they had opportunities in the draft, in free agency, they just seem to do whatever we don't want them to do at rb. spend the number 4 overall pick on an rb. franchise tag the back up rb and make him lead rb. bring back the number 4 pick as lead back after he's washed out. there's a middle ground. but they're dumb
That's not true at all. Zeke had 21 redzone carries, 2 of those came at the goaline. Stevenson had 18 redzone carries and 2 of those were goaline carries
The last two years you watched him in Dallas did you happen to notice that huge brace on his left leg? He was playing hurt. For the good of the team to his own detriment. I will always come back to 2021.. pre-knee injury.. 2nd in the NFL in rushing getting 5.3 yards per carry. Has not sniffed that level of production since. He has looked good in spurts but those last two season, with the knee stiffening up on him at odd times, the burst and explosiveness was gone. When I watched him in New England, sans, knee brace I saw a return of most if not all of the top end speed when they got him in space. I think you are misreading the "slow to the hole" thing. Zeke was being coached to slow down and allow the blocking to develop throughout his career in Dallas. It started when we shifted to more shotgun, delayed handoffs in our offense. Hello Kellen Moore. Zeke is a downhill one cut runner. That whole delay handoff business robbed him of momentum, power and explosiveness. Pollard looked better in that scheme because his running style is better suited for it. Hopefully Mike McCarthy will rectify that this time around and we will get back to seeing him attack the line of scrimmage downhill. When he does that the line will only need to stalemate the man in front of them and Zeke will blast through the creases to the second level. Anything short of a head on collision in the hole will result in a 6-7 yard gain. I think Solari tried to bring back that running game blocking scheme last season but he didn't have the kind of back to run it. Now he does.
First of all I didn't say anything about red zone. Second of all how do you determine that a carry was a "goalline" carry? Each had 2 rushing TDs of 2 yards or less. Are you saying that those were their only carries inside the 5 all season? If you are then I don't think that's true.
Where are you getting Zeke got most of his carries in the 10 and in area?
Oh my.
I did not say "most of his carries in the 10 and in area." I said most of his short yardage totes were in that area. But I was wrong.. Turns out he had 25 short yardage carries on SECOND down too. Maybe the Patriots thought more of him as a short yardage back than you thought? What was revealing to me was that Zeke's 2nd down and short conversion rate was tremendous. On 25 carries on 2nd and 3 or less he converted 20 (80%) into first downs and 2 into TDs. By comparison Stevenson was 11 of 18 (61.1%) with zero TDs in the same situation, behind the same line as you so aptly pointed out. The 2023 starter in Dallas went 16 of 29 (55.2%) in those situations behind a vastly superior line with a vastly superior passing attack drawing the defense's attention. It's almost like if you give defense something else to think about rather than putting 11 guys on the line of scrimmage to stop him Zeke is still really good at moving the chains. That's what I base my believe that Zeke will do just fine in this Dallas offense on. While he can't thrive as the focal point of the offense any longer it's clear that if you make the defense keep fewer bodies in the box he will make them pay.
roflmao I have hate because I am not excited, too funny., There are a few words I would like to call you in response to you calling me a hater. For some reason calling someone a hater doesnt get you in trouble with the mods here. The few words, although not mean words or too insulting or curse words or anything, probably would make them remove my post. I think these words are very apt and pretty mild, but the rules here are weird. So use your imagination as to what those are. One of them has to do my opinion of your age, the other has to do with whether or not I think you would be accepted at Mensa. The third is oh never mind you probably cant figure out the first two
I know Zeke is a good short yardage runner. But it’s harder to get in a third and 1 or 2 if on first down you get one yard.
Ding ding ding.
He’s still good pushing piles and squeezing out a first down. He can still find the endzone from close up. The Pats didn’t want him because they’re rebuilding with young players. Other teams weren’t interested because they probably have a back or two they’re okay with. Aging, declining RBs aren’t a hot commodity. The Cowboys were interested because they lost their top back in free agency and we have nothing at RB. Plus we didn’t draft one which was a surprise to everyone. We’ve had some success with Zeke and his deal was team friendly.
What do you see in Dowdle? He’s an average back. He made a few nice plays last season because he had fresh legs from not being used much. If we pound him for a bunch of carries he’ll wear down like Pollard did. Don’t know why you would have wanted mid round pick in a weak RB draft playing ahead of Zeke.
I really don’t get the hate many have for Zeke. He still put up almost 650 rushing yards last season with just over 300 receiving yards. He had 5 total TDs. He certainly wasn’t terrible last season.
The problem is, Zeke isn't just another player on his last legs. He's a Jerry pet. And as long as Jerry has sway, I'm afraid the coaches won't be able to sit him like another player even if he clearly demonstrates he's pretty much finished.
You don't think a Marshawn Lloyd would be better than late stage Zeke? Lol.Don’t know why you would have wanted mid round pick in a weak RB draft playing ahead of Zeke.
No guarantees a third round back in a weak RB group will be any good. The player we took was rated much higher than Lloyd and could and up a very good player. This was such a weak RB draft the first back didn’t go off the board until well into the second round which was almost a record. Zeke had a career low in carries last season. He was being rammed between the tackles but still showed he could fall forward for a critical yard or two. I wouldn’t get too fixated on his ypc. Look, I’m certainly not thrilled with the signing but we didn’t have much of a choice by not going after a back in free agency or the draft.
Zeke is not a #1 RB anymore. I don’t hate him. And the stats you just listed 1. Aren’t good. 2. Are overall stats and not efficiency stats. Zeke’s efficiency was bad last season.What do you see in Dowdle? He’s an average back. He made a few nice plays last season because he had fresh legs from not being used much. If we pound him for a bunch of carries he’ll wear down like Pollard did. Don’t know why you would have wanted mid round pick in a weak RB draft playing ahead of Zeke.
Loco
