News: Zeke's swan song season

[CowboyRoy]

You can argue with me but you cannot argue with physics..

Zeke's top speed in pads in the 4th quarter of the Carolina game on what I believe was his 20th carry, was 20.66 mph which is 30.3 feet per second. Turpin hit 20.95 or 30.7 feet per second on his kickoff return. That means that at top speed they would be separated by .59 feet per second. For the math impaired that's about 7 inches.. So if they ran side by side for 5 seconds Turpin would be around 35 inches ahead.. As in less than a yard. Again getting back to the math.. Zeke is a longer strider and thus likely able to maintain his top end longer than the shorter strider Turpin. I willingly admit that Turpin was faster after 10-15 snaps in a game than Zeke was after 45-50.. complete with a couple dozen violent collisions with people 100 pounds heavier than he. I will also counter that a fresh Zeke is most likely faster than the 20.66 mph displayed on that run. In that context Zeke hitting the speed he did is actually a little more impressive than Turpin going coast to coast untouched. If I'm not mistaken Zeke also hit 20.8 mph on a catch and run last season as well. I remember being surprised because I think it was after the knee injury and was a good deal shorter than the long one against Carolina. But that's the thing about an injury like that.. It's fine.. until it's not. Land on it wrong, get hit on it, or just take a wrong step and it locks up. Still I will post that one if I can find it.. But my point stands. At the top end there is not near as much difference between the two. No amount of made up analysis by you or anyone else will change that.

I truly believe you actually believe that nonsense right there. LOL

Ronnie T says Zeke is faster than Turpin!!!

 

[CowboyRoy]

Ok, but Elliott and Pollard are who we have, so why waste time crying about it? We’ll get 1200+ out of Zeke this year, and another 800-1000 out of Pollard. In 2023, Dallas will offer a team friendly restructure.

Zeke is gone buddy.

 

[Sydla]

Zeke contract is NOT "part of the problem". You make that up in your head to justify hating zeke cause that is what you THINK is the cool ...in the know thing to do.

Zke blocks with the oline..protecting Dak. He runs up the middle like a good run game needs to do and we don;t really ask Pollard to do that very mush. ., He can catch our of the backfield...if you watch Dak highlights...you SHOULD be able to see that,.

Hey look...you can be a little ***** about zeke. I get it. He make's too much money and he never does a single thing for us. You know football its cool. Cheer on our cowboys bro. You got this.

One, no one ever said Zeke doesn't do a single thing for us. So when you start squawking like that, it's hard to take you seriously.

Elliott is a nice TB. He's not the best, he's not the worst. He's not the same TB he was as a rookie. Despite your claims, he's not really as great a threat in the passing game as he was earlier in his career. Yes, he blocks well. He's just a good, solid all around TB at this point who is likely starting to see decline, which isn't all that surprising given the nature of the position.

He has a bad contract. Jerry panicked a few years ago when Elliott was threatening to sit and he ended up giving him a bad contract. This isn't an anti-Elliott thing, it's an anti-paying TBs thing. We see time and time again teams win and succeed without spending the resources on the TB position that we do. We got an up close view of a team that was more physical and could run the ball better than we could in January this year and they were able to do so with a lesser QB and less spent on TBs.

I wonder if the Cowboys realize that now. This past offseason they dumped and restructured most of their large contracts to help create space that they likely need to rollover into 2023 given they are 12 million OVER the cap next year. But they didn't touch Elliott's after restructuring him a year before. Next offseason is the first time they have an "out" in the contract where they can save cap space. That would have gone away if they had restructured Elliott. I think they want the flexibility to dump him because even they realize the contract might be a bit ridiculous at this point.

 

[chicago JK]

I would guess this is his last season here. I wish Dallas would take a more careful approach to him in the regular season. If healthy and rested, he is still a good back. He just doesn't have the big play threat any longer. I wish we could keep him fresh for the stretch run and not wear him down to get there.

 

[RonnieT24]

I truly believe you actually believe that nonsense right there. LOL

Ronnie T says Zeke is faster than Turpin!!!

At no point has anyone argued any such thing .. go back under your bridge..

 

[ondaedg]

All this hate for a guy who has dished out and taken as much punishment as he has is not cool. I thought this was a Cowboys fan site.

