Why we shouldn't devalue what got us there

[superonyx]

What I want to know is who do you guys want?

The only way we're acquiring an elite RB is if we trade up for Gurley in tonights draft.

Im a Gordon fan but im not even sold on him being much better then guys that will go 2 rounds later.

Hmmm....I have been back and forth on this.

Gurley- don't trust him to stay healthy. He hasn't made it through a full season yet. He was outplayed by Chubb last year. He breaks tackles. He runs tall and violent which scares me due to his many injuries. I wouldn't move up at all for him. If he fell to us then it's worth a shot.

Gordon- great personality, great production.. Was he a product of his system? No injury concerns. Nice agility and has to have good vision based on production. Can he catch well enough? Murray had 50 receptions the last 2 years. Maybe McFadden takes that role until Gordon learns it. If he is there at 27 then I would take him.

Late round sleeper I like....Buck Allen- he has ideal size. Breaks a lot of tackles. Can catch. Shows impressive body control and agility. I can see him being very productive for us.

 

[CATCH17]

That one play has been so overrated it is tragic. There is more to being a quality back than making an unreal play. It is about consistency, not tearing off a long run and faking a beaten down Chicago defender out of his jock in trash time.

He consistently averaged 6.7 yards per touch.


Randle has done nothing to show he can't be a productive NFL player.


I hated the guy his rookie year.. Looked completely like a jag. Last year the switch flipped on and he looked like a player.

 

[Alexander]

He consistently averaged 6.7 yards per touch.


Randle has done nothing to show he can't be a productive NFL player.


I hated the guy his rookie year.. Looked completely like a jag. Last year the switch flipped on and he looked like a player.

The smart way to look at him is average the two together. That is what he is. He is not what he showed as a rookie, nor what he showed in clean up duty last season.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Our biggest need right now is RB.

Our biggest need is to improve the defense specifically the pass rush/pass defense.

 

[mattjames2010]

Our biggest need is to improve the defense specifically the pass rush/pass defense.

They are both of equal need. You don't run the offensive system we have right now with someone like McFadden as the starting RB. Our offense is now built around the run game. RB is certainly just as much of a need as defense.

 

[ufcrules1]

Our biggest need is to improve the defense specifically the pass rush/pass defense.

We have already done that for the most part by adding Hardy and having a healthy Demarcus Lawrence. Sure, we can add more through the draft but RB is a bigger need for this team who dominated with the run last year. If you mainly focus on the defense and don't take the RB position seriously, well you will just switch from having the best run game in the league to having a better defense than you did in 2014. Just different opinions.. I hope they get a stud RB.

 

[ufcrules1]

They are both of equal need. You don't run the offensive system we have right now with someone like McFadden as the starting RB. Our offense is now built around the run game. RB is certainly just as much of a need as defense.

They are both needs but I think the way our team is built right now the RB position is a bigger need considering we have DMF right now as our starter. That is a joke for a team who was number 1 in the run game last year. We have already started addressing the defensive line with the addition of an elite pass rusher in Hardy and having a fresh Demarcus Lawrence out there.. and getting Lee back. We can do more in the draft but it would be a tragedy to not make RB a huge priority.

 

[big dog cowboy]

We have already done that for the most part by adding Hardy and having a healthy Demarcus Lawrence. Sure, we can add more through the draft but RB is a bigger need for this team who dominated with the run last year. If you mainly focus on the defense and don't take the RB position seriously, well you will just switch from having the best run game in the league to having a better defense than you did in 2014. Just different opinions.. I hope they get a stud RB.

We'll get a RB I'm not concerned about that one bit. But we need another pass rusher and frankly our secondary is far from championship worthy.

 

[Zekeats]

While I would like to see them draft a quality RB in the early rounds, I also believe if we’re predicating our success next season on a single RB’s performance we may be in for a big disappointment.

It’s a team game and all aspects need to be performing at a certain level to succeed.

And while greatly improved over 2013 the defense still needs a major upgrade in order for us to get to where we want to go.

It wasn't a team game last year it was the running game

 

[Zekeats]

T

Which is why it's great to hear that we're potentially targeting Melvin Gordon (RB Wisconsin). Rumor is there's a trade agreement in place between Dallas and Miami if Gordon reaches Miami's pick. Our 1st, 3rd, and next year's 4th for Miami's 1st.

That would be a great trade

 

[IrishAnto]

It wasn't a team game last year it was the running game

Its always a team game

 

[marchetta]

Its always a team game

It's not so much the team, as it is the formula. The winning formula that we found last year was that if we run the ball effectively we win. With the loss of Murray, we diluted the winning formula. We must get back the thing that caused us to realistically be one play from the conference championship. We must run! Go get a better Murray (Gordon) and keep the wins coming.

 

[percyhoward]

I'm sure the improve O-Line helped. However, Garrett did say in a press conference (I believe it was after the win @ Philly) that you have to stick with the running game even when you're getting those 'ugly' runs, citing keeping the defense off the field, wearing the opponent out down the stretch, etc. And as you noted, we were 3rd in average rush on 1st down in the 2nd half of 2013 and started running the ball less. The O-Line certainly improved in the 2nd half of 2013, but the playcalling didn't recognize it. So it makes me believe that the improve O-Line probably wasn't the main motivator for changing the style and it was probably a combination of keeping the defense off the field, using the O-Line to our advantage since we had three 1st round picks and trying to keep Romo healthy as well.

