Two Years Later, Dak Prescott Has Problems

[Simpleton]

I had Dak's play 3rd and said its basically interchangeable with the pass protection at 2, how is that at the bottom?

 

[Smitty]

Yeah, and to be fair, no one is absolving the game plan and play calling. These routes are designed to be easy, short throws on second and five to pick up "UP TO" five yards and a first. The clearer objective is a quick throw short of the sticks that will allow the receiver to rumble towards the line to gain. If he's stopped short, we then face a third and 1 or third and 2 and obviously the staff believes Elliott will pick that up. Those throws need to come out quickly, though, and I don't know the outcome of that play but I bet they didn't.

Still, throwing short like this over and over again is the 3 yards and a cloud of dust approach, just through the air, and it doesn't work. We can't string long drives together, because as I've said, inevitably, the defense will make a play to put us in a long yardage down and distance at some point. Secondly, because this is all we throw, they cheat up and fill the box, making it harder to run. It's killing both the running game and passing game that we aren't airing it out. It's insane.

But Prescott should also be well-able to make this play work to generate no worse than a third and short. Did he?

 

[Smitty]

Yeah, and to be fair, no one is absolving the game plan and play calling. These routes are designed to be easy, short throws on second and five to pick up "UP TO" five yards and a first. The clearer objective is a quick throw short of the sticks that will allow the receiver to rumble towards the line to gain. If he's stopped short, we then face a third and 1 or third and 2 and obviously the staff believes Elliott will pick that up. Those throws need to come out quickly, though, and I don't know the outcome of that play but I bet they didn't.

Still, throwing short like this over and over again is the 3 yards and a cloud of dust approach, just through the air, and it doesn't work. We can't string long drives together, because as I've said, inevitably, the defense will make a play to put us in a long yardage down and distance at some point. Secondly, because this is all we throw, they cheat up and fill the box, making it harder to run. It's killing both the running game and passing game that we aren't airing it out. It's insane.

But Prescott should also be well-able to make this play work to generate no worse than a third and short. Did he?

And to answer my question, no. He held the ball too long and passed to Austin for -1 yards.

 

[Smitty]

I had Dak's play 3rd and said its basically interchangeable with the pass protection at 2, how is that at the bottom?

I misremembered your rankings then.

 

[Sheik]

What a turn of events since 2016.

It’s sad that this bum pushed Romo out the door. Although, I’m certain Romo needed to get out before he was permanently disabled.

The sad part of all this is, the defense is better than it’s been in a long, long time. It’s too bad Dak isn’t even capable of being a stop-gap bus driver.

Time to start planning for a veteran QB in the offseason, or hopefully they suck enough to maybe get a franchise QB in one of the next two drafts.

 

[Rev]

And to answer my question, no. He held the ball too long and passed to Austin for -1 yards.

If I'm thinking of the correct play that was on Austin. Je ran back to try and get around.

 

[Smitty]

What a turn of events since 2016.

It’s sad that this bum pushed Romo out the door. Although, I’m certain Romo needed to get out before he was permanently disabled.

The sad part of all this is, the defense is better than it’s been in a long, long time. It’s too bad Dak isn’t even capable of being a stop-gap bus driver.

Time to start planning for a veteran QB in the offseason, or hopefully they suck enough to maybe get a franchise QB in one of the next two drafts.

The saddest part is that we let the Eagles outmaneuver us for Wentz.

That 4-12 season was a godsend. It should have allowed us to be aggressive and select our franchise QB of the future with the benefit of retaining a franchise QB of the present. There were two options and BOTH were on the table, as the Browns and Titans both traded out. We all could see Romo's days were numbered. We all liked Goff and Wentz. QB is the most important thing in today's league, bar none.

We should have done whatever it took to land one of them.

And we didn't. Our GM got bested again, and the Eagles won the Super Bowl because of it.

 

[Sheik]

The saddest part is that we let the Eagles outmaneuver us for Wentz.

That 4-12 season was a godsend. It should have allowed us to be aggressive and select our franchise QB of the future with the benefit of retaining a franchise QB of the present. There were two options and BOTH were on the table, as the Browns and Titans both traded out. We all could see Romo's days were numbered. We all liked Goff and Wentz. QB is the most important thing in today's league, bar none.

We should have done whatever it took to land one of them.

