Amari Cooper

[Eiknarflin]

I love Dak. He is one of my favorite players. But he needs to be better and smarter. The OL play has not been bad at all lately. You just cannot make the mistakes he has even during this recent hot streak. Mentally he was so sound year one. Now he just hasn't been playing smart. That is the perplexing part of it to me.

His first year, Dak reminded me a bit of Warren Moon. He seemed poised, threw the ball confidently, and made smart decisions with the ball. I don't know if he just played beyond himself his first year, if he digressed because of the pressure of it all, or if he's just too scared to make a mistake and in the process makes too many. Whatever it is, I sure hope he gets the mistakes out of his system soon and progresses to the kind of QB that is poised, smart, and knows when to get rid of the ball.

 

[Schmoopy1000]

His first year, Dak reminded me a bit of Warren Moon. He seemed poised, threw the ball confidently, and made smart decisions with the ball. I don't know if he just played beyond himself his first year, if he digressed because of the pressure of it all, or if he's just too scared to make a mistake and in the process makes too many. Whatever it is, I sure hope he gets the mistakes out of his system soon and progresses to the kind of QB that is poised, smart, and knows when to get rid of the ball.

I kinda get what your saying, but think I would use a different comparison.
Warren Moon threw one of the prettiest balls of all QBs. I never think that with Dak
Dak was ultra smart with the ball year one. That is true.
Year two was the year of the DC's.
Year three I think he was trying to hard to be something he is not. Which led to some of his sacks & fumbles.
Think he is calming down though since he has gotten his new toy. As long as he plays within his game he will do fine.

 

[tomodach10]

I kinda get what your saying, but think I would use a different comparison.
Warren Moon threw one of the prettiest balls of all QBs. I never think that with Dak
Dak was ultra smart with the ball year one. That is true.
Year two was the year of the DC's.
Year three I think he was trying to hard to be something he is not. Which led to some of his sacks & fumbles.
Think he is calming down though since he has gotten his new toy. As long as he plays within his game he will do fine.

I dont see him calm at all under pressure. I see panic, indecisiveness, and lack of awareness of what is going around you. It has to improve.

 

[Schmoopy1000]

I dont see him calm at all under pressure. I see panic, indecisiveness, and lack of awareness of what is going around you. It has to improve.

I agree, but he is calming down vs how he was earlier this season. His pocket awareness was a flat out nightmare earlier & indecisiveness Not saying he is out of the woods, but he is better right now than he was earlier this season.

 

[Eiknarflin]

I kinda get what your saying, but think I would use a different comparison.
Warren Moon threw one of the prettiest balls of all QBs. I never think that with Dak
Dak was ultra smart with the ball year one. That is true.
Year two was the year of the DC's.
Year three I think he was trying to hard to be something he is not. Which led to some of his sacks & fumbles.
Think he is calming down though since he has gotten his new toy. As long as he plays within his game he will do fine.

Yeah, quite obviously I didn't mean the comparison to mean an exact copy of Warren Moon. Moon was, IMO, a fun QB to watch, almost like Brady, because of his poise and the beauty of his passes.

I only meant that, first year, Dak played with poise and pocket presence.

I would also agree that he is improving to a degree, but even against the Saints there were times when he just wouldn't let go of the ball.

 

[jarntt]

I agree, but he is calming down vs how he was earlier this season. His pocket awareness was a flat out nightmare earlier & indecisiveness Not saying he is out of the woods, but he is better right now than he was earlier this season.

I think in the Saints game he made some incredibly poor decisions or perhaps more accurately non-decisions in the pocket in the red zone. It has not really improved IMO. What has improved is how well he is playing which won the game for us even with these mistakes. We are seeing a lot of the same issues we saw for years with Romo inside the red zone. There is no excuse to take a sack (or sack/fumble) deep inside the red zone when you can just toss it out of the back of the end zone and there is no excuse to get sacked when you are on the edge of FG range. He needs to be smarter. But he is indeed playing much better. Everyone wants to talk about the defense and Zeke, but Dak is a huge part of why we are in the playoff hunt.

