This team can win without Zeke

[DuncanIso]

Oline is stacked with talent

Amari Cooper is a threat defenses will need to double

Dak can do enough to get a W

New offensive scheme and creativity that can only help the offense

Defense is young and talented

If you believe Dallas would lose to the Giants and Commanders if Zeke is unavailable....then you have no faith in this team. You're also saying the front office hasn't built a good team with depth.

The success of the team shouldn't revolve around the availability of a starting running back.

Remember 2017?!?

 

[Tangle_Foot]

I hope that we can, I'm sure every NFL ball club wants the ability to survive the absence of a star player. I don't make this to be all about Elliott, we don't have to think too far back to remember when Sean Lee was out so were our chances of victory. I don't ever want to be down a starter but having a team that can overcome it is a team headed in the right direction.
Go Cowboys

 

[StarBoyz83]

I dont see it. Hard to see more than 10 wins with him this season let alone without him.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

Without Zeke we will win at best 5 games......

 

[xwalker]

Oline is stacked with talent

Amari Cooper is a threat defenses will need to double

Dak can do enough to get a W

New offensive scheme and creativity that can only help the offense

Defense is young and talented

If you believe Dallas would lose to the Giants and Commanders if Zeke is unavailable....then you have no faith in this team. You're also saying the front office hasn't built a good team with depth.

The success of the team shouldn't revolve around the availability of a starting running back.

They did NOT win the Super Bowl last season AND they don' get better without Zeke.

Beating the Giants and Skins is NOT the goal. Winning the Super Bowl is the goal.

 

[loublue22]

Is that you Mr Mara

 

[beware_d-ware]

It's laughable to suggest Elliott is average and only gets what's blocked. Put on the tape and see how often he gains yardage after first contact.

 

[the_h0wey]

Oline is stacked with talent

Amari Cooper is a threat defenses will need to double

Dak can do enough to get a W

New offensive scheme and creativity that can only help the offense

Defense is young and talented

If you believe Dallas would lose to the Giants and Commanders if Zeke is unavailable....then you have no faith in this team. You're also saying the front office hasn't built a good team with depth.

The success of the team shouldn't revolve around the availability of a starting running back.

This reminds me of the let Murray walk we have a great OLine and Joseph Randle can do the job thinking a few years back. That worked out terribly

 

[the_h0wey]

Oline is stacked with talent

Amari Cooper is a threat defenses will need to double

Dak can do enough to get a W

New offensive scheme and creativity that can only help the offense

Defense is young and talented

If you believe Dallas would lose to the Giants and Commanders if Zeke is unavailable....then you have no faith in this team. You're also saying the front office hasn't built a good team with depth.

The success of the team shouldn't revolve around the availability of a starting running back.

I wonder sometimes if people read what they write on this forum or just post stuff for shock value

 

[Zekeats]

Oline is stacked with talent

Amari Cooper is a threat defenses will need to double

Dak can do enough to get a W

New offensive scheme and creativity that can only help the offense

Defense is young and talented

If you believe Dallas would lose to the Giants and Commanders if Zeke is unavailable....then you have no faith in this team. You're also saying the front office hasn't built a good team with depth.

The success of the team shouldn't revolve around the availability of a starting running back.

Didn’t anyone learn from the Joseph Randle thing. This team needs a top 5 RB to be good and overcome the atrocious coaching staff.

 

[Jake]

Yes this team can win without Zeke.

As a run blocker he essentially get's what is blocked.

More evidence...he's going to give you simply what is there. I always chuckle when people talk about Zeke running through all those arm tackles (broken tackles) and falling for an extra 2 yards. It's a myth.

