ZeKe

[jarntt]

Like I always say...these reviews mean nothing until they start playing real Football,,,but yeah,,,it's still good to read things like this. Good find

 

[Bmurph]

Cowboys safety is latest to buy into belief that Ezekiel Elliott helps defense
Ezekiel Elliott should put the offense over the top, but he probably won't make the defense any better

• by Sean Wagner-McGough
• @seanjwagner
• 43m ago • 3 min read

Sometimes if you repeat a lie enough times and if you speak the lie with complete conviction, you can convince others that what you're saying is, in fact, true. Take the Cowboys and one of their reasons for drafting Ezekiel Elliott.

According to both owner Jerry Jones and head coach Jason Garrett, Elliott will not only provide the offense with some much-needed fire power, he will also aid the team's defense. Their reasoning is simple: Elliott, a running back, will extend possessions and, as a result, the defense won't need to be on the field for as long as it was last season. It's worth noting the Cowboys are touting this belief as a result of their 2014 playoff season, which saw DeMarco Murray lead the league in carries, rushing yards, and touchdowns.

Now, Barry Church agrees with Jones and Garrett. The Cowboys safety believes the Cowboys' first-round pick will help the Cowboys' defense, which will allow the Cowboys to win more football games.

Seems like a good plan for the Cowboys, who are coming off a 4-12 season.

"He's one of those punishing backs," Church told SiriusXM NFL Radio. "He's a three-down back. He can do it all: Catch it out of the backfield, he can run between the tackles. He has enough speed to break the long ones. He's definitely a three-tool player that can just play on every single down. And it helps out the defense a lot. It takes up our play downs by a lot. That also happened in 2014 when we had DeMarco Murray. He was punishing defenses and we were three-and-out here, three-and-out there and we were fresh in the fourth quarter. That's how we won all of our games, by getting takeaways in the fourth quarter, but that was because we were fresh.

"Hopefully, we can get back to that same formula, where we're just grounding and pounding people and then we're just coming in there and cleaning things up. So we'll see what happens, but he has all the talent in the world."


Ezekiel Elliott was apparently brought to Dallas to fix the offense and the defense. USATSI

Except, even though their reasoning is simple, it isn't rooted in logic. As ESPN's Bill Barnwell pointed out on Twitter, the difference in the number of plays the Cowboys faced in 2014 and 2015 is negligible. The Cowboys faced 978 plays in 2014. In 2015, they faced 998 (per Sporting Charts). The difference is about one play per game, Barnwell explained, before pointing out the Cowboys actually "forced three-and-outs more frequently in 2015 than 2014."

https://bttrack.com/Click/Native?da...DgIlfJgknMFIT_iFmaYhHZRkWXMG60H4ja6wmpOB6Y2J0

Besides, there isn't even a correlation between time of possession and playing better defense, as The Wall Street Journal's Michael Salfino noted back in May, when the Cowboys first began touting their faulty logic.

As Barnwell then went onto to say, the Cowboys' defense's biggest issue last year was its failure to generate turnovers. Last year, Dallas finished last with 11 takeaways. In 2014, Dallas racked up 31, the second-highest total in the league.

Church pointed out the turnover issue in his response above, but he attributed their success in 2014 to being "fresh" for fourth quarters. Again, that's probably not true, because as previously mentioned, the Cowboys pretty much saw the exact same number of plays on a per game basis in 2014 as they did in 2015, when they finished dead last in the league in turnovers.

All of this isn't meant to serve as a critique of the Cowboys' decision to draft Elliott with the No. 4 pick in the draft, at which point defensive back Jalen Ramsey was still available. Elliott is an all-around back who should thrive alongside Tony Romo and behind a dominant offensive line. That's how the Cowboys should be explaining their selection. They shouldn't claim that Elliott will miraculously cure their defensive woes, because he probably won't -- especially considering multiple key members of the defense are facing lengthy suspensions.

The Cowboys drafted Elliott because he's projected to turn into a damn good NFL running back. That's enough justification for me.

 

[PDay8810]

Elliott is an all-around back who should thrive alongside Tony Romo and behind a dominant offensive line. That's how the Cowboys should be explaining their selection. They shouldn't claim that Elliott will miraculously cure their defensive woes, because he probably won't -- especially considering multiple key members of the defense are facing lengthy suspensions.

I agree with this in a large way...
1) Cowboy fans can now see the logic behind the selection. 2014 lightening in the bottle kinda thing. I'm pullin for um to be right.
2) Poor to average NFL defense can survive IF they get their fair share of turnovers. The 2015 defense was as bad as bad can be with regards to turnovers. Shirley...that won't happen again

 

[jarntt]

too long for me but I did get to the help the defense line again. You know what would have helped the defense??? A defender. I wish we'd stop with this line of thinking. I am happy with Elliott and kind of glad now that we took him and of course Football is a team sport and the better the offense the easier for the D (pressure of low scoring game, keeping off the field and fresh, better field position, etc) and good chance he makes our team better than anyone else we would have taken, but unless he is suiting up in the secondary he is helping the team by helping our offense

 

[Earl Stevens]

Please stop talking about him. Don't want him to get hurt.

