open much sooner. If our Oline starts doing a much better job of blocking to finally get our running attack going, that will greatly help our passing attack and give Dak more time to see our receivers getting open late.

Like I said, watch the all-22.