Dez Watch Thread...

[Cotton]

Cowboys TE Gavin Escobar explains why Dez Bryant injury gives offense an 'advantage'

By Rainer Sabin
Staff Writer

IRVING -- With Dez Bryant sidelined for the foreseeable future with a fractured right foot, the Cowboys must figure out how to forge ahead without their top receiver.

The conventional thought is that defenses will stand to benefit with Bryant absent from the offense.

But Cowboys tight end Gavin Escobar isn't so sure.

"I think they will be more confused because they don't what we're going to do right now," he said. "Dez is definitely a big game plan guy...So I think it's almost to our advantage."

Escobar's take is an interesting one. That he came up with it isn't surprising. He's stands to gain from Bryant's setback, after all.

"He has a lot of targets every game and those targets are going to go elsewhere," said Escobar, who caught a touchdown pass in the victory over the Giants last Sunday. "I'll take advantage of all of those opportunities that come my way."

Since he was drafted in the second round in 2013, Escobar has just been a bit player for the Cowboys. During his career, he's been targeted only 30 times and made 20 catches.

"But he's been one of those guys throughout his career all the way back to his rookie year that whenever he's gotten chances he's done a good job with those opportunities," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said.

 

[dallen]

I think was true to some extent on Sunday because the Giants gameplan was for Bryant to be in there. Once you give an NFL team a whole week to adjust that disappears. I'm pretty sure even the Eagles can figure out how to contain Gavin Escobar and Devin Street.

 

[Cotton]

Could Dez Bryant's absence aid Cowboys' offense?

by Todd Archer

IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys tight end Gavin Escobar has offered up a different take on the impending absence of Dez Bryant.

He's not suggesting life without Bryant will be easy, but he is saying it could bother opposing defenses, starting Sunday with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"I think they'll be more confused because they don't really know what we're going to do right now," Escobar said. "Dez is definitely a big game-plan guy, so I think they're not really sure what we're going to do right now. I think it's almost to our advantage."

Again, it's an interesting take, especially since Bryant has 273 catches and 41 touchdowns in the previous three seasons and made up nearly 33 percent of the Cowboys receiving yards and 43 percent of their touchdown catches last season.

On a conference call Wednesday morning, Eagles coach Chip Kelly wasn't about to fall into the trap that a Bryant-less offense makes things easier for his defense.

"Obviously Dez is a tremendous talent but they have some weapons beside Dez in [Jason] Witten, [Cole] Beasley and obviously when a quarterback is playing as well as he is, Terrance Williams," Kelly said. "It’s always a difficult time when you lose a great player like Dez, but it’s not like they don’t have other really good players there."

Without Bryant, the targets have to go elsewhere and Escobar's chances should increase even if he is not a wide receiver. Like the way the Cowboys are treating the running back spot, they will go with a committee approach in replacing Bryant's production.

Williams will move to the No. 1 receiver role with more work for Beasley, Devin Street and Lucky Whitehead. Witten is already a vital part of the passing game but there will be more opportunities for Lance Dunbar, who caught a career-high eight passes against the New York Giants, and Escobar, who played only nine snaps in the opener but caught a touchdown pass.

"[Dez] get a lot of targets every game so those targets are going to go elsewhere," Escobar said. "Wherever the ball goes, we have to take advantage of that."

Escobar has been searching for a larger role in the offense since he was drafted in the second round in 2013. He has just 20 career catches for 247 yards, which is a good three-week run for Bryant, to go with seven touchdown catches.

With Bryant out, he will get the best chance he's ever had to make an impact.

"Receivers will play, we'll play different personnel groups and different guys will step up," coach Jason Garrett said. "There are so many plays in a game and we need guys to come in and be productive with those plays. We'll throw the football and when we're not throwing to the outside receiver somebody else has got to catch it. Escobar has certainly proven when we've given him opportunities over the course of his career he's pretty darn productive."

