Twitter: Zeke predicted to win rushing title

[ghst187]

Will be interesting for sure if Dak plays well with our outstanding trio of WRs...
Could pull the 8th man out of the box...plus a healthy OL....could be a good season.
But still say Henry has to miss games for Zeke to have the most yards..

 

[Thomas82]

Would be nice

It would also bode well for the team. The Cowboys were in the playoffs in the 2 years he won it.

 

[Kingofholland]

Everyone is down on Zeke after last year, but think he's poised for a bounced back year. I see 1400 yard season rushing season. Whether that's enough to win the rushing title who knows.

 

[Winonesoon]

I really hope its a good balance. Rushing champ doesn't equate to championship most of the time. Not in todays NFL anyways.

 

[RonnieT24]

People honing in on one individual statistical achievement or another are missing the point. I don't care if Zeke rushes for 800 yards and 5 TDs as long as the Cowboys win enough games to make the playoffs. And you know what, I bet Zeke doesn't care either. Some guys are about themselves.. I don't see Zeke as such a guy.. Not given the amount of times he gives up his body for the team to get tough yards and to step in front of 260-300 pound men coming at him trying to rip our QB's head off. If you watch him on the sidelines when Pollard makes a good play he's jumping up and down like a kid at the fair who just won a teddy bear. Actually he's like that when any of his teammates makes a good play.

But getting back to the point of this whole "rushing title" discussion. I don't think it will happen because Moore isn't going to give him the ball enough and the offense has reverted back to the Romo years when it wants to be 65-35 pass to run ratio. I would love to see it because I enjoy watching a back tote the rock. More than I enjoy the passing game. But I don't expect it for one minute.

 

[jterrell]

I could very much see this.
Teams are going to have to play our passing game.
And the OL is back and healthy (for now).

And Zeke is fully recovered from COVID and been able to work out 100% all off-season.
He looks in truly phenomenal shape.

But I could also see Zeke continue a slight decline as few RB can bounce back after a few years of high carries.
The team to a man has to go out and prove it.
Nothing said this off-season by fans matters at all.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I don’t get the fascination with Pollard

I get that he’s “the other guy”, which is enough for some to buy into the “I loved him when” aspect, but he’s a good backup, nothing more. Never showed he’s capable of being an elite runner.

I’m happy to have him but I think he’s overrated here at CZ.

He didn't even start in college and people think he's better than zeke? That is a ton of zeke hate right there.

I like Pollard too. I want to see designed plays where we surprise the pants off the d. Too many times Pollard comes in just because zeke raised his hand.

This COULD be a formidable 1-2 attack...we're wasting them.

 

[SportsGuru80]

I just want him producing in late Dec/Jan... Playoff push ready!

 

[Ranching]

Go Zeke!

 

[RonnieT24]

The other interesting aspect of Zeke being in the rushing title conversation is that if he is among the league leaders then one would expect the passing game numbers to be down some. So the Zeke haters would have to stand down but the Dak haters would have more ammo. But can you imagine if both are among the league leaders in their respective categories? What are haters gonna do? Well I I guess there's always Tank and Jaylon to hate on.. .. unless...

 

[RonnieT24]

I could very much see this.
Teams are going to have to play our passing game.
And the OL is back and healthy (for now).

And Zeke is fully recovered from COVID and been able to work out 100% all off-season.
He looks in truly phenomenal shape.

But I could also see Zeke continue a slight decline as few RB can bounce back after a few years of high carries.
The team to a man has to go out and prove it.
Nothing said this off-season by fans matters at all.

This is not as rare as you might think. There is actually a pretty good list of guys who had some of their best seasons after age 25.. beginning with Derrick Henry last year.. But to your point there is no question that wear and tear takes a toll as guys age in the game. Ironically getting hurt, missing time and having his lowest number of touches ever might have given Zeke's body a year off in terms of wear and tear. There is no question that he is going to slow down as he ages so he will have to adapt his game in order to continue to be effective. Ironically, running mostly inside and not dancing to the outside, one of the things he is often criticized for here is one of the things that will keep him employed in the NFL longer. If he is able to stay at or above 4.0 ypc and continue to be one of the best short yardage runners in the game as well as being the best blocking RB in the game will keep him getting paychecks into his 30's. I know that will anger the "I hate Zeke" crowd but that's the reality.

 

[Rayman70]

could care less if he wins the rushing title. I only care about him playing consistent and at a high level, winning us some games and finishing in the red zone. I dont care if he only has 1k yards as long as he does his job.

