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The Dallas Cowboys are having a tough year because there are so many things that are not going well for this football team They have just reshaped most of their coaching staff, and with all the new changes that come with it , a difficult transition is expected While time will tell if these changes will ultimately be a good thing or a bad thing, things are really bad right now
Then there’s the huge amount of injuries the Cowboys have suffered this year Not just in quantity, but in quality as a lot of their best guys have come out for the season Of course every team faces injuries. , but it should be noted that this Cowboys team has been hit particularly hard this season
Cowboys have $ 57 million of their cap stash down due to injury That’s more than Kansas City, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Tennessee and Chicago (all teams with at least 5 wins) COMBINED ! That’s quite a downside https: // tco / WWGyk5zFQw
And if the coaching is suspect and the health is a disaster, the chronic dread of this football team doesn’t end there Players who play just don’t play well Two players who get a lot of heat for the Cowboys’ inability to win games are Ezekiel Elliott and Jaylon Smith In fact, former cowboy / apparent talent scout Dez Bryant took to Twitter with a backhand shot on Zeke and Jaylon
It’s a harsh statement to make about a few former teammates (which may be why it was deleted soon after), but it’s a feeling many fans actually have. Smith had times where he looked just plain awful, and with Elliott struggling to hold on to football, he doesn’t gain many new fans these days
People have been extremely critical of Zeke as he is counted on to deliver this attack after losing Dak Prescott to a late season injury Elliott has searched the ball five times this season, four of which resulted in turnovers and in each of those cases their opponents have capitalized by scoring touchdowns on their assured training, further emphasizing the detriment of those fumbles
While this is something Elliott needs to improve upon, some go too far with this issue Suggesting that he has had a difficult problem his entire career or that he should be put on the bench could just be the emotions. who speak
This conversation about Elliott having a groping issue before 2020 has gotten weird What he’s got this year is undoubtedly a tough issue But claiming he’s not as sure of himself as the top full-backs in the league (2018-19) (CMC, Saquon) is not a problem (continued)
I would go even further to suggest that while Elliott’s fumbles this season are unfortunate, it’s not as reckless as some claim To better understand this we are offering a bonus edition of After Further Review while we’re taking a look at each of his breakaways this season to get a better idea of what happened
It’s really hard to say what made the ball go out on this game Initially it looks like Elliott collides with his blockers and just loses control of the ball and it could very well be. is also possible that a Falcons defender (maybe Foye Oluokun?) hits the ball
Elliott was lucky enough to jump on that first fumble, but two plays later the ball was one of the fields again This time we saw it clearly, and Oluokun definitely put his fist there- in and hit him Zeke was tackled and as he pushed forward it took a while to get his other hand into position to better secure the ball
Verdict: Again, ball safety needs to be better there It’s interesting that the Cowboys had four fumbles in this game, and there would have been five if a pit review hadn’t not ruled Tony Pollard’s knee was down in the Cowboys’ second play of the scrum The Falcons were hitting the ball like crazy, knocking the ball out of the arms of Elliott, Pollard and even Dalton Schultz later in the game While a better job needs to be done to protect the ball, it wasn’t limited to Zeke that day
Like what’s been going on quite a bit this season, as soon as something positive happens for the Cowboys offense, something happens to spoil it On this play, Elliott comes outside and finds the seam for a nice 24 yard run, only to then spit the ball out As Zeke was tackled, he turns around on a defender, keeping the play live The defender actually goes after Zeke’s hand, pulling his grip, which ends by releasing the ball And because Elliott was never technically down, he was correctly deemed a fumble
Elliott spoke to the press after this match and explained how this situation was a little different
« Once I turned around and my butt was on his head, I kind of relaxed, and it gave him the opportunity to take the ball away »
« I just need to focus and work on it in practice to make sure I keep this ball tight, and put a little more emphasis on it »
Verdict: If Elliott’s explanation makes sense, so does his conclusion. The unique situation of this game doesn’t excuse him for not securing the ball better
At the end of the first quarter against the Cardinals, the Cowboys’ offense looked like it had something to cook for in a scoreless battle when they moved the ball to midfield As Andy Dalton tried to escape the pressure he threw himself at the ball at Elliott In a split second it looked like the Cowboys had a chance to do something with it, but a Budda Baker was there to put an end to this
Elliott never put the ball away In his defense it happened so quickly and it’s possible his eyes got really big after seeing the daylight he had in front of him
Verdict: It’s hard to be overly critical of Elliott on this interrupted game as he only had a fraction of a second to react, and it’s a perfect example of ‘trying to ‘overdoing it « Elliott saw an opportunity for a great game, and as a result his ability to secure the ball took a back spot
Elliott’s day went from bad to worse because the next time he touched the ball he brought it back to the ground As he was trying to hit the hole, he collided with Cardinals lineman Jordan Phillips, and the ball came loose
At this point, the announcement team pointed out what a lot of us were thinking and it was Elliott’s funk that came into his mind as he reached a level of absurdity If You slow things down on this game it appeared Zeke is trying to get through this hole but rubbed his right hand on Connor McGovern causing Elliott to lose control before he was hit by Phillips
Verdict: Whether he meets his own man or not, Elliott’s ball safety is not good enough and this roll should never have happened
Elliott didn’t do a good job taking care of the ball, and nothing on the tape suggests otherwise.A close look at each of these games shows a handful of different scenarios that better explain why the ball went. detached This is no excuse for Zeke, but at the same time, it’s not something as alarming as his season statistic sounds. It’s not like the groping Demarco Murray dilemma of 2014 which saw him lose five fumbles in the first eight games of the year Murray’s problem was technique as he regularly swung his arms to help gain speed This made him vulnerable to the ball being stripped Murray improved and never fumbled in any of the last games of regular season, but the same problem resurfaced in the playoff division round against the Green Bay Packers when he was stripped by Julius Peppers It turned out to be expensive
When it comes to Elliott, technique isn’t the issue. He needs to stay focused for the duration of the play And all Cowboys players need to beware of ‘overdoing’ when they are beat in tough situations This team just lost their quarterback on an abnormal play where Dak Prescott tried to stiffen the defender, so sometimes not overdoing it is easier said than done Although trial and error has been heartbreaking, there is nothing about Elliott that makes him worry about the future
Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys, Dak Prescott, Fumble, Washington football team
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