Zeke is an average RB

[Bullflop]

I think Dak and Zeke are both very good and figure to become even better with more effective coaching in 2020. The Cowboys also should have been considerably more successful last year than a break-even team, especially so, with more capable coaching now on both sides of the ball. Let's give our players a chance to improve with our coaching changes intact, before we conclude so many of them are failures. Hey, 2019 was tough on us all.

 

[Jarv]

Just waiting for the board to create a seperate Dak board so as not to ruin the fanzone.

After all........what kind of fanzone is it where more than every other thread is about how the QB that lead the NFL in passing sucks?

Why waste our time building a Dak zone when he may just walk.

 

[NotForLong]

I mean, look. Zeke is obviously very good.

Here's the thing. Murray was a generic mid-round pick who became great as we built a great o-line.

Then Murray left and we replaced him with a guy off the streets who no one really wanted. He was coming off 3 straight years of averaging in the *low* 3's (not even the high 3's, the low 3's... 3.3, 3.3, 3.4 yards per carry in his previous 3 seasons). And in our system with our o-line, he was the 4th leading rusher in the NFL in 2015. Despite Romo missing most of the year and Dez missing time too. So defenses had no one but the RB to worry about and he still finished 4th in the league in rushing.

When your o-line and running game are that user-proof, do you have to spend a 4th overall pick on a RB (bearing in mind what era of football we're in) and then give that RB a massive extension? No.

Zeke would have to do borderline impossible things to justify this use of resources. Good as he is, he's unlikely to ever justify those resources. Not when we know a generic mid-rounder or bum off the street could walk in and give us production.

Oh well.

If they put Romo back in the lineup in 2016. Zeke would already have a Ring

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I think Dak and Zeke are both very good and figure to become even better with more effective coaching in 2020. The Cowboys also should have been considerably more successful last year than a break-even team, especially so, with more capable coaching now on both sides of the ball. Let's give our players a chance to improve with our coaching changes intact, before we conclude so many of them are failures. Hey, 2019 was tough on us all.

Of all our bad and average years...this one really hurt the most. We had everything in place to be successful. I'm grateful for the change...no matter what may come.

 

[Ranched]

I think Dak and Zeke are both very good and figure to become even better with more effective coaching in 2020. The Cowboys also should have been considerably more successful last year than a break-even team, especially so, with more capable coaching now on both sides of the ball. Let's give our players a chance to improve with our coaching changes intact, before we conclude so many of them are failures. Hey, 2019 was tough on us all.

Agree whole heartedly. Sadly, some of Dallas' fan base is filled with so many whiners & haters who can not or will not comprehend to anything that makes sense. Nor will they move forward from the Garrett era.

 

[GORICO]

It only angers me the way the players and there agents went after it. If JJ paid them that money then we would all agree he over paid. But holding a team hostage over it. Staying in Cabo 2 years early and coming in out of football shape. And holding off your own shoulder surgery and coming in not fully healed. Makes me mad. No way D-Law was healed. I had rotator cuff surgery 2 months ago. It’s 3 months before you can even start doing anything other than some light band work. 6 months before the area has fully healed to the bone.

glimmer--- i had rotator cuff surgery in 2017....and because i am a paraplegic i need my arms and shoulders to get around so i could not immobilize the shoulder for 6 weeks as much as i needed so it did not take.....but i have strengthened muscles around it and kept it stretched and i can pretty much do what i was doing before it tore in half...so i live with totally separated tendon and doing fine...but i am not playing DE in NFL....D-LAW regressed so much...they said he was double teamed etc...but all the good DE's are double teamed and consistently get double digit sacks.....makes me sick how much money they get and seems every time we give them these huge paydays they always play worse....Zeke does not at all seem like the player he was in 2016...who blew past defenders and they did not catch him....is he fat now?....he looks heavy...it really ticks me off ...now Dak is being greedy....how much do you need?....30 + million aint enough? and now Dak is threatening not to be part of offseason with new coach and system....really turns me off man

 

