Zeke and Barkley, has he regressed?

[Ken]

Two underwhelming games by Zeke. I don't see anyone talking about how he has regressed or that we need to go get a RB in the first round next year.

You can see with Barkely that they are making the effort to design the entire offense around him. When you use a top 5 pick on a RB, that's exactly what you better do. Not much running lanes, but he caught 13 passes yesterday in an effort to do whatever they could to get the kid involved.

With Zeke all I really see is runs up the middle with no creativity. A couple passes here and there.

25 touches to 23 for Zeke.

He got his touches, but I agree, he isn't very impressive. I don't see that gear he had his rookie year and I didn't see it at all last year.

This is concerning to me.

 

[Colombiacowboy]

Zeke looks a step slow, but otherwise his decision making and cuts look in mid-season form. As the passing game matures and gets better, and the interior line gels, he'll see bigger lanes.

I saw something different last night. I saw NY put 8 or 9 in the box, and put tons of pressure on the line. Even still, Zeke turned 4 negative yard plays into positive gains, albeit short, but positive. As has been said, Dak and the receivers need to be able to connect when they put that many defensive players up front. It happened at times last night, but the holding penalities, missing wide open receivers etc. is killing us. Rico should have had a TD last night.

 

[OmerV]

Two underwhelming games by Zeke. I don't see anyone talking about how he has regressed or that we need to go get a RB in the first round next year.

You can see with Barkely that they are making the effort to design the entire offense around him. When you use a top 5 pick on a RB, that's exactly what you better do. Not much running lanes, but he caught 13 passes yesterday in an effort to do whatever they could to get the kid involved.

With Zeke all I really see is runs up the middle with no creativity. A couple passes here and there.

I'm sorry, but Barkley's 13 passes at about 5.5 yards per catch was a gimme by the Cowboys - something they conceded and something the Giants used because Eli was being pressured and the receivers were well covered. Meanwhile, while Zeke didn't have a great day, and I understand some concern that we haven't fully go him going, he had at least some positive effect carrying the ball, and using him as a decoy opened some running opportunities for Dak and some passing opportunities as well.

 

[paladin]

I completely agree its ridiculous to say he has regressed.

Can you mark these kinds of threads as STRAWMAN?
It'll save fans a bunch of clicks.

 

[Ken]

The offensive line is trash! Everybody is getting beat now because you have 2 under par linemen in Collins and Williams.

They were not trash in this game.

0 sacks.

They constantly faced a stacked box. They can't block 2 guys at once.

 

[gimmesix]

Two underwhelming games by Zeke. I don't see anyone talking about how he has regressed or that we need to go get a RB in the first round next year.

You can see with Barkely that they are making the effort to design the entire offense around him. When you use a top 5 pick on a RB, that's exactly what you better do. Not much running lanes, but he caught 13 passes yesterday in an effort to do whatever they could to get the kid involved.

With Zeke all I really see is runs up the middle with no creativity. A couple passes here and there.

Elliott is averaging 4.6 yards per carry in two games. It's not his fault that he has been handed the ball only 32 times total.

Now, I agree with you that we need to swing the ball out to him more, especially when defenses are stacking to stop the run.

 

[silvrNblue]

I believe most of you are over looking the sarcasm the OP was pushing for. What he is saying, with Dak, all we hear is he has regressed, throw the bum out and get a new QB, but with the RB not a single work spoken about "regressing". And yet I read excuse after excuse for why he isn't breaking away on 20+ runs... and yet, the QB, who play's behind that same line of excuse's is thrashed to death and never given the same reasons for his "regression". At least, that's what I took from the post.

 

[zrinkill]

Can you mark these kinds of threads as STRAWMAN?
It'll save fans a bunch of clicks.

He did ......... CowboyRoy was the thread starer ........ that should tell you everything you need to know.

 

[texbumthelife]

I saw something different last night. I saw NY put 8 or 9 in the box, and put tons of pressure on the line. Even still, Zeke turned 4 negative yard plays into positive gains, albeit short, but positive. As has been said, Dak and the receivers need to be able to connect when they put that many defensive players up front. It happened at times last night, but the holding penalities, missing wide open receivers etc. is killing us. Rico should have had a TD last night.

