Who is your biggest surprise player so far this season?

Proof

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We've got a bunch of really solid contributors this year, when a lot of us (not all) were expecting a significant drop off.

Just curious who have been your biggest pleasant surprises?

While I've been a fan of Tony Pollard, and we've seen what he can do, he's really broken out this season. I think we all wondered how much of a heavier load he could actually handle, and boy has he answered the call.

I think he's got to be my pick, with honorable mentions going to terrence steele and dorrance armstrong.
 

Whyjerry

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I am going to go with Smith. Tough spot for him taking over at LT with the other Smith went down. This is after playing a lot of guard early. I know he had talent, penalty prone and from a smaller school like Tulsa but darn he has been impressive. Very hard to do what he is doing. I will also say McGovern. He was lousy up to this season but he has really come into his own.

Good question!
 

WarDaddy

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In my mind, there’s no doubt that it’s Cooper Rush. If he doesn’t come out and play competent ball there would be so much pressure on the Cowboys to be perfect that any one loss would have us out of the playoff picture. I believe we would still have one of the top offenses and defenses right now at this point in the season but the story would be that the Cowboys are “the team no one wants to face down the stretch” and after the season it would be what could have been or this is “the best overall team to not make the playoffs”.

Cooper Rush saved the season. He’s my biggest surprise.
 

CowboyoWales

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I am going to go with Smith. Tough spot for him taking over at LT with the other Smith went down. This is after playing a lot of guard early. I know he had talent, penalty prone and from a smaller school like Tulsa but darn he has been impressive. Very hard to do what he is doing. I will also say McGovern. He was lousy up to this season but he has really come into his own.

Good question!
Yep, Smith. The pre-season downer that he couldn't beat out McGovern at Guard to decent LT.
Pollard,Wilson, Steele honourable mentions.
 

Proof

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In my mind, there’s no doubt that it’s Cooper Rush. If he doesn’t come out and play competent ball there would be so much pressure on the Cowboys to be perfect that any one loss would have us out of the playoff picture. I believe we would still have one of the top offenses and defenses right now at this point in the season but the story would be that the Cowboys are “the team no one wants to face down the stretch” and after the season it would be what could have been or this is “the best overall team to not make the playoffs”.

Cooper Rush saved the season. He’s my biggest surprise.

Oh wow. yeah, that's kind of a slam dunk answer. Completely slipped my mind.
 

blueblood70

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We've got a bunch of really solid contributors this year, when a lot of us (not all) were expecting a significant drop off.

Just curious who have been your biggest pleasant surprises?

While I've been a fan of Tony Pollard, and we've seen what he can do, he's really broken out this season. I think we all wondered how much of a heavier load he could actually handle, and boy has he answered the call.

I think he's got to be my pick, with honorable mentions going to Terrence Steele and dorrance armstrong.
many really its team game for me

Rush-Dak getting us to 9-3
Pollard-Zeke combo run game is great
Smith 73- really the entire OL unit playing together,
Our pass rush depth, all of them as a unit, really impressive.

but honorable mention, biggest surprise
Mahers consistency and accuracy from all distances. includes KOs etc
 

blueblood70

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We've got a bunch of really solid contributors this year, when a lot of us (not all) were expecting a significant drop off.

Just curious who have been your biggest pleasant surprises?

While I've been a fan of Tony Pollard, and we've seen what he can do, he's really broken out this season. I think we all wondered how much of a heavier load he could actually handle, and boy has he answered the call.

I think he's got to be my pick, with honorable mentions going to terrence steele and dorrance armstrong.
Pollards not a surprise, hes been capable but not given enough Opportunity's. We saw last year he did this so no surprise at all. the surprise is Moore actually splitting carries nearly evenly between Zeke and Pollard..thats the surpise.. pollards talents were already on display last year,
 

Proof

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Pollards not a surprise, hes been capable but not given enough Opportunity's. We saw last year he did this so no surprise at all. the surprise is Moore actually splitting carries nearly evenly between Zeke and Pollard..thats the surpise.. pollards talents were already on display last year,

Yeah I acknowledged that. Him being able to not only maintain his play, but level up with the increased work load is what surprised me. I'm loving most of the answers though.
 

Jarntt

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Rush - bailed us out
Maher - when did he stop stinking
Cox - shocked he hasn't even been considered for a role on passing downs
 

CowboyoWales

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We've got a bunch of really solid contributors this year, when a lot of us (not all) were expecting a significant drop off.

Just curious who have been your biggest pleasant surprises?

While I've been a fan of Tony Pollard, and we've seen what he can do, he's really broken out this season. I think we all wondered how much of a heavier load he could actually handle, and boy has he answered the call.

I think he's got to be my pick, with honorable mentions going to terrence steele and dorrance armstrong.
I thought this season was going to be a soft rebuild or at least a 'show me/prove it' to the youngsters.
In light of the number of FA's, was concerned about the CAP in 2023, but it's evident that LVE, Dante, Lewis/ Brown (one of), Barr are replaceable with cheap in house.
Moving forward are the questions on Zeke/Tyron and whether we keep them on existing contracts, or move on.
 

McKDaddy

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Tough question but 1 guy that has caught my attention has been Tyler Biadasz who I question often last season. This year playing much better and cut down on penalties he has 4 on the season

Yeah, like a lot of these questions it depends on how you look at them. I tend to exclude players I felt like I knew were capable (TP, Rush) and rookies just because you never know how they are going to react to this level. So, for returning players that I really wasn't comfortable with I would say Biadasz or Maher. Oddly enough I would still say TB is the weakest link on the Oline but his play has been solid. Much better than last year.
 
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