 

[Carp]

It does not help, but I get what he is saying. Our last drive was flatout greatness. Dunbar, Witten, Beasley, and Williams all made catches and Romo just found the open guy. The OL was excellent and Romo changed blocking assignments to ensure he had time to throw. Just a smooth drive.

 

[P_T]

What U Takin About Escobar?​

 

[Cotton]

I like how you centered the pic. Fancy.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Pretty much our offense becomes less predictable without Dez. I get that part of it. It's what a team like the Patriots thrives doing. But any time your talent at a position gets worse, your team gets worse. In the short term it may make us less predictable but I think in the long term it makes it much harder to win the big games.

 

[boozeman]

Totally idiotic.

 

[P_T]

Pretty much our offense becomes less predictable without Dez. I get that part of it. It's what a team like the Patriots thrives doing. But any time your talent at a position gets worse, your team gets worse. In the short term it may make us less predictable but I think in the long term it makes it much harder to win the big games.

It just as to work for (hopefully) 4 games.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

It just as to work for (hopefully) 4 games.

That's what I'm praying for. Every time I hear on the radio them call it a 6-8 week injury it upsets me.

 

[boozeman]

It just as to work for (hopefully) 4 games.

A quarter of a season is not just a little while. This is kind of a big deal if we are not prepared.

 

[ravidubey]

All Escobar said was the Eagles would be more confused, right? As in they are less likely to know where the ball is going without Dez.

Basically true. His use of the word "advantage" was in another sentence entirely, that they would have to take advantage of the Eagles' lack of defensive anticipation.

Also true.

He didn't say Dez being gone was an advantage. Yeeesh.

 

[Clay_Allison]

What do you want him to say? How about:

"We're fucked, man. I just hope they don't throw the ball to me. I'm going to go out there and flat out embarrass myself without the real stars carrying the team."

You want your players to be confident and believe they can step up into a bigger role. If a receiver doesn't want more passes thrown his way you don't want him on the team, much less on the field.

 

[mcnuttz]

What do you want him to say? How about:

"We're fucked, man. I just hope they don't throw the ball to me. I'm going to go out there and flat out embarrass myself without the real stars carrying the team."

You want your players to be confident and believe they can step up into a bigger role. If a receiver doesn't want more passes thrown his way you don't want him on the team, much less on the field.

It's true you want your players to be confident, but you also don't want them looking like a boob and saying that losing one of the greatest WR's in the game is an advantage to their offense.

Sounds like Escobar just isn't used to talking to the media.

 

[L.T. Fan]

The team who can control the clock with ball possession will likely win this game all things being equal with turnovers ,etc.

 

[NoDak]

It's true you want your players to be confident, but you also don't want them looking like a boob and saying that losing one of the greatest WR's in the game is an advantage to their offense.

Sounds like Escobar just isn't used to talking to the media.

I didn't see any where that he said losing Dez was an advantage. Only that with our lead option now gone, teams won't know where Romo will be going with the ball, and that would be an advantage.

 

[jsmith6919]

Tbf I'd bet Escobar is just repeating what Garrett said to the team after losing Dez

 

[mcnuttz]

I didn't see any where that he said losing Dez was an advantage. Only that with our lead option now gone, teams won't know where Romo will be going with the ball, and that would be an advantage.

Ok, and that's still a silly statement. Dez was double and sometimes triple-teamed on Sunday.

So essentially a defense now has 1 or 2 extra defenders to spread around and cover the rest of the offense.

Catching NFL defenses off-guard for one week isn't an advantage, and neither is being without your #1 WR.

 

[Genghis Khan]

Ok, and that's still a silly statement. Dez was double and sometimes triple-teamed on Sunday.

So essentially a defense now has 1 or 2 extra defenders to spread around and cover the rest of the offense.

Catching NFL defenses off-guard for one week isn't an advantage, and neither is being without your #1 WR.

Correct.

What do we want him to say?

How about, it's a big loss and we're all going to have to step up.

Not hard.

 

[townsend]

The team who can control the clock with ball possession will likely win this game all things being equal with turnovers ,etc.

I will be very disappointed if we don't win the turnover battle vs. the Eagles.