Why isn't Blake Jarwin Starting?

[quickccc]

None of this is accurate IMO. Witten isn't used to stretch the field in our Offense. That's not the way our Offense is designed. We have multiple guys, in our Offense who's job it is to get deep. Witten is used to facilitate more of the short yardage, move the chains stuff. You have to have that guy in order to keep the defense honest. If it's not Witten, then it's somebody else who needs to fill that role. I mean, we have one of the top offenses in the entire NFL. We are not hurting for guys getting open down the field. We have plenty of that already. What we don't have are short move the chain guys who catch everything. I mean, I don't get it.........

and you know why he isn't used to stretch the middle field in our offense ? , because we know it is no longer in his ability to stretch the middle field. He can't do that.
So of course there's no plan or design for it.
thus we are scheming him to the dink and dunk plays underneath, in soft zones, to those patented plays where he stops in one spot, catches that 5 yd pass and uses his back to drive backwards in a tackler.
We are forced to scheme to Witten's limitations. and when we do want to take that TE in deep middle shot .. Jarwin's number is called for.

here's a problem ,.If Dak happens to see a defense set where that deep middle seam looks there, and wants to audible to get to that ..and witten is the only TE on the field ?
.. then Dak can only hope a safety just busts a coverage assignment and leaves Witten so wide open that he could even loft it up.. and slow-mo can somehow run under it.
Cuz if he tight-squeezes that pass in the lanes, Witt just won't come close to being able to run up to the velocity.

But everyone also knows Witten at this stage of his career only can do one range, ..one speed, ..underneath game is clearly his only repetiore. Finding the soft spots. But overall his ever declining
movement and range limits what you can do as a pass catching TE.

But as you saw with the Jarwin catch and run TD, that was a simple flip pass that Jarwin turned into a huge catch and run with his athleticism. How many other break open big plays like that have
we left off the field ... for the sake of the old man ?

And as far as " other guys getting open down the field" .we don't have much option.at the TE role aside from Jarwin.. Witten moves in mud and we don't even come close to seeing
Schultz's jersey name.

if i'm a top capable defense, I don't have to worry about witten beating like that and I can more comfortable, cheat and try to move and roll my coverages towards the WRs
If we had a Travice Kelcie, Zac Ertz, or George Little type TE that could consistently stretch/hit seams and place that much more torture on safeties and LBs in the middle,
we'd really that much more dangerous and formidable in our attack.

 

[Chrispierce]

I’d love Jarwin in more,the problem is he’s not a real TE who blocks really well,why they are looking to draft Wittens replacement,but he’s very dangerous once second level,and can take it to the house anytime on those plays like last night. Jarwin and Shultz need more reps than this and I get it Witten is Witten but come on...

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

and you know why he isn't used to stretch the middle field in our offense ? , because we know it is no longer in his ability to stretch the middle field. He can't do that.
So of course there's no plan or design for it.
thus we are scheming him to the dink and dunk plays underneath, in soft zones, to those patented plays where he stops in one spot, catches that 5 yd pass and uses his back to drive backwards in a tackler.
We are forced to scheme to Witten's limitations. and when we do want to take that TE in deep middle shot .. Jarwin's number is called for.

here's a problem ,.If Dak happens to see a defense set where that deep middle seam looks there, and wants to audible to get to that ..and witten is the only TE on the field ?
.. then Dak can only hope a safety just busts a coverage assignment and leaves Witten so wide open that he could even loft it up.. and slow-mo can somehow run under it.
Cuz if he tight-squeezes that pass in the lanes, Witt just won't come close to being able to run up to the velocity.

But everyone also knows Witten at this stage of his career only can do one range, ..one speed, ..underneath game is clearly his only repetiore. Finding the soft spots. But overall his ever declining
movement and range limits what you can do as a pass catching TE.

But as you saw with the Jarwin catch and run TD, that was a simple flip pass that Jarwin turned into a huge catch and run with his athleticism. How many other break open big plays like that have
we left off the field ... for the sake of the old man ?

