Why don't we run a lead draw?

[buybuydandavis]

Julius Jones was a good back that Parcells essentially ruined.

Felix was a phenomenal back who we ruined

 

[buybuydandavis]

I find it funny fans are complaining about the Cowboys running game, as if there is a notable deficiency. Things change in the NFL all the time, but the key is whether a team can be successful at whatever they are doing at the moment.

It's perfectly legitimate to posit how we could be *more* successful with what we have.

 

[xwalker]

Why can't we have a play that worked so well for Emmitt, for Zeke. Lead draw is great play.

Do they need to run it ? The run offense has been really good with Zeke.

 

[Mr_437]

Yeah, that's a good play. Who knows why they don't run the lead draw or other successful plays.

 

[millennial_legend]

We have a ZBS oline. The block your man and create 3 possible gaps concept requires less athletic but bigger, more powerful meat mauler types up front than we have. Like the Flozell Adams, Davis, Gurodes, Nate Livings types.

Generally though, these type of meat mauler OLs are pretty lousy in pass protection, especially against finesse moves. ZBS olines tend to be more well rounded despite having somewhat less size.

 

[RoboQB]

Felix was a phenomenal back who we ruined

Julius was better than Felix, imo, but yes, he was ruined the same way.

 

[Flamma]

How often does Dak line up under center? It'll be less of a surprise than it was in the Emmitt days, when Troy was under center a lot.

Can't really run it if you're in shotgun most of the time.

He was under center a lot? He was always under center. That was rare even for the early 90s. Troy would run and pass out of that formation. But you're right, if we run that now everyone will know it's coming.

 

[buybuydandavis]

Julius was better than Felix, imo, but yes, he was ruined the same way.

Julius had half his rookie season where he averaged 100 yard per game because he averaged 25 carries per game. His yards per carry were ho hum for most of his career, as he was ho hum on most every play.

Felix was a game breaker who we tried to turn into a between the tackles player, and then ran into the ground by playing him injured for 2 years straight.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

Who's our coach again?

 

[Cowpolk]

Aikman stole that section of the playbook whrn he retired

 

[RoboQB]

Julius had half his rookie season where he averaged 100 yard per game because he averaged 25 carries per game. His yards per carry were ho hum for most of his career, as he was ho hum on most every play.

Felix was a game breaker who we tried to turn into a between the tackles player, and then ran into the ground by playing him injured for 2 years straight.

Ho hum... okay.
That 30 carries for 198 yards and 3 tds on Monday Night Football didn't look ho-hum. (such a great game... 43-39 comeback win)
Neither did the 34-194-2 on Christmas Eve the following year.

Felix never carried the ball 200 times a season. In fact, he only had 614 carries in 6 seasons... and 11 tds.
However, his shining moment came in a playoff win against Philthy with a stat line of 16-148-1 (plus a 30yd catch)

I liked them both. Not sure what your hang up is with Julius but that's okay. He also had some big games with Seattle
and scored 2 tds in a playoff game (for NO against Seattle) in his last pro game.

I think the case with Felix would be that his body gave out more so than him being run into the ground.
Maybe we can agree that they were both misused and ultimately ruined. What say you?

Disclaimer: Redbull and Google may give the appearance of obnoxious behavior... lol. Not my intention. I've enjoyed our discussion.

 

[buybuydandavis]

I liked them both. Not sure what your hang up is with Julius but that's okay. He also had some big games with Seattle and scored 2 tds in a playoff game (for NO against Seattle) in his last pro game.

I think the case with Felix would be that his body gave out more so than him being run into the ground.
Maybe we can agree that they were both misused and ultimately ruined. What say you?

Disclaimer: Redbull and Google may give the appearance of obnoxious behavior... lol. Not my intention. I've enjoyed our discussion.

No offense or annoyance taken against you.

I probably let out my annoyance about Felix. He came into the league and was in fact phenomenal. When he was electric, we wouldn't give him the ball, then we destroyed him, and he was basically a washout by his 5th year. Done.

A TD in each of his first 3 games, on 10 touches or less each time. I think they said at the time no one had done that before.

The guy phenomenal in space got 2 targets as a rookie. First 3 years, he caught 90+ percent of his targets. Last 3, 70 percent.

8.9 ypc in 2008
5.9 ypc on 116 carries in 2009
Highest yard per target for RBs in 2010, when we were crap

With Felix, he got injured, and they kept playing him. That's how you destroy a player. Make him play while compensating for existing injuries. And he was destroyed, when he should have been at least a minor star in the league.

For Julius, I used to think he was just a notch below that, but sometime in the last few years, I went back and looked at his numbers. Just not that great. Not bad. Respectable. He was carrying the team along and getting first downs.

Julius hit 4.4 once, and that was for Seattle. For us, it was 4.2, 3.9, 4.1, 3.6. Just not that great.

Even go back to Barber, who is largely an afterthought at this point. He had a couple of seasons of 4.8ypc. That's good. 4.2? Not so much.

 

[OmerV]

It's perfectly legitimate to posit how we could be *more* successful with what we have.

If Elliott can rush for 1631 yards in 15 games like he did as a rookie, I don't want to screw with the formula. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

That said, I get that we are all looking at things that seem to make sense to us, and I get that it may appear the lead draw could be a benefit. Maybe it can. The problem I have is when it turns into a complaint or a bashing, even though what the team is doing is already resulting in the best running game in the NFL. In other words, don't act like it's screwed up when it isn't.

If we want to fix something, let's talk about the passing game, which clearly did have some issues last year.

 

[McKDaddy]

I agree it should be used again but not beaten to death like it was for a while.

Another play that they used to use quite effectively that they need to bring back is the delayed handoff. Again, not saying overuse but it would seem to be deadly to have Dak pop up like he is going to make a quick pass, let Zeke slide in front of him like he is blocking & then Dak slip it under his arm. DLine thinks they are rushing the passer all the while the Oline is letting the gaps open up. Linebackers are flowing with receivers and whaddaya know, Zeke is home alone.

 

[jazzcat22]

Because the full back has gone the way of the DoDo, and undercenter is going that way, as well. The Cowboys still run a lot of draws out of single back and shotgun sets, though.

They basically have 4 plays out of different formations. Just like the 90's teams, they had 4 plays, running plays that is. Their theory was...you know what is coming, so stop us...they won more of those battles, a lot more, than they lost.

So yes, it is about the same, but with less use of a FB. Maybe Olawale will get more involved now to help those draw plays.

 

[jazzcat22]

Who's our coach again?

Mo, or Curly, or Larry...oh wait, we have all 3, with Jethro in charge....

 

[phildadon86]

Do they need to run it ? The run offense has been really good with Zeke.

I think there definitely are times when they should run it and havent. Teams that love the blitz and love to blitz us. Thats when we should do it. Imagine Zeke one on one in the second level. It would also help to stop teams from blitzing so often opening up the pass game for Dak. It is something we should definitely run more against blitz happy teams. However, its down to Scott Linehan to implement. Judging from the Atlanta game last season, his brain stops working when it comes to change of any kind.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

Aikman stole that section of the playbook whrn he retired

LLLOOLLL

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

Mo, or Curly, or Larry...oh wait, we have all 3, with Jethro in charge....

Is that Bodine?

 

[Whyjerry]

Lots of missing plays in Dallas. I would add screens to that list. They very seldom run them despite having good pieces to pull it off. Another Garrett era mystery.