 

[tomodach10]

I think in the Saints game he made some incredibly poor decisions or perhaps more accurately non-decisions in the pocket in the red zone. It has not really improved IMO. What has improved is how well he is playing which won the game for us even with these mistakes. We are seeing a lot of the same issues we saw for years with Romo inside the red zone. There is no excuse to take a sack (or sack/fumble) deep inside the red zone when you can just toss it out of the back of the end zone and there is no excuse to get sacked when you are on the edge of FG range. He needs to be smarter. But he is indeed playing much better. Everyone wants to talk about the defense and Zeke, but Dak is a huge part of why we are in the playoff hunt.

I do see the same issues with Dak and Romo in the red zone. Dak's first year, he was calm in the red zone and made few errors. I find myself yelling at him like I did Romo making critical mistakes in the red zone, such as INT's, fumbles, sacks. Play smart in the red zone area and we will be fine. I don't like coming away with 3 points vs. 7, but rather have that then stupid sacks, fumbles, Int's. Dak is critical to the Cowboys success. He needs to bring his A game this week. Everyone does, but Dak has to cut down on turnovers.

 

[ArlingtonCowboys100]

I am hoping cooper has a huge game and we send the eagles back home with a loss. It would be a huge win and I would love to see the eagles eliminated ASAP

 

[ArlingtonCowboys100]

I do see the same issues with Dak and Romo in the red zone. Dak's first year, he was calm in the red zone and made few errors. I find myself yelling at him like I did Romo making critical mistakes in the red zone, such as INT's, fumbles, sacks. Play smart in the red zone area and we will be fine. I don't like coming away with 3 points vs. 7, but rather have that then stupid sacks, fumbles, Int's. Dak is critical to the Cowboys success. He needs to bring his A game this week. Everyone does, but Dak has to cut down on turnovers.

There have been lots of sacks where dak had the ball for 4 or 5 seconds and he should have threw the ball away. Not all on dak, but several could have been avoided

 

[Earl Stevens]

Yes he still needs to get better. You ready to hand him 25 mill a year or more. Has he played better? Absolutely. Is he a tough guy? Hell yes. Is he a great leader? Definitely.
I’ve never been one to criticize his accuracy, but there are definitely some other things for him that have to get better. I’m definitely not blaming the Oline for all the sacks. This outdated, stale scheme that most bitch about looks pretty damn good to me right now. Sometimes it’s the players. As well as we played the other night, we left a number of points out there.

He’s not worth 25 million a year and he won’t get that. The difference between me and you guys is I don’t hold Dak to Romo’s standards. Dak is who he is. A 4th round pick with Russell Wilson upside.

 

[Earl Stevens]

Yep he needs to get better his decision making in the pocket sucks that’s why he is taking so many sacks. He holds the ball 2 long way 2 long. I still think he is a solid bus driver not a elite QB.He could improve with a forward thinking offense but he is not on the elite QB level. No way I want him extended with a premium QB deal. I like the leadership and his toughness but I don’t think he is the QB of the future. But my opinion like anybody else not on the Cowboys staff don’t mean squat after last year I would have cleaned out all the coaching staff. And IMHO if they don’t advance to the NFC championship game Jerry needs to clean house but it won’t happen so all we can do is bitch and moan enjoy the wins and dream of winning it all.

JMHO others will vary

His decision making in the pocket doesn’t suck. He’s just not as good as Romo. There were no issues with sacks in the past. This board is comical. When Romo got sacked a lot, 100% of the blame went to the Oline. When Dak gets sacked, it’s him. I’m not sure if you guys watch the games. Dak gets sacked way too often against 3 and 4 man rushes. Garrett and Linehan don’t scheme enough read option, play action, or quick passes for Dak to get the ball out quickly. The sacks are more of a scheme and Oline issue than it is Dak holding the ball too long.