And as far as " other guys getting open down the field" .we don't have much option.at the TE role aside from Jarwin.. Witten moves in mud and we don't even come close to seeing
Schultz's jersey name.

if i'm a top capable defense, I don't have to worry about witten beating like that and I can more comfortable, cheat and try to move and roll my coverages towards the WRs
If we had a Travice Kelcie, Zac Ertz, or George Little type TE that could consistently stretch/hit seams and place that much more torture on safeties and LBs in the middle,
we'd really that much more dangerous and formidable in our attack.

Who cares why? He was not brought back to stretch the field. I mean, all of this is great but how is it important? The team knew what he was and they brought him back because he gave the offense something they needed. Our Offense isn't hurting. We stretch the field just fine. Our problem is not getting deep. Our problems stem from other things. Get rid of Witten and put another deep ball guy on the field and what you create is a tendency and you actually make it easier for the Defense. The way to beat good teams is not to make everybody go deep and throw the ball. We are not the Raiders of Al Davis for a reason. I mean, you act as if we don't understand the game. We don't understand simple concepts like stretching the seam and how this effects the Safety. We do, we've had this discussion on this board, literally, hundreds of times. Balance is how you beat good Defenses. Not only balance in the passing game and the running game but also in how you make teams play the field itself. Make teams defend the entire field. Don't allow them to take anything away from you and, in effect, limit your Offense. If all you have are guys who go deep, then you are essentially giving up the short to intermediate and this frees up LBs to do things like Run Blitz or Dog against the pass. It's a bad idea IMO but I've explained it before, many times, so I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here.

Bottom line, you can scream for a faster TE but Witten is the guy this season and that's not going to change and I don't believe it should. He fills a vital roll, IMO, to this Offense. Discounting his ability to control the short to intermediate field is critical and what he brings to the run game is also very important. Unless we have a guy who can effectively do the same to replace him, I don't see the wisdom in starting somebody else over Witten.

JMO

 

[quickccc]

How does he bog down the pass offense when he consistently moves the chains on third down? Witten has never had speed. He’s a master with subtle moves and finding seams and soft spots. He’s made some plays down the field this season and has had some good runs after the catch. Jarwin is a much better athlete but doesn’t get open consistently. He’s a good role player. He’s not going to be the answer as a lead tight end. Witten wasn’t around last season to keep Jarwin off the field. We saw the same thing last season with him he makes a good play every once in a while.

because that's all Witten does,.. that's all he can do at this stage of his career .that's all he is limited to and at his.further age and declining movement and range makes him that much more limited,
and the longer he is on the field and dominating the TE role and reps that leaves an amount of big plays off the table from a more athletic, big play making TE. and who knows how those
big plays could have been useful in games that we losing.

And witten doesn't hit seams anymore. he can't race and close to a deep spot anymore. its' more turning around
and finding soft spots in zones. He's not going to beat the better coverage LBs and safeties.

And we saw a raw, inexperienced Jarwin begin to grow and progress as the season went on ... and at season's end he begin to stand out , the more experience he got, the more comfortable he got
the more he was schemed and designed into the offense.
And how can you continue to improve routes and knack for the game when your time is being impeded by a old man who almost is never off the field?

 

[AbeBeta]

because that's all Witten does,.. that's all he can do at this stage of his career .that's all he is limited to and at his.further age and declining movement and range makes him that much more limited,
and the longer he is on the field and dominating the TE role and reps that leaves an amount of big plays off the table from a more athletic, big play making TE. and who knows how those
big plays could have been useful in games that we losing.

And witten doesn't hit seams anymore. he can't race and close to a deep spot anymore. its' more turning around
and finding soft spots in zones. He's not going to beat the better coverage LBs and safeties.

And we saw a raw, inexperienced Jarwin begin to grow and progress as the season went on ... and at season's end he begin to stand out , the more experience he got, the more comfortable he got
the more he was schemed and designed into the offense.
And how can you continue to improve routes and knack for the game when your time is being impeded by a old man who almost is never off the field?

Grew as the season went on?

Over a third of his yards and all of his TDs came in the final game. Recall that was a meaningless one where we sat a bunch of guys.

Also recall that Jarwin couldn't beat out the great Geoff Swaim for playing time either.

 

[jnday]

There was not a single play Witten made last night that Jarwin couldn't.

