Tony Pollard's season

[Kellsbells]

As awful as the running game has seemed at times, TP is only 65 yards short of 1,000 (935) and 10th out of all running backs. McCaffrey leads all backs by a wide margin with 1,459, but TP isn’t that far off from the rest of the top ten and could pass a few of them with one decent game. Derrick Henry, who many were begging the Cowboys to get before the trade deadline, has 1,014. However, Henry does have 11 TDs compared to TP’s 5.
Has his season truly been as bad as everyone thinks it was?

 

[JBS]

Yes

 

[Rowdy1]

As awful as the running game has seemed at times, TP is only 65 yards short of 1,000 (935) and 10th out of all running backs. McCaffrey leads all backs by a wide margin with 1,459, but TP isn’t that far off from the rest of the top ten and could pass a few of them with one decent game. Derrick Henry, who many were begging the Cowboys to get before the trade deadline, has 1,014. However, Henry does have 11 TDs compared to TP’s 5.
Has his season truly been as bad as everyone thinks it was?

Total yards is actually more than I expected it to be, but 5 TDs looks a bit tepid.

 

[Proof]

a lot of the leagues best backs have been injured this year making ranking look more impressive than it is

 

[Kellsbells]

Total yards is actually more than I expected it to be, but 5 TDs looks a bit tepid.

We knew all along he wasn’t a goal-line type of back.

 

[gimmesix]

As awful as the running game has seemed at times, TP is only 65 yards short of 1,000 (935) and 10th out of all running backs. McCaffrey leads all backs by a wide margin with 1,459, but TP isn’t that far off from the rest of the top ten and could pass a few of them with one decent game. Derrick Henry, who many were begging the Cowboys to get before the trade deadline, has 1,014. However, Henry does have 11 TDs compared to TP’s 5.
Has his season truly been as bad as everyone thinks it was?

Wanted Henry to pair with Pollard, not take his place. We just don't have that inside running presence that we had before. Pollard does his best but he's better on the fringes where he can make use of his speed and shiftiness in space.

I think expectations for Pollard were a bit unfair in the lead back role. Many were probably expecting the 5-plus-yard back that he was in a backup/shared-time role, but it's just tougher sledding when you are the main guy.

 

[speedkilz88]

Pollard should be in a shared backfield. They needed to get better than Dowdle.

 

[Kellsbells]

a lot of the leagues best backs have been injured this year making ranking look more impressive than it is

But isn’t longevity part of the equation?

 

[Kellsbells]

Wanted Henry to pair with Pollard, not take his place. We just don't have that inside running presence that we had before. Pollard does his best but he's better on the fringes where he can make use of his speed and shiftiness in space.

I think expectations for Pollard were a bit unfair in the lead back role. Many were probably expecting the 5-plus-yard back that he was in a backup/shared-time role, but it's just tougher sledding when you are the main guy.

He’s averaged 4.0 yards per carry. Kind of middle of the road, but far from the lowest.

 

[Kellsbells]

Pollard should be in a shared backfield. They needed to get better than Dowdle.

Speaking of Dowdle, he had 80 carries for 315 yards, 3.9 per carry, similar to Pollard’s 4.0. He looks exactly like TP to me when I see him carry, not the change of pace that we need.

 

[gimmesix]

He’s averaged 4.0 yards per carry. Kind of middle of the road, but far from the lowest.

Agreed, and that's about what I expect on the low end for a starting back. You want more, of course, but the minimum is 4.0.

I'm not upset with Pollard. I'm frustrated by the front office's plan to replace Elliott, especially since they used the same logic that failed at the receiver position the previous year when they traded Cooper -- promote the backup (Gallup/Pollard), sign a cheap vet for depth (Washington/Jones), draft competition that may need time to develop (Tolbert/Vaughn) and end up having to rely on roster bottom feeders (Brown/Dowdle).

 

[Kellsbells]

Agreed, and that's about what I expect on the low end for a starting back. You want more, of course, but the minimum is 4.0.

I'm not upset with Pollard. I'm frustrated by the front office's plan to replace Elliott, especially since they used the same logic that failed at the receiver position the previous year when they traded Cooper -- promote the backup (Gallup/Pollard), sign a cheap vet for depth (Washington/Jones), draft competition that may need time to develop (Tolbert/Vaughn) and end up having to rely on roster bottom feeders (Brown/Dowdle).