 

[Eiknarflin]

His decision making in the pocket doesn’t suck. He’s just not as good as Romo. There were no issues with sacks in the past. This board is comical. When Romo got sacked a lot, 100% of the blame went to the Oline. When Dak gets sacked, it’s him. I’m not sure if you guys watch the games. Dak gets sacked way too often against 3 and 4 man rushes. Garrett and Linehan don’t scheme enough read option, play action, or quick passes for Dak to get the ball out quickly. The sacks are more of a scheme and Oline issue than it is Dak holding the ball too long.

You have a strange memory, Earl. Most of us talked about Romo holding the ball too long, and few that I recall ever blamed it on the oline.

Dak, too, holds the ball too long. Hopefully, he'll get that worked out, and I do believe that some of the offensive play calling could help him with that. To act like Dak has no share in the blame for that is as ridiculous as saying neither the play calling or the oline execution has no share in the blame for that.

Seems to me you are just looking to argue and so you are making up arguments that few have made.

 

[Earl Stevens]

I love Dak. He is one of my favorite players. But he needs to be better and smarter. The OL play has not been bad at all lately. You just cannot make the mistakes he has even during this recent hot streak. Mentally he was so sound year one. Now he just hasn't been playing smart. That is the perplexing part of it to me.

The Oline play hasn’t been bad? Are you serious? Dak’s teammates need to be better and smarter. More importantly his coaches need to be smarter. The Cowboys would average 30 a game with even an average offensive coordinator and scheme built around Dak. But when the team is built around the RB like Dallas is, you’re gonna struggle in the red zone with a makeshift Oline.

The Cowboys Oline ranks 31st in pass blocking on football outsiders and people here blaming Dak. Absolutely laughable. Dak sack rate was above average his first two years. This year it’s well below average. And it’s not because he got worse. His line got worse.

 

[ArlingtonCowboys100]

His decision making in the pocket doesn’t suck. He’s just not as good as Romo. There were no issues with sacks in the past. This board is comical. When Romo got sacked a lot, 100% of the blame went to the Oline. When Dak gets sacked, it’s him. I’m not sure if you guys watch the games. Dak gets sacked way too often against 3 and 4 man rushes. Garrett and Linehan don’t scheme enough read option, play action, or quick passes for Dak to get the ball out quickly. The sacks are more of a scheme and Oline issue than it is Dak holding the ball too long.

I do agree with you on the scheme. Where are the slant passes? As we have seen Dak can cause defenses issues when he runs and also uses the road option. aside from the sacks Dak has looked better throwing the ball over the past 4 games. As far as the OL goes this one does not compare the 2016 version,especially without a healthy Smith and frederick. The LG play also took a hit when Leary left

 

[ROMOTOOWENS]

He’s not worth 25 million a year and he won’t get that. The difference between me and you guys is I don’t hold Dak to Romo’s standards. Dak is who he is. A 4th round pick with Russell Wilson upside.

I agree that Dak is who he is. He is playing about as well as he can right now. Sure he missed a wide open deep throw vs the Saints. I saw Big Ben and Arod miss them too. The same can be said with the sacks. Every Qb takes a bad sack here and there. Dak is 4rth in the league in Int% to the good side. I think he is throwing the ball down the field a bit more. He is probably never going to throw for 4,000 yards or 30 TDS. We know this. He just needs to take fewer sacks and use the middle more IMo. If he gets sacked or we get a penalty it usually kills the drive. He has had a solid year.

 

[Earl Stevens]

You have a strange memory, Earl. Most of us talked about Romo holding the ball too long, and few that I recall ever blamed it on the oline.

Dak, too, holds the ball too long. Hopefully, he'll get that worked out, and I do believe that some of the offensive play calling could help him with that. To act like Dak has no share in the blame for that is as ridiculous as saying neither the play calling or the oline execution has no share in the blame for that.

Seems to me you are just looking to argue and so you are making up arguments that few have made.