Sounds like you saw the same thing. His decision making and cuts are elite. He's no longer running away from people though. That long gain where Collins corralled him at the sidelines is 7 his rookie year. It's not a knock, just an observation. I'd like to see him slim down a little and maybe get that gear back.

 

[John813]

Against the Panthers, Brett K showed on his review that we ran the ball even when the Panthers had more defenders than we had blockers. Add in their front 7 is their strength, and our O-line isn't as good as it used to be, it's no surprise we struggled.

Again, last night Giants were set on stopping Zeke. I mean, c'mon. What are you guys expecting?

 

[Aven8]

The constant running right into the meat of the Dline and Snacks was a little maddening. But Zeke made some 3 yard runs that most backs can't even dream of. That one where he got hit in the backfield and was almost parallel to the ground and got positive yards was amazing.

 

[uvaballa]

Zeke needs to get more touches. He does look a little slower this year.

Barkley made a ton of guys miss last night. Hard to compare since his oline is trash.

I thought they were about neutral last night.

 

[Jake]

Two underwhelming games by Zeke. I don't see anyone talking about how he has regressed or that we need to go get a RB in the first round next year.

You can see with Barkely that they are making the effort to design the entire offense around him. When you use a top 5 pick on a RB, that's exactly what you better do. Not much running lanes, but he caught 13 passes yesterday in an effort to do whatever they could to get the kid involved.

With Zeke all I really see is runs up the middle with no creativity. A couple passes here and there.

We are still more apt to need a QB in the first round next year than a RB.

The lack of creativity in getting Zeke the ball falls on the coaches, and anyone who thinks this OL is what it was 2-3 years ago is kidding themselves.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

This is kinda to be expected. The running game takes all 5 guys to be in sync and on the same page and timing. To accomplish this, it takes reps at live game speed. With the injuries to the OL in preseason, and the lack of actual contact allowed in TC, it will take a few weeks to get the running game up to full throttle. It got better from week 1 and it will be better in week 3 than it was in week 2.

 

[Aviano90]

Zeke is being more efficient with his carries and his ypc has increased from 4.1 to 4.6. He has 32 carries and already has 3 chunk runs of 19, 19, and 17. That's what needs to occur when teams are stacking the box. You'll be able to bust through and gain some yards. What I would like to see this year is a few home runs on the ground where he takes it to the house when he gets to the 2nd level.

We've played some tough defenses to start so Zeke is doing what he can given his opportunities. I've been hard on Zeke, but this is what I wanted to see from him.

 

[CWR]

CowboyRoy starts thread Zeke and Barkley


Zeke 17 rushes 78 yards
Bark 11 rushes 28 yards

CowboyRoy decides Zeke has regressed and Barkley is great.

Jeebus

 

[pansophy]

I put issues in the run game on the current oline. Not Zeke. There isn't much Zeke can do if the openings aren't there.

The Giants said coming into the game that they were selling out to stop Zeke and Dak still didn't throw for more than 200 yards. I saw some things from Dak last night that were encouraging and I hope he builds on them, but to believe that Zeke is the source of the offensive problems is to not look at what is happening on the field.

I will say that the Giants have to be happy with Barkley -- I don't think the 1st tackler got him down once last night.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I don't think the offensive line is even average at this point.

The other thing is the Giants seemed to be constantly run-blitzing which shut down the running game.

 

[G2]

Clearly Elliott played better. Barkley got a few dump offs from defensive pressure, other than that he wasn't very impressive. He didn't even rush for 30 yards.
Just like in college, he likes to bounce outside and not get the griddy inside yards. Only in the NFL defenses are faster and can chop his run off.

 

[Tommy]

Two underwhelming games by Zeke. I don't see anyone talking about how he has regressed or that we need to go get a RB in the first round next year.

You can see with Barkely that they are making the effort to design the entire offense around him. When you use a top 5 pick on a RB, that's exactly what you better do. Not much running lanes, but he caught 13 passes yesterday in an effort to do whatever they could to get the kid involved.

With Zeke all I really see is runs up the middle with no creativity. A couple passes here and there.

Are you praising the Giants game plan?

It didn’t work. They are 0-2.