 

[RonnieT24]

could care less if he wins the rushing title. I only care about him playing consistent and at a high level, winning us some games and finishing in the red zone. I dont care if he only has 1k yards as long as he does his job.

Unfortunately there are too many who want to point to the fact that he did NOT win a rushing title as an excuse to carry on about his contract. Like Jerry is passing the hat to them to help pay it. It's a weird deal.

 

[kumizi]

lol what a misleading title

that goober Adam Schein said Zeke might rush for a lot of yards. there's aren't a bunch of real NFL analysts predicting Zeke will lead the league in rushing.

 

[john van brocklin]

It would also bode well for the team. The Cowboys were in the playoffs in the 2 years he won it.

Double sweet!

 

[OmerV]

He will need to average 25 carries per game to average 100 yards in a game. He would need to play in all 17 to get 1700 yards. Given the number of times he taps out after a little 10 yard gain, I would not bet on him. About 10 RBs would have to get hurt first for him to be in the running. And he would have to give up the low key fading, which he can’t.

If we are lucky, Pollard will get a fair chance and true competition as starter.

That assumes he will only average 4.0 yards per carry, which is possible, but I think he will average more than that. As for "tapping out", he's always done that. The difference now is only that the Cowboys throw more than when Zeke first came into the NFL, and the Cowboys have a young backup that can take some of the load.

 

[OmerV]

Predictions mean nothing. Zeke is cursed with poor ball control. He'll never be a rushing champ again.

By ball control do you mean he fumbles too much? If so, that was never considered a big problem his first 4 seasons, and even last year, after a really bad early season bout of butter fingers, he only fumbled once the last 9 games.

That said, I don't disagree with you about him not winning the rushing title, but what I see as the obstacles are that the team passes more now than it did when he won rushing titles earlier in his career, and we have a better backup to share the workload with. I'm not sure the run blocking is quite as strong either.

 

[garyo1954]

This is not as rare as you might think. There is actually a pretty good list of guys who had some of their best seasons after age 25.. beginning with Derrick Henry last year.. But to your point there is no question that wear and tear takes a toll as guys age in the game. Ironically getting hurt, missing time and having his lowest number of touches ever might have given Zeke's body a year off in terms of wear and tear. There is no question that he is going to slow down as he ages so he will have to adapt his game in order to continue to be effective. Ironically, running mostly inside and not dancing to the outside, one of the things he is often criticized for here is one of the things that will keep him employed in the NFL longer. If he is able to stay at or above 4.0 ypc and continue to be one of the best short yardage runners in the game as well as being the best blocking RB in the game will keep him getting paychecks into his 30's. I know that will anger the "I hate Zeke" crowd but that's the reality.

Walter Payton comes to mind. In four years between 29 to 32, he averaged about 1500 (1497) yards a season in a 16 game schedule. Those years he gained 5989 total rushing yards, averaging 334 carries a season.

Tony Dorsett had his best year at 27 putting up 1646 yards. And after playing only 9 games at 28, came back with 3 back to back to back seasons over 1000. (3800 total yards between 29 to 31)

But its questionable if BigMac and Kellen Moore are going to commit that much work to Zeke. BigMac had backs reach 1000 yards in only 5 of his 13 seasons. If he has the same fait in Dak he had in Favre and Rodgers he has no reason to pull the ball down. And that works against Zeke.

So a rushing title isn't out of the out of the question, but more likely he'll finish in the top 5.

 

[RonnieT24]

Walter Payton comes to mind. In four years between 29 to 32, he averaged about 1500 (1497) yards a season in a 16 game schedule. Those years he gained 5989 total rushing yards, averaging 334 carries a season.

Tony Dorsett had his best year at 27 putting up 1646 yards. And after playing only 9 games at 28, came back with 3 back to back to back seasons over 1000. (3800 total yards between 29 to 31)

But its questionable if BigMac and Kellen Moore are going to commit that much work to Zeke. BigMac had backs reach 1000 yards in only 5 of his 13 seasons. If he has the same fait in Dak he had in Favre and Rodgers he has no reason to pull the ball down. And that works against Zeke.

So a rushing title isn't out of the out of the question, but more likely he'll finish in the top 5.

This would be fine.. I don't need him to lead the league.. I just need him to be a dominant threat and be able to churn out yards and eat up clock late in games when we're trying to salt games away. But I agree that Moore and McCarthy aren't about to run the ball enough for him to lead the league. That's just not in their DNA.

 

[Jake]

lol what a misleading title

that goober Adam Schein said Zeke might rush for a lot of yards. there's aren't a bunch of real NFL analysts predicting Zeke will lead the league in rushing.

But those people are "haters", and now so are you.