Unpopular opinion: I don't think Zeke is having a bad year

[Sydla]

its laughable you cant see thats thats normal for most heavily used players, ie look at the Numbers Emmitt smith had ONE year over 5YOC just one had 3 years over 4.5 the rest were ALL well below where Zeke is this season..

DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THAT EMMITT ALSO after his 5.3 avg year went down every year after..he still was relative and he still ended up in the HOF..No one critiqued ES back then because we didnt have the Internet and stats available nor did we have so many forums and fantasy football watching fans that all they do is compare stats and critique players from their fat a$$es..

oh man how ES would have been ripped apart in this era from his holdouts , being the highhest paid RB his entire career, and dwindling YPC being dwindling yearly after year 4.. it didnt happen..

so someone of us need to remind those on zekes butt this year that it isnt as bad as it seems..

It literally took you the first sentence to support the case that we probably shouldn't have paid him to be the highest paid TB in football.

Plus, you just contradicted yourself. Your first post said it's not age and usage at play here. Then you say here that it's normal heavy use players see a decline in production.

LOL.

 

[Whirlwin]

How many people wanted 400 yard plus games. I think it was a huge mistake and I said so from the beginning. I’d rather play Smash Mouth 250 yards control the clock and win. The defense is suspect because you’re on the field way too often. One has to help the other and it wasn’t a good idea

 

[jsb357]

Given everything that has happened this year and knowing Garrett started this season
without a contract,I blame everything on Zeke's holdout.

This team is mentally weak and needed to start camp with it's full complement of players
to get on a roll especially with an new offensive coordinator.

Now you take what is arguably the best player "holding out early" and it's starts the "doubt"
in a team that has to get off to a fast start and get confidence in themselves.

Zeke put himself on a pedestal claiming, by holding out early, he was more important
that everyone else on the team, including the head coach.

This destroyed any "all for one one for all" chemistry this team may have had and effectively
laid waste to the entire season.

Yes Garrett is not a top tier coach but Zeke's holdout caused more damage that Garrett
could correct mid-season.

Yes JJ as GM is bad, yes Garrett is weak and can get overwhelmed, but this season and
the results therein are Zeke's fault.

 

[blueblood70]

It literally took you the first sentence to support the case that we probably shouldn't have paid him to be the highest paid TB in football.

Plus, you just contradicted yourself. Your first post said it's not age and usage at play here. Then you say here that it's normal heavy use players see a decline in production.

LOL.

but not to the point where it keeps them from being productive ie ES played what 13-15 years ? Gore and Ap still around.. im saying using that fact is fact for all players but they safety around and produce , I mean some players who want to and are very durable can play over 10yrs like even Fitzpatrick the AZ WR..

here we are in yr 4 saying Zekes gone so downhill from 2016 is not accurate and he can play out this deal and like Emmitt still be productive..he did not drop off cliff, lots of his surrounding environment has changed.. regardless of how much EE got paid , you pay your best players and he is still very much one of our best and available players.. money has nothing to do with it and thats the issue with fans, see his supporting cast and coaches this year for the drop in stats not his body and heath..

im tried of this theres 21 starters on defense who are worse, theres a few on offense and add ST and coaching in it, this should be a non topic..Zeke and his new deal are NOT the reason we are 6-7..

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

but not to the point where it keeps them from being productive ie ES played what 13-15 years ? Gore and Ap still around.. im saying using that fact is fact for all players but they safety around and produce , I mean some players who want to and are very durable can play over 10yrs like even Fitzpatrick the AZ WR..

here we are in yr 4 saying Zekes gone so downhill from 2016 is not accurate and he can play out this deal and like Emmitt still be productive..he did not drop off cliff, lots of his surrounding environment has changed.. regardless of how much EE got paid , you pay your best players and he is still very much one of our best and available players.. money has nothing to do with it and thats the issue with fans, see his supporting cast and coaches this year for the drop in stats not his body and heath..

im tried of this theres 21 starters on defense who are worse, theres a few on offense and add ST and coaching in it, this should be a non topic..Zeke and his new deal are NOT the reason we are 6-7..

What special dynamic playmaking ability does Zeke bring with the ball in his hands?

This is what fans do to justify middling play by their favorite players. Witten is averaging 8.6 yards per catch and folks try to spin it “oh, he’s finding the holes underneath...” as if no other tight end in the league could do that. Zeke hasn’t broken any runs so it’s “oh, he’s getting those tough 2-3 yard grind-it-out yards...”