 

[es4m11]

Please stop talking about him. Don't want him to get hurt.

Good job, you just jinxed it

 

[PDay8810]

Please stop talking about him. Don't want him to get hurt.

Howdy Earl....my Bad!

 

[Earl Stevens]

Howdy Earl....my Bad!

Hi PDay.

 

[Earl Stevens]

Good job, you just jinxed it

Oh no.

 

[es4m11]

In all seriousness, I really hope the kid stays healthy too. Going to be a lot of fun to watch that type of talent running behind that Oline.

Get your popcorn ready!

 

[Manster7588]

Hoping fans of other teams hate the hell out of Zeke.

 

[jarntt]

Hoping fans of other teams hate the hell out of Zeke.

Of course they will, he's a Cowboy

 

[Manster7588]

Of course they will, he's a Cowboy

But they'll hate him more if he lives up to his potential.

 

[cowboycolors]

hating on zeke just because he is a Cowboy is like hoping the beautiful woman you just saw with George Clooney is a complete bitch and ol George suffers from ED that Viagra wont fix

While not probable it makes you feel better because your not George I hope all 31 other teams feel that way about Zeke and the Cowboys

to Beautiful Women everywhere and Zeke having a great season

 

[Manster7588]

hating on zeke just because he is a Cowboy is like hoping the beautiful woman you just saw with George Clooney is a complete bitch and ol George suffers from ED that Viagra wont fix

While not probable it makes you feel better because your not George I hope all 31 other teams feel that way about Zeke and the Cowboys

to Beautiful Women everywhere and Zeke having a great season

Well I for one never hated on Clooney for his women.

 

[cowboycolors]

Well I for one never hated on Clooney for his women.

was not trying to box you in Manster just expounding on the wealth we have on the offensive side of the ball

I just wish the defense was so well built

 

[Manster7588]

was not trying to box you in Manster just expounding on the wealth we have on the offensive side of the ball

I just wish the defense was so well built

I know the hate for Zeke will be there but if he's a bust or just an OK RB a lot of fans won't care what team he's on, if he's the 2nd coming of Smith or 2014 Murray, the hate will be deep throughout the league fan bases.

 

[ArlingtonCowboys100]

A healthy zeke get 1200 to 1500. He is going to be a stud. He can get the tough yards where mcfadden failed last season.

 

[Bmurph]

Dez Bryant predicts that Ezekiel Elliott will eclipse 2,000 rushing yards
Elliott leads the NFL with 703 rushing yards after six games

• by Jared Dubin
• @jadubin5
• 2h ago • 1 min read

There is no NFL player on a bigger roll right now than Ezekiel Elliott. Zeke leads the NFL with 703 rushing yards through six weeks, and he's 116 yards ahead of No. 2 (LeSean McCoy).

With his massive 157-yard day against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Elliott did the following:

• Became the first rookie in NFL history to rush for at least 130 yards in four straight games.
• Extended his record streak of consecutive 100-plus yard games by a Cowboys rookie from three to four.
• Nearly equaled the total rushing yards accumulated against the Packers by the Jaguars, Vikings, Lions and Giants during Green Bay's first four games of the season (171).
• Averaged 5.6 yards per carry against a defense that had set a post-merger record by allowing 2.0 per carry through its first four games of the season.

He has been so good over these past four weeks that he is now on pace for 1,875 rushing yards, which would break Eric Dickerson's rookie record of 1,808 set in 1983. The closest anyone has come to breaking Dickerson's record is when Alfred Morris(then with Washington, and now Elliott's backup in Dallas) ran for 1,613 yards in 2012.

Elliott's teammate Dez Bryant apprently thinks Elliott can do us all one better than setting the rookie record. He predicted Zeke will not only beat Dickerson, but also cross the 2,000-yard mark.


"Yeah, I believe it. Two thousand or more. That's my prediction," Bryant said, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

With the way Elliott's offensive line has been blocking these past few weeks, it's not entirely out of the question. Dallas once again has the best line in football, with All-Pros Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zack Martin leading the way.

Having those guys clearing lanes is a pretty big advantage for any back (just look at Darren McFadden's 4.6 yards per carry last season), but Elliott is also doing great work creating yards after contact, especially zooming through the second level when he breaks free beyond the line of scrimmage.

The Cowboys take their bye in Week 7 before coming back to play the division rival Eagles, who had been excellent stopping the run until letting Washington's Matt Jones run wild Sunday. They'll then face the Browns, who have allowed defenses to run over them all season.

 

[PDay8810]

Great....Bryant making headlines.