I think Garrett had been wanting to run more since the defense fell apart in 2010, but he didn't have the OL to do it. It's important that the third of the 1st-rounders (and Garrett's "ugly" runs comment) both came after 2013. And it's important that that third 1st-rounder was an All-Pro. All that, plus having an off-season in between 2013 and 2014 to take a step back and see how much the OL improved all must have played a part.

Parcells' Giants teams were always near the top in rushing attempts and near the bottom in rushing average, but they were good in short yardage. Aside from having a defense like the 80s Giants, that last part is what had been missing here even as late as 2013 -- the ability of the OL to impose its will on 3rd and 1 or at the goal line. The arrival of Martin was the tipping point. We always needed to run more and run better in obvious running situations, but we achieved the latter before we started doing the former.

 

[JoeKing]

Haha.... Thanks for the entertaining post.
At least you refrained from the insults and attacks on this one.

RW didn't light it up last preseason. It's funny that you claim they shut him down so he didn't get picked up by anyone else. Didn't RW average less than 4 ypc in preseason before being "shut down"?

Look at the facts. RW hasn't produced jack since his freshman year. He has either been hurt, a healthy scratch or a member of the junior varsity Cowboys (practice squad). His 5 games of real play didn't show anything good.

Look I love a good Cinderella story and I hope he comes in and makes us forget about Murray. If Dallas adds a back in the draft then it looks like Williams will only make the team if he beats out Randle...as much of a knucklehead as Randle is his body of work is superior to RW up to this point.

Don't worry so much about being right or wrong. This is an Internet message board where we all have different opinions and we should welcome others opinions without feeling threatened or insecure. Enjoy the draft.

I just wanted to get your words on the record perfectly clear. The draft has arrived and we will soon have a better idea of the direction the Cowboys are headed. I think the RB position is less of a need than you do so I'll concede that if they draft an RB within the first the rounds, I'm wrong. But if they wait until the fourth or later rounds then you are wrong about the Cowboys need at RB. It's all about bragging rights... agree or not?

 

[Zekeats]

Its always a team game

Ok, good talk coach

 

[ufcrules1]

We'll get a RB I'm not concerned about that one bit. But we need another pass rusher and frankly our secondary is far from championship worthy.

Carr did fine on Megatron and Nelson in the playoffs. We can't be perfect at every postion. Just need to be good enough. If we have a pass rush, our corners will be fine. Getting Hardy will drastically help our pass rush.

 

[Zekeats]

He consistently averaged 6.7 yards per touch.


Randle has done nothing to show he can't be a productive NFL player.


I hated the guy his rookie year.. Looked completely like a jag. Last year the switch flipped on and he looked like a player.

Sherman Williams and Darren Hambrick looked great when spotting for Emmitt but it was obvious they were not a number 1 RB.

 

[superonyx]

I just wanted to get your words on the record perfectly clear. The draft has arrived and we will soon have a better idea of the direction the Cowboys are headed. I think the RB position is less of a need than you do so I'll concede that if they draft an RB within the first the rounds, I'm wrong. But if they wait until the fourth or later rounds then you are wrong about the Cowboys need at RB. It's all about bragging rights... agree or not?

Well I don't believe there is a right or wrong here. Where they draft a RB has too many variables to say that we can use it to determine if they have a need. In fact we wont really know until the season is half way through if what moves they choose to make are even the right moves. Maybe they draft a back in the 4th round that runs wild on the league this year...Maybe they draft a back in the 1st round that doesn't transition well into the pro game and he sits the bench...We wont know how this plays out until its over. The draft has so many moving parts that Jones cant even say how they will come out of it. I believe they wont reach for any position out of desperation. That always fails.
We don't know how they cowboys have each player graded. They may want Buck Allen or another 2nd tier back the whole time and if they feel he will last until round 4 then they could pick up some other players that wont last that long.

What I do believe is we will have a RB on our roster this year that we drafted this year. The back we draft will take a roster spot and get carries. This makes it harder for either Randle or RW to make the team. Randle and RW are the same type of back. Dunbar is the third down scat back so I feel he will be relatively safe. So it will be Rookie, McFadden, Dunbar, and then whoever wins the battle of RW and Randle. This is keeping 4 backs on the active roster.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Carr did fine on Megatron and Nelson in the playoffs. We can't be perfect at every postion. Just need to be good enough. If we have a pass rush, our corners will be fine. Getting Hardy will drastically help our pass rush.

We have to think long term about our CB's. Mo and Carr could both be gone next year. Standing pat now could put us in a bind a year from now. It's much cheaper to draft CB's than go the FA route. For this draft I wouldn't mind a trade down and get the best defensive player and running back in the 2nd.

 

[AdamJT13]

That's a bit misleading as we ran 57 more plays this season than in 2013. Furthermore, we had the lead for longer periods throughout the season, so it is going to make us try and run the clock down on 1st and 2nd down a little more than trying to get the first down.

You should have thought of those supposed caveats before you claimed that we were better at picking up first downs on first and second down and that we faced fewer third downs and fewer third-and-long situations, all of which are not true.

Besides, your theory doesn't work. We actually had more plays when we were behind last season than we did in 2013 (375 last year, compared with 332 in 2013). We had only seven more plays when we were ahead (427 to 420). And we were worse at picking up first downs on first or second down when we were tied or behind, as well as when we were ahead. Not only that, we were worse at picking up first downs on first-down running plays and on second-down running plays.