I find it a bit rich too that last year when Saquan had poor games the anti-Barkley crowd were not buying any excuses of injuries or poor offensive line play. Now Zeke has had some struggles and the first thing trotted out is “the o-line isn’t blocking for him....this scheme sucks!”

 

[Sydla]

but not to the point where it keeps them from being productive ie ES played what 13-15 years ? Gore and Ap still around.. im saying using that fact is fact for all players but they safety around and produce , I mean some players who want to and are very durable can play over 10yrs like even Fitzpatrick the AZ WR..

here we are in yr 4 saying Zekes gone so downhill from 2016 is not accurate and he can play out this deal and like Emmitt still be productive..he did not drop off cliff, lots of his surrounding environment has changed.. regardless of how much EE got paid , you pay your best players and he is still very much one of our best and available players.. money has nothing to do with it and thats the issue with fans, see his supporting cast and coaches this year for the drop in stats not his body and heath..

im tried of this theres 21 starters on defense who are worse, theres a few on offense and add ST and coaching in it, this should be a non topic..Zeke and his new deal are NOT the reason we are 6-7..

I don't think I have, or frankly many people, have said Elliott is THE reason we are 6-7. But his play not being great is definitely one of a many factors. I find anyone who can't admit that to be nothing more than a total Elliott fanboi.

He's clearly not the best player (or more specifically played the best) of the 22 starters on either side of the ball. For you to suggest that he is, well, that gets back to the Elliott fanboi thing.

And yes, if we are paying Elliott a crap ton of money and he's just "productive" that's money not well spent. He needs to be more than just "productive". He needs to be spitting out great, elite seasons. That's why the Cowboys paid him what they paid him. Money has everything to do with it when you are talking about a capped league.

 

[gimmesix]

I am not trying to compare Randle and Zeke.
There really is no comparison. What I am comparing is the reaction to 4.1. It is thought Randle sucked and he did. We started using DMC and he had 1k yards and that wasn’t even good enough. Despite our horrible QB play and despite not having a #1 receiver for the majority of the year, and not fully recovered when we did have him, we had a top 10 rushing attack that year.

The RBs were so lowly thought of that we spent a premium pick on a RB in 2016, despite our running game being the strength of the team in 2015, even with Randle and DMC as the backs. Randle specifically has been made fun of since then and very few (well really nobody) has even attempted to defend the situation he was running behind with absolutely no threat of the passing game.

Zeke on the other hand gets all kinds of excuses instead of being measured on the same level. If 4.1 was bad for Randle, then it should be horrible for Zeke. And if 4.1 wasn’t bad for Randle, then not sure why we needed an upgrade at the position with a premium pick when we needed defensive help, especially since Randle was replaced with DMC as starter and DMC played very well. As it turned out, DMC got injured after Zeke was drafted, but the Cowboys didn’t know that yet.

You can't just take averages and compare them unilaterally. 4.1 for one back might consist of him gaining 3 yards on a run where he should have gained none, while 4.1 for another back might be him gaining no yards when he should have gained 3.

You have to consider the blocking, etc. Take McFadden as an example, his 4.6 YPC looks good in comparison, but we replaced him as the starter because he had to have a well-blocked hole in order to gain any yardage. His yards after contact were low unless he had a head of steam. He wasn't good at cutting and finding secondary holes.

What we can say about Elliott this season is he's made the wrong decision at times. He hasn't been elusive enough when he's gotten to the second level. But we have to also acknowledge that there have been plenty of times when he got more out of a run than the blocking or play-call deserved. His 4.1 is the product of that. It could be better, but it also could easily be worse.

 

[Aviano90]

You can't just take averages and compare them unilaterally. 4.1 for one back might consist of him gaining 3 yards on a run where he should have gained none, while 4.1 for another back might be him gaining no yards when he should have gained 3.

You have to consider the blocking, etc. Take McFadden as an example, his 4.6 YPC looks good in comparison, but we replaced him as the starter because he had to have a well-blocked hole in order to gain any yardage. His yards after contact were low unless he had a head of steam. He wasn't good at cutting and finding secondary holes.

What we can say about Elliott this season is he's made the wrong decision at times. He hasn't been elusive enough when he's gotten to the second level. But we have to also acknowledge that there have been plenty of times when he got more out of a run than the blocking or play-call deserved. His 4.1 is the product of that. It could be better, but it also could easily be worse.

