What happened to Dak?

[QuincyCarterEra]

Tha can be discussed, he was 17th in QBR this year so that`s about average, he did play much better in the second half of the season though, let`s hope that trend continues.

Yeah, finishing 17th in season long QBR while six offensive starters to start the season included Swaim, Hurns, Twill, and rookie Williams Looney and Collins all being coached by Alexander is kinda impressive. I'd wager with an average supporting cast year long he'd have been in the 12-15 range.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

His season this year is almost the same as his Rookie year guys. For those who believed he was playing at a significantly higher level in his rookie year, you should love him after last year as well.

Completion percentage, Passing Yards and TDs are all very close to the same. The difference, more INTs this year but he got sacked a lot more and he threw more this year then in 2016. Even his rushing statistics are very similar. Honestly, I see the same player in a lot of ways.

 

[QuincyCarterEra]

Thanks for sharing this. That sacks/game is just brutal. The video somebody posted last week showed how bad that OL was. Collins is an absolute scrub in pass protection. Smith needs to rediscover practice again. T play was terrible considering the pedigree.

This is our thoughts

 

[MysteryIceGuro]

I saw that same guy from 16 the last 6plus games of the season..what happened to you to make you sa bitter hater, oh..i know get some help with that..he played strong to finish the season..so hes not elite who is but I know one thing , hes your QB and you cant change that adding to the 250 already dak hate posts..but you needed your own, feel any better?

If you look at my past posts and comments, you'll know that I'm a Dak supporter more than anything. I said the same thing. "He's our QB and I can't change it" and I'm fine with that. I didn't even say he plays bad, just that his performance hasn't been as well as it was in 2016.

 

[Wood]

Although I still love Dak and think that he can still grow, why was he so good his rookie season? Or should I say, why was he so "overrated" in his rookie season? Him and Zeke were both powerhouses and they both were the duo to beat in 2016, but, after that, Dak went downhill. Zeke stayed the same (AKA, a great RB). What happened? The coaching? Tony Romo leaving? I don't understand how our opinions and way of play changed so quickly.

You and I might have been able to play behind that OL.

 

[Philmonroe]

If you look at my past posts and comments, you'll know that I'm a Dak supporter more than anything. I said the same thing. "He's our QB and I can't change it" and I'm fine with that. I didn't even say he plays bad, just that his performance hasn't been as well as it was in 2016.

Yep I agree you're one of those pro Dak people but some on here are too emotional and just think Dak is above criticizing for some strange reason. If you do you hate him even though he's avg at best.

 

[LatinMind]

Although I still love Dak and think that he can still grow, why was he so good his rookie season? Or should I say, why was he so "overrated" in his rookie season? Him and Zeke were both powerhouses and they both were the duo to beat in 2016, but, after that, Dak went downhill. Zeke stayed the same (AKA, a great RB). What happened? The coaching? Tony Romo leaving? I don't understand how our opinions and way of play changed so quickly.

Changover in players and injuries.

 

[Coy]

Yeah, finishing 17th in season long QBR while six offensive starters to start the season included Swaim, Hurns, Twill, and rookie Williams Looney and Collins all being coached by Alexander is kinda impressive. I'd wager with an average supporting cast year long he'd have been in the 12-15 range.

Many say the same thing about 2017, w/o Zeke for 6 games, T Smith injured for some time, etc...
At some point his performance cannot always be judged by what is missing, you are either good enough or not, everybody loses players in this league.
In no way would I call this year`s performance impressive, he actually was 21st in QBR, (before the meaningless game at NY in week 17, where he played maybe his best game as a pro)all while having the leading rusher in n the NFL. so he did have that going for him.

 

[MaaS]

Our 2016 oline play was ridiculously good. Dak had all day to throw.

 

[HungryLion]

I think @pansophy did the best job, of realistically breaking down what has happened with Dak.

