The Running Back position will doom us or not thread...

boozeman

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Cowboys RB Darren McFadden, OL coach Frank Pollack reunited and hoping to get it right this time





Rainer Sabin Follow @RainerSabinDMN Email rsabin@dallasnews.com

Published: May 12, 2015 2:54 pm



One of the odd events of the offseason was the reunion of Frank Pollack and Darren McFadden.

Pollack is the Cowboys’ offensive line coach. McFadden is the team’s newly-acquired running back.

Both were together for one miserable season in Oakland back in 2012. That year, the Raiders finished 4-12 and ranked 28th in rushing yardage as McFadden turned in one lousy performance after another. He averaged a career-low 3.3 yards per carry and didn’t adjust well to the new zone-blocking scheme Pollack and offensive coordinator Greg Knapp had implemented. The system, which is more nuanced, is usually accompanied by a learning curve. And Knapp pleaded patience as the struggles persisted.

“Sometimes it takes a good year to get an understanding of what we are looking for,” Pollack said. “Some back may have had a little bit more experience with it in the past and pick it up quicker. So it kind of varies from player to player.”

In Oakland, Pollack never got a chance to see McFadden could thrive. He was fired along with Knapp at the end of the 2012 campaign.

At the time of his dismissal, former Raiders head coach Dennis Allen told the Associated Press, “I believe the zone scheme running scheme is a productive running scheme. Obviously, we didn’t have the success that we needed to have and there were a lot of factors that contributed into that. I’m not tied to a specific system. I’m tied to trying to find out what our players can do really well and try to put them in those positions to give them a chance to have success. I’m looking for production and execution.”

Three years later, in Dallas, Pollack will try to extract both from McFadden.

“I know Coach Pollack said he was tough, fast and was the type of guy who could do really well in the zone scheme,” Cowboys running backs coach Gary Brown said of McFadden. “I think with Coach Pollack’s recommendation, the higher-ups felt [McFadden] would be a good fit for us.”
 

ravidubey

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Why would Pollack actually have recommended McFadden?

I'm thinking the opposite... like when Jones signed McFadden, Pollack must have been rolling his eyes thinking "This guy... "

How fricking cursed is Pollack?

Like only 31 others, he's worked his ass off to the elite of the line-coaching profession and is finally in position to get recognition all on his own...

...only to face being sunk by the same dense prima donna who week after week couldn't get his system and got him fired to begin with?

McFadden is the lone guy who's proven he can make this OL look bad behind this scheme.
 

NoDak

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Maybe he did endorse him, maybe he didn't. Who knows? Maybe he saw that nobody would be successful with that steaming pile that Oakland called an Oline.
 

p1_

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Why would Pollack actually have recommended McFadden?

I'm thinking the opposite... like when Jones signed McFadden, Pollack must have been rolling his eyes thinking "This guy... "

How fricking cursed is Pollack?

Like only 31 others, he's worked his ass off to the elite of the line-coaching profession and is finally in position to get recognition all on his own...

...only to face being sunk by the same dense prima donna who week after week couldn't get his system and got him fired to begin with?

McFadden is the lone guy who's proven he can make this OL look bad behind this scheme.
We will find out soon enough. Murray's success was proof of concept. It would take a special person
to fail behind this unit.
 

boozeman

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We will find out soon enough. Murray's success was proof of concept. It would take a special person
to fail behind this unit.
It is a great line. So was the one in the 1990s. Blair Thomas and Sherman Williams sucked running behind that.

It is so effing obvious that this will blow up in our faces or at the very least yield results substantially below what we got with Murray.
 

ravidubey

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It is a great line. So was the one in the 1990s.
No one could run behind that line except Emmitt. Despite Aikman, Irvin, Novacek, and sometimes Harper to back the defense off. On top of those you mentioned there was Lavette, Richards, Coleman-- they couldn't run and looked bad.

Years later in the late 1990's after adding Flozell Chris Warren came in and finally did some damage.

But Warren, despite being old, was a special back who had excelled earlier in his career.

There's no substitute for quality at RB.

Right now it's the one thing I see keeping us from a deep playoff run (and injury, of course).

In the end, DeMarco Murray and the Cowboys' determination to run was too much for Seattle to stop us. In their own house. When they knew it was coming. With the crown screaming. And. Still. Couldn't. Stop. It.

Hard to imagine John Randle doing that (by then DMac's high ankle sprain would have taken him out of the equation).
 