 

[RonnieT24]

I would guess this is his last season here. I wish Dallas would take a more careful approach to him in the regular season. If healthy and rested, he is still a good back. He just doesn't have the big play threat any longer. I wish we could keep him fresh for the stretch run and not wear him down to get there.

I think we may see more of that this season if Zeke is able to adapt his approach to early game runs. He has come out trying to "be physical" and "set the tone" early in games and has sought out contact when he probably could have generated bigger plays by simply putting his foot in the ground and changing direction. A 225 pound back is MUCH harder to tackle if you only get hold of a third of him. Zeke needs to quit trying to run over and through people and get back to running around and jumping over when it's called for. If he does that, big play Zeke will be back ... but it's on him.. Ironically it will also save his body from some abuse.. because cutting out side and getting pushed out of bounds hurts a lot less than getting slammed to the ground with 5 guys hanging on you.

It will be interesting to see if he can make that pivot at this point in his career. But I wholeheartedly agree that having him fresh down the stretch would be a huge boost for us. That's why I advocated sitting him the required 5-6 weeks last year to get his knee right would have been the smarter move for us. Even if we lost one or two more games with him out, we would likely have recouped those losses with a a fresh and hungry Zeke on the back nine. The only caveat being that with the line struggling as it was whether Pollard and Clement could keep Dak in one piece!!

 

[RonnieT24]

All this hate for a guy who has dished out and taken as much punishment as he has is not cool. I thought this was a Cowboys fan site.

Oh hate for our players is absolutely a hallmark of this site..

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

One, no one ever said Zeke doesn't do a single thing for us. So when you start squawking like that, it's hard to take you seriously.

Elliott is a nice TB. He's not the best, he's not the worst. He's not the same TB he was as a rookie. Despite your claims, he's not really as great a threat in the passing game as he was earlier in his career. Yes, he blocks well. He's just a good, solid all around TB at this point who is likely starting to see decline, which isn't all that surprising given the nature of the position.

He has a bad contract. Jerry panicked a few years ago when Elliott was threatening to sit and he ended up giving him a bad contract. This isn't an anti-Elliott thing, it's an anti-paying TBs thing. We see time and time again teams win and succeed without spending the resources on the TB position that we do. We got an up close view of a team that was more physical and could run the ball better than we could in January this year and they were able to do so with a lesser QB and less spent on TBs.

I wonder if the Cowboys realize that now. This past offseason they dumped and restructured most of their large contracts to help create space that they likely need to rollover into 2023 given they are 12 million OVER the cap next year. But they didn't touch Elliott's after restructuring him a year before. Next offseason is the first time they have an "out" in the contract where they can save cap space. That would have gone away if they had restructured Elliott. I think they want the flexibility to dump him because even they realize the contract might be a bit ridiculous at this point.

Fine. That was deserved. I just don;t care for this money pulpit so many people are on. Snide, ridiculing. The guy gave up a lot to this team....at the expense of his personal stats. We barely even root for him. I hate it. It is what it is.

 

[ondaedg]

Oh hate for our players is absolutely a hallmark of this site..

Unfortunate but true.

 

[Sydla]

Fine. That was deserved. I just don;t care for this money pulpit so many people are on. Snide, ridiculing. The guy gave up a lot to this team....at the expense of his personal stats. We barely even root for him. I hate it. It is what it is.

The "money pulpit" is mostly people stating what is clearly obvious - that he has a bad contract. That he has a cap hit that is almost 10% of the entire cap this season. That's not good business to have that much tied into one TB. As I said, we see teams win and win a lot with far less resources invested in their TB depth chart. Frankly, that's more a Jerry/Stephen problem than Elliott.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

One, no one ever said Zeke doesn't do a single thing for us. So when you start squawking like that, it's hard to take you seriously.

Elliott is a nice TB. He's not the best, he's not the worst. He's not the same TB he was as a rookie. Despite your claims, he's not really as great a threat in the passing game as he was earlier in his career. Yes, he blocks well. He's just a good, solid all around TB at this point who is likely starting to see decline, which isn't all that surprising given the nature of the position.

He has a bad contract. Jerry panicked a few years ago when Elliott was threatening to sit and he ended up giving him a bad contract. This isn't an anti-Elliott thing, it's an anti-paying TBs thing. We see time and time again teams win and succeed without spending the resources on the TB position that we do. We got an up close view of a team that was more physical and could run the ball better than we could in January this year and they were able to do so with a lesser QB and less spent on TBs.