[kskboys]

glimmer--- i had rotator cuff surgery in 2017....and because i am a paraplegic i need my arms and shoulders to get around so i could not immobilize the shoulder for 6 weeks as much as i needed so it did not take.....but i have strengthened muscles around it and kept it stretched and i can pretty much do what i was doing before it tore in half...so i live with totally separated tendon and doing fine...but i am not playing DE in NFL....D-LAW regressed so much...they said he was double teamed etc...but all the good DE's are double teamed and consistently get double digit sacks.....makes me sick how much money they get and seems every time we give them these huge paydays they always play worse....Zeke does not at all seem like the player he was in 2016...who blew past defenders and they did not catch him....is he fat now?....he looks heavy...it really ticks me off ...now Dak is being greedy....how much do you need?....30 + million aint enough? and now Dak is threatening not to be part of offseason with new coach and system....really turns me off man

Yup!!
p
Zeke definitely came in fat and slow. Sad part is, he was still above average while fat. All we can do at this point is hope he's not going to be the guy who does just enough to get by. Some signs do point that way.

 

[RonnieT24]

If they put Romo back in the lineup in 2016. Zeke would already have a Ring

I felt this at the time.. as much as I love Dak, I wanted the more experienced QB come playoff time. The Cowboys blew that situation because they walked away from it without knowing if Romo was still better than Dak at that stage of their respective careers. My money says he was and he would definitely have given us a better chance in the playoffs. Young QBs almost universally get chewed up in the playoffs.. Dak played great leading the comeback but his mismanagement of a couple of situations in that game cost us that win.. Maybe Romo makes the same or similar mistakes.. who knows? But the last time we saw Romo at full health (2014) he had the top passer rating and second best QBR in football and he was 3-1? As a starter on that 2015 team. The lone loss being the game where he got hurt against the Panthers. If Garrett had any balls he would have started Romo the last two games of 2016 to see what he had left. If he showed he was still the man you go with him into the playoffs.. If he sucks you hand the reigns to Dak and never look back.. If he gets hurt the decision is made for you... The only way to screw it up would be to NOT find out if Romo could still play.. So naturally that's the path they chose.

 

[RonnieT24]

Yup!!
p
Zeke definitely came in fat and slow. Sad part is, he was still above average while fat. All we can do at this point is hope he's not going to be the guy who does just enough to get by. Some signs do point that way.

I think he'll be motivated by the coaching change. This kid is capable of SO much more than the previous regime allowed him to do. Every game should start with him getting 30 touches. Divvy up the other 35 snaps to whomever you choose but Zeke should be the focal point of the offensive attack. And not every damn run needs to be between the a and b gap. Get that 230 pound beast on the edges and make cornerbacks tackle him... Find out how many "business decisions" he induces. I put the over/under at 5 a game.

 

[Ranched]

Just checking in to see if Zeke's still average.

 

[RonnieT24]

glimmer--- i had rotator cuff surgery in 2017....and because i am a paraplegic i need my arms and shoulders to get around so i could not immobilize the shoulder for 6 weeks as much as i needed so it did not take.....but i have strengthened muscles around it and kept it stretched and i can pretty much do what i was doing before it tore in half...so i live with totally separated tendon and doing fine...but i am not playing DE in NFL....D-LAW regressed so much...they said he was double teamed etc...but all the good DE's are double teamed and consistently get double digit sacks.....makes me sick how much money they get and seems every time we give them these huge paydays they always play worse....Zeke does not at all seem like the player he was in 2016...who blew past defenders and they did not catch him....is he fat now?....he looks heavy...it really ticks me off ...now Dak is being greedy....how much do you need?....30 + million aint enough? and now Dak is threatening not to be part of offseason with new coach and system....really turns me off man

Simply put, D-Law was not D-Law this season. No way he could have been.. the shoulder surgery robbed him of a LOT of his upper body strength. So he was less able to separate from the legalized holding they call pass blocking these days. I think he will be fine in the coming years because he will have a full offseason of strength training instead of a couple months..

 

[RonnieT24]

Just checking in to see if Zeke's still average.

Well if by average you mean 8 100 yard games, 12 TDs, 6 games of at least 5 ypc and 11 games of 4+ ypc and top 5 in pretty much all the rushing statistical categories.. then yes... very..