Everybody deserves blame. Never said they didn’t. I blame the coaches more than I blame Dak. I blame the coaches more than I do the Oline. I don’t have a strange memory. Ive been reading Cowboy fan nonsense for over a decade. I’m not looking to argue. I’m trying to educate on what the problems of this team actually are and refuting the recycled nonsense I hear on FS1and ESPN.

 

[Earl Stevens]

I agree that Dak is who he is. He is playing about as well as he can right now. Sure he missed a wide open deep throw vs the Saints. I saw Big Ben and Arod miss them too. The same can be said with the sacks. Every Qb takes a bad sack here and there. Dak is 4rth in the league in Int% to the good side. I think he is throwing the ball down the field a bit more. He is probably never going to throw for 4,000 yards or 30 TDS. We know this. He just needs to take fewer sacks and use the middle more IMo. If he gets sacked or we get a penalty it usually kills the drive. He has had a solid year.

I think he can play better. He might not ever be as good as Romo, but he can be as good as Wilson. Yards and TDs are a team and scheme stat. Yea, Dak will never approach that as long as the team continues to build around Zeke.

 

[Earl Stevens]

I do agree with you on the scheme. Where are the slant passes? As we have seen Dak can cause defenses issues when he runs and also uses the road option. aside from the sacks Dak has looked better throwing the ball over the past 4 games. As far as the OL goes this one does not compare the 2016 version,especially without a healthy Smith and frederick. The LG play also took a hit when Leary left

The fact that the Cowboys rarely run RO on the goal line is absolutely inexcusable. Read Option should be their main focus on the goal line. Normal pass plays and failedruns up the middle are just wasted plays.

As far as Oline goes, they can be really good at run blocking, especially with the threat of Amari keeping Ds honest, but the pass protection has been among the worst in the NFL. Dak gets obliterated way too many times against 4 man rushes. It’s inexcusable. This is not a quick passing offense. Plays take time to develop. Dak’s mechanics need working on inside the pocket, and he needs to show more patience and keep his eyes downfield, but that is not the reason he’s getting sacked so much. Sometimes, Dak misses the open read and holds it too long, sometimes nobody is open, most times someone on the line gets beat badly or misses a block.

 

[jarntt]

The Oline play hasn’t been bad? Are you serious? Dak’s teammates need to be better and smarter. More importantly his coaches need to be smarter. The Cowboys would average 30 a game with even an average offensive coordinator and scheme built around Dak. But when the team is built around the RB like Dallas is, you’re gonna struggle in the red zone with a makeshift Oline.

The Cowboys Oline ranks 31st in pass blocking on football outsiders and people here blaming Dak. Absolutely laughable. Dak sack rate was above average his first two years. This year it’s well below average. And it’s not because he got worse. His line got worse.

Stop making excuses man. You are dug in so deep to protect Dak that you seem totally unobjective. Are you actually saying people didn't criticize Romo for holding the ball too long? He was horrible at that and was criticized for it constantly. He was beyond maddening in the red zone with the way he held the ball and made poor decisions. That doesn't mean he wasn't good, but he did a lot of stupid things too. In this winning streak the OL has been good. I didn't even think that was really even a question. If you can count to 3 on a sack it's not the OLs fault. If football outsiders has the cowboys OL ranked 31st in pass blocking they should be banned from the internet and wherever they are ranked would be way better if Dak would throw the damn ball quicker.

 

[tomodach10]

Stop making excuses man. You are dug in so deep to protect Dak that you seem totally unobjective. Are you actually saying people didn't criticize Romo for holding the ball too long? He was horrible at that and was criticized for it constantly. He was beyond maddening in the red zone with the way he held the ball and made poor decisions. That doesn't mean he wasn't good, but he did a lot of stupid things too. In this winning streak the OL has been good. I didn't even think that was really even a question. If you can count to 3 on a sack it's not the OLs fault. If football outsiders has the cowboys OL ranked 31st in pass blocking they should be banned from the internet and wherever they are ranked would be way better if Dak would throw the damn ball quicker.

Exactly!!!