I wonder if the Cowboys realize that now. This past offseason they dumped and restructured most of their large contracts to help create space that they likely need to rollover into 2023 given they are 12 million OVER the cap next year. But they didn't touch Elliott's after restructuring him a year before. Next offseason is the first time they have an "out" in the contract where they can save cap space. That would have gone away if they had restructured Elliott. I think they want the flexibility to dump him because even they realize the contract might be a bit ridiculous at this point.

+1 ......good post
Honestly, I think next season's starting RB will be either Zeke or a free agent or draft pick. Two things I'm fairly confident, it won't be Pollard and he will be similar to Zeke as a complete RB. Pretty sure Jerry and Stephen see Zeke's value through different lenses.......Dak protector.

 

[Sydla]

+1 ......good post
Honestly, I think next season's starting RB will be either Zeke or a free agent or draft pick. Two things I'm fairly confident, it won't be Pollard and he will be similar to Zeke as a complete RB. Pretty sure Jerry and Stephen see Zeke's value through different lenses.......Dak protector.

Pollard could get pricey and if they keep Elliott, even if they get him to take a pay cut, it wouldn't be enough to compensate Pollard, I would guess.

Frankly, I think they should cut Elliott in the offseason, use the $6 million or so in cap savings to bring back Pollard and then find a TB or two in the draft and maybe bring in a cheap vet in FA. Keep building the OL and go from there.

 

[ESisback]

Zeke is gone buddy.

But not yet. Might as well relax, we have no control over it. Enjoy the ride!

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

But not yet. Might as well relax, we have no control over it. Enjoy the ride!

Exactly.
I've never argued the money isn't atrocious. But to hate on zeke about it...incessantly...to thwe point you don;t want him on the team. Sorry fans...I just don;t understand the point of that.

It doesn't make you a football expert. I'm not even sure it makes you a good fan.

Enjoy, cheer him on! Let's make the best of it. It's not changing...so let support our own Cowboys success. If you have it in you.

GOOD POST!

 

[lukin2006]

He should have been let you go the minute he held out for more money while under contract. And what's he done since getting paid...nothing. But he loves tapping out on important downs...

 

[aikemirv]

All this hate for a guy who has dished out and taken as much punishment as he has is not cool. I thought this was a Cowboys fan site.

He has taken a lot of punishment but most of it was his own doing. He looked for contact early in his career. I think he felt the toll on his body and his decline when he held out. I still think it was bad form ,but for him financially it was a brilliant move. Goodell had already cost him millions tarnishing his image with the suspension and costing him endorsement deals and he felt it was the time to make his move. He was right .

I think Jerry keeps him for 2023 though - JMO

 

[ESisback]

He should have been let you go the minute he held out for more money while under contract. And what's he done since getting paid...nothing. But he loves tapping out on important downs...

I remember being FURIOUS that he got a huge extension with TWO YEARS remaining, but then I got over it, because what else can WE do? Just another sign that players are getting more selfish and entitled every year. Hate being the “surly old guy”, but DANG, I miss the old days!

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

I remember being FURIOUS that he got a huge extension with TWO YEARS remaining, but then I got over it, because what else can WE do? Just another sign that players are getting more selfish and entitled every year. Hate being the “surly old guy”, but DANG, I miss the old days!

The good old days.....no internet! Just the games on tv once in awhile...monday morning newspaper box scores and article if your lucky. Maybe pre season magazine? That was it. Good old days indeed.

 

[RonnieT24]

Pollard could get pricey and if they keep Elliott, even if they get him to take a pay cut, it wouldn't be enough to compensate Pollard, I would guess.

Frankly, I think they should cut Elliott in the offseason, use the $6 million or so in cap savings to bring back Pollard and then find a TB or two in the draft and maybe bring in a cheap vet in FA. Keep building the OL and go from there.

This may surprise you but we agree on this. If the Cowboys aren't going to run an offense that leans on a bell cow running back then they don't need to be paying for one and Zeke doesn't need to be getting 12-13 carries a game. It's a waste of money and a waste of talent. If this is what the Cowboys want to do they should part ways with Zeke as soon as it's feasible. It's the best thing for both parties.