 

[glimmerman]

glimmer--- i had rotator cuff surgery in 2017....and because i am a paraplegic i need my arms and shoulders to get around so i could not immobilize the shoulder for 6 weeks as much as i needed so it did not take.....but i have strengthened muscles around it and kept it stretched and i can pretty much do what i was doing before it tore in half...so i live with totally separated tendon and doing fine...but i am not playing DE in NFL....D-LAW regressed so much...they said he was double teamed etc...but all the good DE's are double teamed and consistently get double digit sacks.....makes me sick how much money they get and seems every time we give them these huge paydays they always play worse....Zeke does not at all seem like the player he was in 2016...who blew past defenders and they did not catch him....is he fat now?....he looks heavy...it really ticks me off ...now Dak is being greedy....how much do you need?....30 + million aint enough? and now Dak is threatening not to be part of offseason with new coach and system....really turns me off man

Sorry to hear about the failed surgery. I would say with your condition there wouldn’t be much of a chance of that shoulder healing right. You need it. How the heck did they expect you not to use it for at least a few months. Mine was really bad also along with my AC. They told me not to leave in a sling but yet don’t use it!!! It was my right arm and I am right handed. Lol. I agree he regressed and am wondering if it’s not the culture or atmosphere around there that lets them back off after they get paid. And him holding off the surgery forcing there hand to pay him was so angering to me. If it was me he would be sitting that year and playing somewhere else the next year. I would have strung it out so if he did have the surgery and went to another team he wouldn’t be able to play for half the season so no team would sign him that season.

 

[NotForLong]

I felt this at the time.. as much as I love Dak, I wanted the more experienced QB come playoff time. The Cowboys blew that situation because they walked away from it without knowing if Romo was still better than Dak at that stage of their respective careers. My money says he was and he would definitely have given us a better chance in the playoffs. Young QBs almost universally get chewed up in the playoffs.. Dak played great leading the comeback but his mismanagement of a couple of situations in that game cost us that win.. Maybe Romo makes the same or similar mistakes.. who knows? But the last time we saw Romo at full health (2014) he had the top passer rating and second best QBR in football and he was 3-1? As a starter on that 2015 team. The lone loss being the game where he got hurt against the Panthers. If Garrett had any balls he would have started Romo the last two games of 2016 to see what he had left. If he showed he was still the man you go with him into the playoffs.. If he sucks you hand the reigns to Dak and never look back.. If he gets hurt the decision is made for you... The only way to screw it up would be to NOT find out if Romo could still play.. So naturally that's the path they chose.

That's a very sound observation. I look forward to reading more of your posts. Welcome to the Cowboys Zone.

 

[CowboyRoy]

it does burn me up how much we paying Zeke and it burns me up how much we paying Tank...they both regressed after getting the big money

I am not a big fan of the term regressed. I just think the whole team played worse.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Why waste our time building a Dak zone when he may just walk.

That would be for guys like you to debate on the Dak board.

 

[SSoup]

If they put Romo back in the lineup in 2016. Zeke would already have a Ring

Doubt it. Romo couldn't even withstand a gingerly preseason workload anymore by then. His body was broken and done.

He's more likely to have been carted off the field than stay on it and win anything.

 

[blumayne38]

glimmer--- i had rotator cuff surgery in 2017....and because i am a paraplegic i need my arms and shoulders to get around so i could not immobilize the shoulder for 6 weeks as much as i needed so it did not take.....but i have strengthened muscles around it and kept it stretched and i can pretty much do what i was doing before it tore in half...so i live with totally separated tendon and doing fine...but i am not playing DE in NFL....D-LAW regressed so much...they said he was double teamed etc...but all the good DE's are double teamed and consistently get double digit sacks.....makes me sick how much money they get and seems every time we give them these huge paydays they always play worse....Zeke does not at all seem like the player he was in 2016...who blew past defenders and they did not catch him....is he fat now?....he looks heavy...it really ticks me off ...now Dak is being greedy....how much do you need?....30 + million aint enough? and now Dak is threatening not to be part of offseason with new coach and system....really turns me off man

D law doesn’t get paid for ONLY sacking the QB. He is a monster, he has hands like a ufc fighter. And he plugs the gaps and contains the edge. Not to mention he could probably play DT if we ask him to. The narrative that he doesn’t deserve that money is BS he gets PAID anywhere else also.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Why are we paying an average RB to be the highest paid RB in the NFL? 8-8 proves that Zeke is average. Stats dont count, only wins.

How many teams have won SB's paying a QB to be the highest paid RB in the NFL? NONE

Jerry gets excited by his newer players. He overpays and then let's them make the team their home in old age.
Next up, a $38 million a year contract for 3 years and 5 more years of mediocrity until we get a proper QB and groom him.

 

[Jarv]

That would be for guys like you to debate on the Dak board.

Are you drunk already?