Why did Zeke's abilities nose dive?

[SteveTheCowboy]

Lack of desire imho. He has all the physical talent in the world and could have stayed a dominant player through his 20’s.

LOL....you people think zeke lacked "desire". You are stupid foolish idiotic people. With pure hate in your heart...tear down other people so you feel so magically superior.

His NCAA championship season 750+yards and 8 tds against the very best three teams the NCAA had to offer ..including the mighty bama, and media darling ducks. In the first ever playoff season...when OSU was considered underdogs. (that's a full season for some college RBs.). Not just on the team but KILLED THE FORMIDABLE OPPOSITION.

Then he won 2-3...should have been 3-3 RB champions in the NFL. Continued to do everything Cowboys asked of him...block for a HORRID injured half arsed O-line...inconsistent QB.. PLAY INJURED several seasons.


and you sit there with the NERVE to claim he has no desire.

Unbelievable.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

You said something wrong. You didn’t put my own words in quotes you twisted them. You claimed I said Zeke didn’t break off long runs his rookie year and you were wrong! I said he didn’t break off “a lot” of long runs his rookie year. This is what I said, and this is what you claimed I said. Have fun wiping the pie off your face. Lol

Oh, I didn’t put your words in quotes?

You can stop lying can you, luuulz?

 

[ColoradoCowboy]

I didn't read this whole thread as it looked like it was turning into an argument, but I have been saying these two thing about where it went wrong for Zeke, more or less, since 2018.

1. He bulked up. He listened to the wrong person and focused on STRENGTH. He needed to focus on speed and agility. The bulk made him strong as a hoss, but robbed him of his speed and elusiveness which were the calling cards of his 2016/2017 campaigns.

2. He went out SEEKING contact on every play. I don't know why, maybe he liked seeing the ESPN highlights of him running people over; but he went AFTER people instead of going around or making them miss. I say all the time that when the only tool that you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Zeke bulked up and went out looking for people to punish. Basically, he tried REAL hard to become MB3.


Sure there were injuries, but Zeke's choices in these two areas contributed greatly to the wear on his body. I remember clearly thinking that he needed to spend some quality time with Emmitt talking about how to save your body for the next play. Get the most that you can without taking that huge shot and your career is extended. Getting hammered on every play for 5 years wears on you.

 

[Flamma]

I assume your body can only take so much damage as it happens to most running backs who are as physical as he is.

People say he took the money and stopped caring, but I always see clips of him online working his butt off in the offseason so I don't buy that theory.

I don't buy the theory that he was washed up at 23 years old due to punishment. His case is an outlier, not the norm. I don't think any RB in the history of this game was washed up that quickly. Not at that age after 3 years.

I'm not going to pretend I know what happened. I have no idea. But this is definitely not close to being common.

 

[KJJ]

Oh, I didn’t put your words in quotes?

You can stop lying can you, luuulz?

You twisted what I said and got caught with your pants down and it’s not the first time. Now pull your pants back up and run along. Lol

 

[darthseinfeld]

He got that bag and that was his only objective. Jones should have realized this when he held out with two years on his contract.

No other explanation makes any sense.

Elliott kept himself in top shape. Featured backs cant average 24 carries a game for 4 years and sustain a long career

 

[CowboyFrog]

Elliott kept himself in top shape. Featured backs cant average 24 carries a game for 4 years and sustain a long career

This.. workload and injury we can call of the private eye..case closed.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

He had 1169 carries his first 4 seasons. That is why he fell off a cliff.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I don't buy the theory that he was washed up at 23 years old due to punishment. His case is an outlier, not the norm. I don't think any RB in the history of this game was washed up that quickly. Not at that age after 3 years.

I'm not going to pretend I know what happened. I have no idea. But this is definitely not close to being common.

Most RB's don;t get used like Zeke did.

I am going to give you one very simple and obvious example. The last play of Zeke's Cowboys career.

What other RB, let alone SUPERSTAR elite RB, would have been asked to do that? Emmitt woulda told even Jimmy to go screw himself. Barry Sanders?
Find me one RB, let alone elite....that did that play. "not even close to being common" indeed.

Now...do that for 7 years.

You don;t have to wonder why this isn't common, it's right there in front of you.

 

[Cowboyny]

In Zeke's first two seasons, he was one of the best, or maybe the best, running back in the league. It was all downhill after that. In his last season, he was just a basic running back who could block pretty well and get you some short yardage when you need it. Other Cowboys running backs were productive way longer than Zeke. Calvin Hill, Tony Dorsett, and Emmitt Smith helped their teams way, way longer than Zeke did. Zeke was productive probably about as long as DeMarco Murray was.

What happened? I know some fans say that he got paid a bunch of money and then just got lazy. However, his play last season didn't look lazy to me. It looked like he was working really hard, but he just wasn't anywhere near as good as he used to be. Did his body just wear out? Or did he do a poor job training? Did the pandemic slow him down? What happened?

Blame Garrett who overused him. Way too many Carrie’s, almost every back will not hold up

 

[big dog cowboy]

1. He bulked up. He listened to the wrong person and focused on STRENGTH. He needed to focus on speed and agility. The bulk made him strong as a hoss, but robbed him of his speed and elusiveness which were the calling cards of his 2016/2017 campaigns.

2. He went out SEEKING contact on every play. I don't know why, maybe he liked seeing the ESPN highlights of him running people over; but he went AFTER people instead of going around or making them miss. I say all the time that when the only tool that you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Zeke bulked up and went out looking for people to punish. Basically, he tried REAL hard to become MB3.

 

[Redline360]

Overworked and once he bulked up and changed his style into smash mouth looking for contact the injuries added up.

Edit: pretty much what was posted above me lol

 

[jgboys1]

I think the 2 main reasons are he definitely lost a step because of age and the O-lone isn't as dominant as it was in his first few seasons. 7 Years is a an above average career for most running backs.

 

[Big_D]

Blame Garrett who overused him. Way too many Carrie’s, almost every back will not hold up

They sold that whole package with the feed me routine. Then paid him top dollar like it would just continue for the next decade plus. Over drafted, over used and overly dependent on 1 player with no real backup plan whatsoever. We go as Zeke goes. They peddled that same garbage right til the end.