Only gets what is there? Percentage of rushing yards gained after contact last season:

Zeke 58.7%
Barkley 56.3%
Gordon 54.4%
Gurley and Kamara gained less than 50% of their rushing yards after contact.


http://www.nfl.com/fantasyfootball/...saquon-barkley-headlines-2018s-top-rbs-in-yac

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Only gets what is there? Percentage of rushing yards gained after contact last season:

Zeke 58.7%
Barkley 56.3%
Gordon 54.4%
Gurley and Kamara gained less than 50% of their rushing yards after contact.


http://www.nfl.com/fantasyfootball/...saquon-barkley-headlines-2018s-top-rbs-in-yac

He is not as good as he should be


We use a Massey-type rating system using PFF run-blocking and run-defense grades to adjust our play-by-play grading by opponent and rank offensive lines in run blocking (they are what help Mike Renner create lists like these). The last three seasons, the Cowboys offensive line has ranked fourth, second and sixth, respectively.

While offensive line rankings correlate well (r = 0.52) with EPA per running play, the Cowboys actually performed worse than would be suggested by their offensive line, finishing 12th in EPA generated as an offense per run play (-0.06 per). The Cowboys offense averaged -0.02 EPA per Zeke run (-0.04 if you count playoffs), which is still lower than one would expect with an offensive line that effective.

As we and others have noted, a running back’s ability to break tackles is his one stable trait as a player. Specifically, our Elusive Rating, which not only captures how often one breaks tackles in both the passing game and the running game but also what they do when they break a tackle, was not kind to Elliott in 2018. He was 35th in the metric (37.7), behind players like Todd Gurley (tied for 33th with Chris Ivory), Alvin Kamara (31st), Christian McCaffrey(26th), Adrian Peterson (13th), Chris Carson (12th), James Conner (11th), Melvin Gordon (9th), Saquon Barkley (8th), Kareem Hunt (4th), Derrick Henry (3rd) and Nick Chubb (2nd).

Zeke was 40th in this metric in 2017 and 31st in 2016. A lot of our grading system tries to divorce what a running back does versus what his offensive line “gives him.” A running back that doesn’t break a great deal of tackles will hardly ever earn a grade that their (volume-based) production would appear to imply.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/ne...as-cowboys-rb-ezekiel-elliotts-2018-pff-grade

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

This team won't go anywhere without Zeke.

 

[InTheZone]

Read all the great things this team has going for it in the original post and remember it when Dak struggles (if he does). I don't want to hear excuses.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Oline is stacked with talent

Amari Cooper is a threat defenses will need to double

Dak can do enough to get a W

New offensive scheme and creativity that can only help the offense

Defense is young and talented

If you believe Dallas would lose to the Giants and Commanders if Zeke is unavailable....then you have no faith in this team. You're also saying the front office hasn't built a good team with depth.

The success of the team shouldn't revolve around the availability of a starting running back.

Beating the Giants and Commanders. What a gold standard.

 

[ChuckA1]

Sorry, but history does not support OP's premise. Without Zeke, we haven't fared very well.

 

[QuincyCarterEra]

Lets see.

An OL without a RB. Oh I forgot any scrub can run behind that line.

Without Zeke and a threat of a running game they will double Cooper.

Then it will be all on Dak and then we can have the Dak bashing threads again.

We have no idea what kind of a coach Moore is. He could be awful. Just don't know. It's still Garrett's offense.

Defense is so young and talented until playoff games. Still can't get over the Rams game.

But you're right. If this team can't play a couple games without Zeke then they aren't as good as we think they are.

It's been proven over and over again that any RB can run behind this Oline. Unless you think Alfred Morris, Darren McFaddrn and Joseph Randle are all anything better than average.

 

[QuincyCarterEra]

Sorry, but history does not support OP's premise. Without Zeke, we haven't fared very well.

We have a winning record without Zeke. We have a 3-1 record without Zeke, while Tyron is playing.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

It's been proven over and over again that any RB can run behind this Oline. Unless you think Alfred Morris, Darren McFaddrn and Joseph Randle are all anything better than average.

Not much more than Scrubs. They didn't do anything special. Put up a bunch of stats. They didn't take over games and the Cowboys weren't very successful when they had to. Now if you're talking about Murray than okay.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

We have a winning record without Zeke. We have a 3-1 record without Zeke, while Tyron is playing.

Yea we got blown out when we played a good team but we were able to win when we played bad teams. Pretty much what would happen without Zeke.