Speaking of Zeke, he’s currently #39, with 588 yards and 1 touchdown.

 

[goshan]

I've been a huge Pollard fan but he has been mediocre at best. His power is pretty good once he gets going and he is running hard for the most part.
But he isn't making many people miss (especially near the LOS) and I'm not sure his vision has been very good. His quickness doesn't look elite at all like it has in the past.
Now blocking has definitely been poor.
But I am thinking we need to draft a starter in the 2-3rd round.

 

[DallasDW00ds0n]

They need to move on from Pollard this offseason.

 

[gimmesix]

Speaking of Zeke, he’s currently #39, with 588 yards and 1 touchdown.

Yes, I'm not advocating that we should have kept Elliott. I would have rather kept him at a much lower price than doing what we did at the position, but he's not the answer and he wasn't going to stay here for the vet minimum. We went bottom of the barrel, though, with someone who had been worse than Elliott. Imagine if we'd have gone after someone like Raheem Mostert. Maybe we couldn't have lured him away from Miami, but he was a player on the upswing instead of the downswing.

 

[viman96]

Has his season truly been as bad as everyone thinks it was?

A RB only needs to average 59 yards per game to get 1,003 yards. Does that meet your expectations for Pollard?

 

[DFWJC]

2023 RBs Yards from Scrimmage and TDs (thru week 17)

1. C. McCaffery....2023 yds, 21 TDs (2000 yards ...again)
2. J Cook...1515 yds, 6 TDs
3. R. White...1446 yds, 9 TDs
4. T. Etienne...1397 yds, 12 Tds
5. B. Hall...1395 yds, 8 TDs
6. K. Williams...1350 yds, 15 TDs (only 11 games....2nd best RB this year, imo)
7. Bi. Robinson....1332 yds, 7 TDs
8. J Mixon....1293 yds, 10 TDs
9. D Swift....1263 yds, 6 TDs
10. J Gibbs...1231 yds...10 TDs
11. T Pollard...1230 yds, 5 TDs
12. D Henry...1228 yds, 11 TDs
13. R Mosert...1187 yds, 21 TDs (wow)
14. I Pacheco...1179 yds, 9 TDs
15. A Kamara...1160 yds, 6 TDs (13 gms)
16. S Barkley...1145 yds, 8 TDs (13 gms)
17. J Warren...1104 yds, 4 TDs
18. J Jacobs...1101 yds, 6 TDs (13 gms)
19. J Ford...1100 yds, 9 TDs
20. D Montgomery...1092 yds, 12 TDs
21. K Walker...1083 yds, 9 TDs
22. N harris...1072 yds, 7 TDs
23. Br Robinson...1066 yds, 8 TDs
24. C Hubbard...1043 yds, 5 TDs (11 srts)
25. D Singletary...1026 yrds, 3 TDs (9 strts, 16 gms)

 

[DFWJC]

CMC and Kyren Williams have been monsters this year

 

[LACowboysFan1]

As awful as the running game has seemed at times, TP is only 65 yards short of 1,000 (935) and 10th out of all running backs. McCaffrey leads all backs by a wide margin with 1,459, but TP isn’t that far off from the rest of the top ten and could pass a few of them with one decent game. Derrick Henry, who many were begging the Cowboys to get before the trade deadline, has 1,014. However, Henry does have 11 TDs compared to TP’s 5.
Has his season truly been as bad as everyone thinks it was?

No, but how many here were predicting a 1,500 yard/5.0 ypc season? Even with the injury.

I like Pollard, and it may be that he wasn't fully healthy to start the season. But I said after last season that being the lead back he'd not have the suprise factor from defenses, he'll be keyed on just like Zeke was.

So regardless of the reason, he's not lived up to expectations. That's a matter of FACT. Just check the stats.

If he's still here next year, and I expect Jerry will try to resign him, we'll find out with a full off season to rest and recuperate...

 

[KJJ]

He had 42 fewer carries last season and was already over 1000 yards. He and Dowdle have combined for almost 1250 and 7 TDs. That’s way down from the 1850 yards and 21 TDs Zeke and Pollard combined for last season. Big changes are going to have to be made at RB next season.