Dak came into the league and played really well for a Rookie. He benefited from having the best offensive line and the best running back in the league. But he also did a good job of executing the plays called for him and minimizing mistakes.

The second season happened. Dak was playing well again the first half of 2017. Then Zeke got suspended. Tyron got hurt. Dak got brutalized during the Atlanta game.

At that point, Dak’s play went into a major slump. He got hesitant in his reads and his throws. He was feeling pressure that wasn’t there. “Seeing ghosts”.

This poor play continued for around 15-16 games total. Basically an entire season worth between the last half of 2017 and the first half of 2018.

His slow start in 2018 wasn’t aided by the poor OL play and the lack of receiving options. Truth is, the talent around Dak other than Zeke was poor. Dak ALSO was still playing poorly. Which made for an overall dreadful offense and passing attack.

Then Dak started playing better again. Despite still having poor protection overall, he started seeing the field better. He started getting through his reads quicker and he started making quicker decisions. He started shake off the “funk” that he was in since Atlanta. It was almost like Dak went through a delayed sophomore slump.

Going through slumps is actually pretty common for young players in the NFL. Especially QB’s as they are retooling their mechanics and also having more responsibility placed on their shoulders.

Some posters here don’t want to admit that it’s common for young QB’s to go through Rough patches but it’s the truth. Admittedly, Dak’s rough patch was very bad. He was horrible for that 16 game stretch. Just horrible.

But he was also legitimately very good the first 24 games he played and very good the last 10 he has played (including playoffs).

 

[QuincyCarterEra]

Many say the same thing about 2017, w/o Zeke for 6 games, T Smith injured for some time, etc...
At some point his performance cannot always be judged by what is missing, you are either good enough or not, everybody loses players in this league.
In no way would I call this year`s performance impressive, he actually was 21st in QBR, (before the meaningless game at NY in week 17, where he played maybe his best game as a pro)all while having the leading rusher in n the NFL. so he did have that going for him.

Exactly and he proved he's good enough.

Yeah, this year's performance was impressive considering circumstances around him compared to his peers and he really flashed late in the season.

There's absolutely zero reason to exclude his week 17 performance from his QBR so we won't talk about that one. Unless we want to exclude the first three weeks of the season also I supoose.

Having the leading rusher worsens his stats, not betters them, so that's actually going against him not for him.

 

[nobody]

Let's see what we have after this off-season. I'm better he'll be better at reading defenses, better at his footwork (which will help a lot of things) and hopefully sees the field better to see the open receivers, pulls the trigger faster to avoid more sacks, and learns to throw the ball away rather than take sacks.

He has some things to work on, but I really believe he'll get there. He's developing. I just wanna see the improvements before they sign the contract. I think Kitna is going to help and changing the offense up some will help too. Fredbeard back will help tremendously.

 

[BigCatMonaco]

The best news is the difference cooper made.

Dak posted a rating 20 points higher with cooper than without (102ish compared to low 80s)

And he had three of his best deep passing games in the second half of this season

 

[percyhoward]

Smith Collins/Leary Fred Martin Free

All healthy

Yup. And Dez and Witten still getting it done.

 

[percyhoward]

I think @pansophy did the best job, of realistically breaking down what has happened with Dak.

Dak came into the league and played really well for a Rookie. He benefited from having the best offensive line and the best running back in the league. But he also did a good job of executing the plays called for him and minimizing mistakes.

The second season happened. Dak was playing well again the first half of 2017. Then Zeke got suspended. Tyron got hurt. Dak got brutalized during the Atlanta game.

At that point, Dak’s play went into a major slump. He got hesitant in his reads and his throws. He was feeling pressure that wasn’t there. “Seeing ghosts”.

This poor play continued for around 15-16 games total. Basically an entire season worth between the last half of 2017 and the first half of 2018.

His slow start in 2018 wasn’t aided by the poor OL play and the lack of receiving options. Truth is, the talent around Dak other than Zeke was poor. Dak ALSO was still playing poorly. Which made for an overall dreadful offense and passing attack.