And we didn't. Our GM got bested again, and the Eagles won the Super Bowl because of it.

Last year in the little I watched Dak, I figured Zeke being suspended, on top of the bad coaching, that Dak would be okay.

There is no coach out there that can get him back to 2016 Dak. He’s crashed down to earth in a big way. He won’t recover either. I suspect by week 7 he’ll be benched, and he’ll take it really bad. He won’t be in Dallas next year, IMO.

The only way I see him wearing a Cowboy uniform next year, is if Garrett is fired mid-year and the team goes on a little run like all teams seem to do with a mid-year coaching change.

 

[Simpleton]

One thing that we have to consider is that Garrett has been the HC for basically a decade now and the only time we've truly had success was when the OL was playing at an all-time elite level in 2014 and 2016.

We were 8-8 for 3 seasons there with Romo but I think most would agree that he had to drag those teams to 8-8 along with Witten/Dez, often by going no huddle and just slinging it around. Take Romo off those teams and replace him with a league-average QB and you're probably looking at a 6-10 team or worse.

Dak aside, the OL has been average and it seems like we're back to the similar pattern under Garrett.

 

[BipolarFuk]

Dak is done.

Anyone with eyes can see it.

He can't even throw accurately on short routes anymore.

 

[Sheik]

Dak is done.

Anyone with eyes can see it.

He can't even throw accurately on short routes anymore.

It’s going to be okay.

 

[Genghis Khan]

1. Dak
2. Coaching
3. Dak
4. Dak
5. Dak

 

[Smitty]

1. Dak
2. Coaching
3. Dak
4. Dak
5. Dak

Yeah, I'd agree.

Dak is so bad right now, I'm not convinced that better playcalling would even help that much. He is missing super basic reads.

 

[mcnuttz]

Dak reminds me of Testaverde when he landed in Dallas.

He'd stand around patting the ball, while I'm jumping up and down screaming, "just throw the damn ball!"

 

[Rev]

1. Dak
2. Coaching
3. Dak
4. Dak
5. Dak

1. Everybody has a hand in this from top to bottom.
2. Even if you change QBs the problem will still exist.

 

[shane]

I'd like to see Dak for at least a year under a real coach before pulling plug. He went from great 1st year to ok 2nd year and now mediocre (and thats a stretch) w the shittiest receiving talent in the league and perhaps the worst coaching the league has ever seen.

If he keeps regressing into his 5th year, bring in a vet like Stafford or Rivers who will be aiming for a championship late in their career.

 

[Smitty]

Problems would still exist for sure, but at the same time, has the offense changed much from when Romo was here? I don't think so, in fact I think that was the problem.... it never changes things up.

But warts and all this was a top 10, top 12 offense with a top QB.

Which is more or less my take... the offense has zero creativity, but in the past it has allowed good players to play well, it just doesn't help them out much. And is prone to meltdowns at bad times against good defenses. Its kinda just exists. No real help to the players, but no huge hurt either. What the players' skill level is, is what the offense will produce at.

That's indictable itself, but it doesn't really explain Prescott being "held back," which I don't really think is the case. Prescott stinks, and the offense isn't creative enough to bail him out. This is, in other words, your "average Prescott."

The pre-Linehan years were, in points scored/yards accumulated, 7th/7th, 15th/11th, 15th/6th, 5th/11th, before being 5th/7th with Linehan in 2014 before the QB breakdown of 2015, and then 5th/5th in 2016. Top 10 rankings in bold, which is 8 out of 12 if you set aside the 2015 campaign, 8 out of 14 if you don't.

 

[Rev]

I'd like to see Dak for at least a year under a real coach before pulling plug. He went from great 1st year to ok 2nd year and now mediocre (and thats a stretch) w the shittiest receiving talent in the league and perhaps the worst coaching the league has ever seen.

If he keeps regressing into his 5th year, bring in a vet like Stafford or Rivers who will be aiming for a championship late in their career.

That's like keeping Garrett while we wait for first round picks at every spot.

F that.

 

[mcnuttz]

Jake Fromm in 2020.

 

[Simpleton]

The solution is simple.

Fire Garret, hire a new staff, if there is a QB worthy of being picked in the top 10, take them, if not, see what Prescott has next year and if he looks like shit over the first 6-8 games of 2019 you pull him and tank the rest of the year for Tua.