Smitty

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No one could run behind that line except Emmitt. Despite Aikman, Irvin, Novacek, and sometimes Harper to back the defense off. On top of those you mentioned there was Lavette, Richards, Coleman-- they couldn't run and looked bad.

Years later in the late 1990's after adding Flozell Chris Warren came in and finally did some damage.

But Warren, despite being old, was a special back who had excelled earlier in his career.

There's no substitute for quality at RB.

Right now it's the one thing I see keeping us from a deep playoff run (and injury, of course).

In the end, DeMarco Murray and the Cowboys' determination to run was too much for Seattle to stop us. In their own house. When they knew it was coming. With the crown screaming. And. Still. Couldn't. Stop. It.

Hard to imagine John Randle doing that (by then DMac's high ankle sprain would have taken him out of the equation).
Chris Warren was the first half decent back who we even tried. Did any of those other backs who came through here during Emmitt's tenure ever get any play elsewhere around the league? No, they were out pretty quick because they didn't belong.

McFadden is better than any of them were.

I'm not saying we should be expecting this to be a smash hit and I'm even ok looking for other veterans, but come on, let's not skew history.
 

Cotton

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No one could run behind that line except Emmitt. Despite Aikman, Irvin, Novacek, and sometimes Harper to back the defense off. On top of those you mentioned there was Lavette, Richards, Coleman-- they couldn't run and looked bad.

Years later in the late 1990's after adding Flozell Chris Warren came in and finally did some damage.

But Warren, despite being old, was a special back who had excelled earlier in his career.

There's no substitute for quality at RB.

Right now it's the one thing I see keeping us from a deep playoff run (and injury, of course).

In the end, DeMarco Murray and the Cowboys' determination to run was too much for Seattle to stop us. In their own house. When they knew it was coming. With the crown screaming. And. Still. Couldn't. Stop. It.

Hard to imagine John Randle doing that (by then DMac's high ankle sprain would have taken him out of the equation).
Who is John Randle? :unsure
 

Smitty

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He is not better than Chris Warren was. Warren at least had four consecutive 1000 yard seasons to establish some consistency.
No, I meant the others. Didnt mean to imply Warren.

I actually think Warren was underrated.
 

Cowboysrock55

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It is so effing obvious that this will blow up in our faces or at the very least yield results substantially below what we got with Murray.
Yep, just like you're predictions of our doomed season last year.
 

boozeman

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Yep, just like you're predictions of our doomed season last year.
I said the same shit last year that I have every year. 8-8. Plus or minus two based on fortune.

We happened to hit four. It was a special season, one that had a lot of peaks and valleys and it could have gone south but instead it went north. The issues that we all knew would hurt bit us in the ass when it counted after an amazing year where we hid deficiencies.

But hey, keep playing your optimist card. It's a good look for you.

It does not take a genius to see how last season was fortuitous.

It certainly wasn't our kick ass defense.

It was the running game that had a guy hell bent on getting his big contract with a line that was finally top shelf quality.

We took a step backwards with the running game. Period.

We "think" the defense will be better. '

So the dynamic on how this team will win games has flipped.

Sorry, usually teams build on success, they don't eff with formulas and re-invent themselves in a year.
 

NoDak

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I said the same shit last year that I have every year. 8-8. Plus or minus four based on fortune.
So, anywhere from 4-12 to 12-4. God damn, sure can't say you don't cover your bases.
 

Carp

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I think Randle is going to be the lead back next year and will have an outstanding season. He is more of a HR hitter than Murray was, but Murray was great on dirty yards.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Randle will have 1400 yards, plus or minus 1000 depending on how things go.
 

Smitty

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I'm as much of a pessimist as you can find but there isn't a ton to be pessimistic about and with the rest of the NFC East's moves, no reason to think we don't have a decent shot at repeating as division champs.

RB is simply not that important. Especially when you have a line like this.
 

ravidubey

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Sorry, usually teams build on success, they don't eff with formulas and re-invent themselves in a year.
Exactly. Instead Dallas totally fixates on Aaron Rodgers' limping around late in the 4th as if everything else remains the same.

Granted, anyone could see they needed to overhaul the defense, but the defense was minuscule in comparison to the impact of the running game.

To chuck the identity that got them to 12-4 and replace a bonafide stud like Murray with a never-was like McFadden and JAG-committee is mind-boggling.

Who knows what this team will even look like next year.
 

Cotton

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In this whole Murray discussion I think people are missing the fact that he hasn't been able to stay healthy for a whole year minus one year. Add to that the load he took this year (enter Carp stage left), and you have a hope and a prayer he can stay healthy.
 
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