Jarwin is not capable of finding the holes in the defense or positioning his body so that defenders have no chance at the ball while he makes the catch. Very few TEs have that ability to the extent that Witten has it. Jarwin doesn’t have the hands that Witten has either. Witten is one of the all-time greats and Jarwin is not much more than an average TE. The current usage of both of these players seems to work well. Why mess with a good thing?

 

[jnday]

yes, but if jarwin is getting open and in better position why would dak hit witten and not jarwin?

Because Jarwin is not in a better position or open in most cases. He does not have the subtle little moves to get open that Witten has. Jarwin May learn them in the future, but he is nowhere near Witten right now on the shorter routes.

 

[KMY_Amber]

This still crawls up my skin that we are starting Jason Witten who is slow as snail over Blake Jarwin...Just the stats say what I am talking about from this game. This Jason Garrett-Jason Witten buddy crap needs to stop.

Jason Witten 8 receptions for 58 yards 0 TDs

Blake Jarwin 1 reception for 42 yards 1 TD..

I 1000% agree, and thought that from the beginning of the season. Witten should be #2. It's time to move on, sheesh! MAYBE on goalline situations when you need your best blocker, but he just can't separate enough on passes when covered.

I just don't understand.

 

[KMY_Amber]

Jarwin is not capable of finding the holes in the defense or positioning his body so that defenders have no chance at the ball while he makes the catch. Very few TEs have that ability to the extent that Witten has it. Jarwin doesn’t have the hands that Witten has either. Witten is one of the all-time greats and Jarwin is not much more than an average TE. The current usage of both of these players seems to work well. Why mess with a good thing?

He can be taught to work zones and position his body. I'll take his athleticism and downfield threat to Witt's intelligence and heart. Witt can still play in multi-TE sets, and goalline short yardage set. Otherwise, Jarwin should be out there as the #1. Coach 'em up, and get 'em in the weight room to become a better blocker. It's just time to move on, good lord....Witt should simply be more of a TE coach than a player. Pass the torch.

 

[KMY_Amber]

Witten is far more reliable to secure the block or get the first down.

That is infinitely more valuable than a once every few games 40-yd TD.

Witt is far more reliable to get a first down????? What??? On 3rd and long, he can barely get past the marker in time before the rush comes. He's just too slow on 3rd and long to be out there, and even on 3rd and short, he's always tightly covered because he can't separate. Sure, on PA passes he's wide open, but even those only become 5 yard gains because he's so slow, where Jarwin would be wide open too, and could maybe get 8 to 10 yards, or even break it for a big one.

I think Witt should be thought of as a luxury, and brought in on a special situations, or even on multi-TE sets. If Witt wouldn't have come back, Jarwin would be the #1, and I think that's what he should still be. Dak needs to work on his connection with Jarwin more and more, time to stop living in the past.

 

[KMY_Amber]

I just think Jarwin needs to get more targets on first and second down. I don’t care if Witten starts and I don’t care if Witten is Dak’s “security blanket”

Make sure Witten is in there on the money downs, fine, but Jarwin brings some athleticism to the TE position and it’s something that I feel is sorely lacking in this offense.

I say Witt comes in multi-TE sets, and goalline sets. Other that, there's no "money downs" where I prefer Witt.

 

[Future]

Jarwin is not capable of finding the holes in the defense or positioning his body so that defenders have no chance at the ball while he makes the catch. Very few TEs have that ability to the extent that Witten has it. Jarwin doesn’t have the hands that Witten has either. Witten is one of the all-time greats and Jarwin is not much more than an average TE. The current usage of both of these players seems to work well. Why mess with a good thing?

You are wildly overstating Witt, physically. He has 0 catch radius and boxing out is not a unique skillset among TEs.

But there's no reason to compare Witt to Jarwin. The value of Jarwin is that he is a threat vertically and allows you to be more nuanced with what you do underneath. When Witt is in the game, you know that you have a WR either running horizontal at the LOS, or running a <10-yard Y option.

B/c the offense could be way less predictable and way better, is why.