Then Dak started playing better again. Despite still having poor protection overall, he started seeing the field better. He started getting through his reads quicker and he started making quicker decisions. He started shake off the “funk” that he was in since Atlanta. It was almost like Dak went through a delayed sophomore slump.

Going through slumps is actually pretty common for young players in the NFL. Especially QB’s as they are retooling their mechanics and also having more responsibility placed on their shoulders.

Some posters here don’t want to admit that it’s common for young QB’s to go through Rough patches but it’s the truth. Admittedly, Dak’s rough patch was very bad. He was horrible for that 16 game stretch. Just horrible.

But he was also legitimately very good the first 24 games he played and very good the last 10 he has played (including playoffs).

Supporting cast matters.

Check out Romo's passer rating in the first 8 games of 2012, when they were trying to make Keven Ogletree a major part of the offense.

2012
games 1-8
Romo 82.2 (22nd)
games 9-16
Romo 98.4 (6th)

 

[calicowboy54]

Although I still love Dak and think that he can still grow, why was he so good his rookie season? Or should I say, why was he so "overrated" in his rookie season? Him and Zeke were both powerhouses and they both were the duo to beat in 2016, but, after that, Dak went downhill. Zeke stayed the same (AKA, a great RB). What happened? The coaching? Tony Romo leaving? I don't understand how our opinions and way of play changed so quickly.

No one knew what to expect out of them so did not game plan for them... by second season because he (Dak) is limited the offense was limited in what was working for him and people had enough tape on him to stop him... will be interesting to see if Kellen can do more waggles boots and movement with QB in his new offense... but like others have said including romo offense will probably be the same.

 

[percyhoward]

The best news is the difference cooper made.

Dak posted a rating 20 points higher with cooper than without (102ish compared to low 80s)

And he had three of his best deep passing games in the second half of this season

2017
Bryant 52% 829 yd 6.4 ypa 6 td 5 int 71.6
everyone else 66% 2468 yd 6.8 ypa 16 td 8 int 91.3

2018
Cooper 70% 725 yd 9.5 ypa 6 td 2 int 115.2
everyone else 67% 3146 yd 7.0 ypa 16 td 6 int 93.7

 

[pansophy]

Supporting cast matters.

Check out Romo's passer rating in the first 8 games of 2012, when they were trying to make Keven Ogletree a major part of the offense.

2012
games 1-8
Romo 82.2 (22nd)
games 9-16
Romo 98.4 (6th)

Cooper trade proves that point as well. Will say that while Dak was more efficient on 3rd and long with Cooper, we really weren't that successful getting first downs. That will need to change for our offense to ever be consistent.

 

[Blackrain]

Although I still love Dak and think that he can still grow, why was he so good his rookie season? Or should I say, why was he so "overrated" in his rookie season? Him and Zeke were both powerhouses and they both were the duo to beat in 2016, but, after that, Dak went downhill. Zeke stayed the same (AKA, a great RB). What happened? The coaching? Tony Romo leaving? I don't understand how our opinions and way of play changed so quickly.

This is very simple . WE HAD THE VERY BEST OLINE IN FOOTBALL this made Garrett COTY and Dak ROY . A golden rule of football history , When your opponent and everyone in the entire viewing audience knows you are going to run and you can still get 5 yrds every carry IT MAKES THE WHOLE TEAM LOOK BETTER THAN THEY ARE coaching staff included .

What happened ??? Oline became a middle of the pack group through loss of players and injury all real flaws were now exposed

Having best Oline in football covers multitude of sins END OF STORY

 

[WillieBeamen]

This is our thoughts

That chart further approves our (Realists) point about Dak.

The chart in the middle shows Dak’s numbers when his supporting cast deteriorated.

6 of those games were without Zeke
3 were without Tyron
And 8 were without a #1 receiver


This is why you dont give him a massive contract