Well, I watched Zeke in 2017 and he wasn’t good. I took a lot of heat for it and I couldn’t care less, but the perception Zeke was great pulled the wool over a lot of eyes and it’s still happening to a certain extent. Zeke was pretty crappy that year and I wasn’t surprised to see him rolling into meetings looking hung over and needing a nap when the All or Nothing series came out. His performance that year shouldn’t be excused. He had a decent amount of yards for missing 6 games due to suspension but that was based on volume carries. He even whiffed on several blocks that year. Very sub par year for what we should expect from Zeke.

 

[blueblood70]

What special dynamic playmaking ability does Zeke bring with the ball in his hands?

This is what fans do to justify middling play by their favorite players. Witten is averaging 8.6 yards per catch and folks try to spin it “oh, he’s finding the holes underneath...” as if no other tight end in the league could do that. Zeke hasn’t broken any runs so it’s “oh, he’s getting those tough 2-3 yard grind-it-out yards...”

I find it a bit rich too that last year when Saquan had poor games the anti-Barkley crowd were not buying any excuses of injuries or poor offensive line play. Now Zeke has had some struggles and the first thing trotted out is “the o-line isn’t blocking for him....this scheme sucks!”

they all have up and down stretches sin the season.. Period.. Zeke the last 3 games has been running at near 6YPC with near 70 in the first halves and the only reason he didnt get to 120-150 is the defense collapsed we got behind and abandoned the run in the second half, the first 3 of 4 games thy got pass happy, its KM new offense, other games hes broken 100 and looked good doing it.. GB game first half on fire same thing dak threw pics, passes dropped , defense doesnt hold they abandoned the run..


its Obvious hed be right on track to his outputs in years past if these factors didnt happen..im not saying hes been spectacular in every moment but again hes not been the issue and hes not having as down a year as fans HERE are making it seem..

im moving on ..

 

[blueblood70]

Well, I watched Zeke in 2017 and he wasn’t good. I took a lot of heat for it and I couldn’t care less, but the perception Zeke was great pulled the wool over a lot of eyes and it’s still happening to a certain extent. Zeke was pretty crappy that year and I wasn’t surprised to see him rolling into meetings looking hung over and needing a nap when the All or Nothing series came out. His performance that year shouldn’t be excused. He had a decent amount of yards for missing 6 games due to suspension but that was based on volume carries. He even whiffed on several blocks that year. Very sub par year for what we should expect from Zeke.

nearly got near 1k in only 10 games... he led in YPG.. not good according to what comp? you fans are being rediculous..

 

[Aviano90]

nearly got near 1k in only 10 games... he led in YPG.. not good according to what comp? you fans are being rediculous..

Not good compared to the standard he set in 2016. But, he is apparently good enough for some people that he no longer has the expectation to be great. Excusing mediocrity is ridiculous, IMO. Low expectation, I guess.

 

[MaaS]

Is Zeke overpaid relative to what he brings to the team? Yes.

Is he having a bad year? No.

 

[Section446]

For what he's getting paid, his impact has been miserable.

 

[gjkoeppen]

Possibly. Or he is frustrated and after running head first into a brick wall so many times you start to accept your fate. Its like a QB who gets hit in the pocket enough times they start to feel pressure and rush the ball out even when the pressure isnt there. I know we are just speculating and are all just offering opinions here. I would be interested in seeing what percentage of his carries this year resulted in him getting met by defenders behind the line. It feels like its way too many.

I do agree with you and would like to know how many times he was first hit behind the line of scrimmage. I disagree with the hitting a brick wall. I think it's as many talking heads on TV were saying his first 3 years that with the heavy load he carried that he would start to show the effects sooner rather than later. This season he hasn't looked near as quick as he used to and he seems to go down more often on open field tackles that he used to run through.
.

 

[D4KADON]

Zeke is in the top 5 in terms of yardage has 11 tds this season, 4 away from his rookie season!


Like I said, when this offense is run by a competent coaching staff, Zeke has been productive

 

[jterrell]

I honestly think

1. Dak is improving as a pocket passer, and he's throwing more passes

2. This is Moore's first year as the OC

3. Dak's contract

In fact, part of this team's problem is that it abandons the run even when it IS working(Bills, Patriots game)

Zeke likely has had some small issues because he missed camp and such. Just a bit of stuff that more practice with the OL and wearing pads would have helped but he has NOT been bad by any means.
He's always gotten stronger late in the year.

He's 2 yards out of 4th in the league in rushing.
He ~500 yards ahead of Kamara, Bell, Barkley and Gurley all supposed bellcows.
His OL has again battled injuries, even the guys fighting to make games every week.