 

[quickccc]

Who cares why? He was not brought back to stretch the field. I mean, all of this is great but how is it important? The team knew what he was and they brought him back because he gave the offense something they needed. Our Offense isn't hurting. We stretch the field just fine. Our problem is not getting deep. Our problems stem from other things. Get rid of Witten and put another deep ball guy on the field and what you create is a tendency and you actually make it easier for the Defense. The way to beat good teams is not to make everybody go deep and throw the ball. We are not the Raiders of Al Davis for a reason. I mean, you act as if we don't understand the game. We don't understand simple concepts like stretching the seam and how this effects the Safety. We do, we've had this discussion on this board, literally, hundreds of times. Balance is how you beat good Defenses. Not only balance in the passing game and the running game but also in how you make teams play the field itself. Make teams defend the entire field. Don't allow them to take anything away from you and, in effect, limit your Offense. If all you have are guys who go deep, then you are essentially giving up the short to intermediate and this frees up LBs to do things like Run Blitz or Dog against the pass. It's a bad idea IMO but I've explained it before, many times, so I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here.

Bottom line, you can scream for a faster TE but Witten is the guy this season and that's not going to change and I don't believe it should. He fills a vital roll, IMO, to this Offense. Discounting his ability to control the short to intermediate field is critical and what he brings to the run game is also very important. Unless we have a guy who can effectively do the same to replace him, I don't see the wisdom in starting somebody else over Witten.
JMO

Sorry but do I care why. Movement skills and Big plays that can affect the entire field and ability to create mismatches across the entire field matters a lot.

The same way you have WRs that have physical capability to affect the entire and create mismatches,.. same way with RBs who have skill set to affect entire field and create mismatches (see Pollard ?)
.. same we “should” be able to so (with the right kind of TE)
Unlike the title in the post thread, I don’t want to declare Jarwin a starter, but that does not say Jarwin should be so excluded and limited down to where Witten’s return made him out to be.

- Remember all the talk that Witten’s return as he was not going to impede upon the development or take away significant developmental time from young TEs ?
What was “rumored’ upon Witten sudden un-retirement’ and return, was the talk of witten returning on 25-30 % snap contribution.

- As far this year - I wouldn’t have as much an issue with Witten being the starter so long as Jarwin’s own snap and contribution were more heavily in the plans as it is now, it’s not 25-30% Witten..
or even 50%, Witten seems like he’s never the TE to come off the field,

Most laughed at that because if you know Witten’s competitiveness, once the stakes were on the line, he’s not going to settle for just 30% of the snaps to the youngies.
and you also had to know Garrett and these particular coaches were not going to bite him on the
You know he is going to lobby hard for quite a bit more … and the most were right ! ..lol

- They brought Witten back not only because his game- know long familiarity in this offense and vast game experience and ability to operate soft zones, but also because their every clinging loyalty and dependence upon Witten, even from all these laughable projects to groom an eventual replacement ( ala Rico Gathers) because they forced themselves to be drag on his aging length, even though they knew he was physically in decline, and then they were “ shocked “ by his sudden retirement and panicked such as to draft immediate TE in seldom Dalton Schultz in the 4th round- a player who play out his rookie contract and move on FA.

And of course its not going to change. Lol
This is still the Garrett era, .. some things Garrett is going to always be set in his ways .. and some things will never change under his regime and way of operating.

 

[droopdog7]

Ah, the backups get all the love. Who the hell cares why Jarwin doesn't start. People act like he's going to average 150 yards and three touchdowns a game. We get it, jarwin is more athletic and faster than Witten at this stage. So? Every receiver is more athletic and faster than Jarwin.

The offense needs a TE to be a TE. And the right person for that job at this point is Witten. People need to get over it.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Sorry but do I care why. Movement skills and Big plays that can affect the entire field and ability to create mismatches across the entire field matters a lot.

The same way you have WRs that have physical capability to affect the entire and create mismatches,.. same way with RBs who have skill set to affect entire field and create mismatches (see Pollard ?)
.. same we “should” be able to so (with the right kind of TE)
Unlike the title in the post thread, I don’t want to declare Jarwin a starter, but that does not say Jarwin should be so excluded and limited down to where Witten’s return made him out to be.

- Remember all the talk that Witten’s return as he was not going to impede upon the development or take away significant developmental time from young TEs ?
What was “rumored’ upon Witten sudden un-retirement’ and return, was the talk of witten returning on 25-30 % snap contribution.

- As far this year - I wouldn’t have as much an issue with Witten being the starter so long as Jarwin’s own snap and contribution were more heavily in the plans as it is now, it’s not 25-30% Witten..
or even 50%, Witten seems like he’s never the TE to come off the field,

Most laughed at that because if you know Witten’s competitiveness, once the stakes were on the line, he’s not going to settle for just 30% of the snaps to the youngies.
and you also had to know Garrett and these particular coaches were not going to bite him on the
You know he is going to lobby hard for quite a bit more … and the most were right ! ..lol

- They brought Witten back not only because his game- know long familiarity in this offense and vast game experience and ability to operate soft zones, but also because their every clinging loyalty and dependence upon Witten, even from all these laughable projects to groom an eventual replacement ( ala Rico Gathers) because they forced themselves to be drag on his aging length, even though they knew he was physically in decline, and then they were “ shocked “ by his sudden retirement and panicked such as to draft immediate TE in seldom Dalton Schultz in the 4th round- a player who play out his rookie contract and move on FA.

And of course its not going to change. Lol
This is still the Garrett era, .. some things Garrett is going to always be set in his ways .. and some things will never change under his regime and way of operating.

You didn't say more snaps originally. You said that Jarwin should be starting, if I'm not mistaken. I don't think he should be starting but I've posted previously that I do think he should be getting more snaps. If for no other reason then to save Witten for later in the year, when we will need him playing at a high level. That I agree with but not starting over Witten.

 

[fansince68]

Because Witten is Dak’s safety blanket. One catch doesn’t change that fact.

Blankets come in many shapes and sizes. Witten is not doing anything fancy. Do you think Witten would have scored on the Jarwin play? Its time to flip the script, Free Jarwin. I'm sure Jarwin has the ability to do a 6 yard curl to serve as Daks safety blanket. The difference, Jarwin can take it to the house.

 

[TheRomoSexual]

Blankets come in many shapes and sizes. Witten is not doing anything fancy. Do you think Witten would have scored on the Jarwin play? Its time to flip the script, Free Jarwin. I'm sure Jarwin has the ability to do a 6 yard curl to serve as Daks safety blanket. The difference, Jarwin can take it to the house.

Of course Witten wouldn’t have scored. Jarwin also wouldn’t have been open as much as Witten was last night.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Because Jarwin is not in a better position or open in most cases. He does not have the subtle little moves to get open that Witten has. Jarwin May learn them in the future, but he is nowhere near Witten right now on the shorter routes.

but but but according to many, he should replace witten and he is a better TE

 

[quickccc]

Grew as the season went on?

Over a third of his yards and all of his TDs came in the final game. Recall that was a meaningless one where we sat a bunch of guys.

Also recall that Jarwin couldn't beat out the great Geoff Swaim for playing time either.

- Geoff Swaim was a veteran with several years under his belt, while Jarwin did not have any NFL game experience was only just getting his feet wet as he was on the practice squad the year before.
There was still a great deal more for development under his game for a raw guy that seen as a project.

And the more Jarwin played, the more he became involved, the more he gained experience, the more his confidence and understanding and rapport with the QB grew.

And you don’t even think the accolades of that final NYG game that you’re talking about, didn’t mean anything to his momentum and growing confidence ?
Even games such as Philly win in overtime where Jarwin caught 7 passes for 56 yds meant everything for a very inexperienced, seldom used TE

And i recaledl zeke sitting along with few injured ones, but yet we started and finished (risk?) with our franchise QB, such to where we felt we had to fight to the end
with Dak tossing a game winning Beasley catch in the end zone in the deciding moments..

 

[KMY_Amber]

Of course Jarwin wouldn’t have scored. He also wouldn’t have been open as much as Witten was last night.

What??????????? Witten was open because of the play design (play action), not because of some move he put on the defender. You're telling me we can't teach Jarwin to fake a run block for 2 seconds, and then blast to the flats??? Come on, man... You're acting like Witt was running crisp routes and was losing the defender. I saw nothing of the sort. It was deception, mostly through the G Men respecting the run.