How Cowboys Dak Prescott Ezekiel Elliott Dez Bryant stack up against the Packers

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After a home lo s to the , the Rogie Vachon Jersey sky is falling inside Jerry's World. This isn't how the ' season was supposed to unfold.A year ago, the Cowboys rode their rookie duo -- quarterback and running back -- to a 13-3 record and the top overall position in the NFC. Though their magical year, which actually began on a down note when lost his season (and career) with a preseason back injury, ended with an equally heartbreaking playoff lo s to the , the arrow was still pointing up in Dallas. The future still belonged to them. With the best young QB-RB duo in football, arguably the game's best offensive line, an elite WR in , an agele s wonder in tight end , how could the Cowboys' offense not be set up to dominate in the wars to come?The NFL is a fickle world, though. Nothing lasts forever. The Cowboys are by no means out of it after four weeks. But they're in a dogfight and no longer find themselves in a position of power.After the first four weeks of the 2017 season, the Cowboys have nearly matched their lo s total from last year. They're 2-2 and a game back of the in the NFC East. Prescott has nearly thrown nearly as many picks as he did all of last season and his pa ser rating is almost 15 points lower than last year. Elliott is averaging 1.5 fewer yards per carry this year. Still, there's no reason for the Cowboys to panic. Prescott and Zeke were never going to fly along unimpeded for their entire careers. They were always going to be forced to confront some sort of challenges along the way. They're both great players. They're still the best young QB-RB duo in the NFL. The Cowboys' offense will be fine in the long haul.With that being said, there's a very real chance they'll fall below .500 after this weekend's clash with the Packers.This week's best game -- the Packers at the Cowboys -- is so good, we're bringing you two in-depth matchup previews. On Friday, my colleague Jared Dubin will bring you a preview centered around and the Cowboys' defense. Today, I'm bringing you a preview about the Cowboys' offense -- spearheaded by Prescott and Elliott -- against the Packers' defense. Spoiler alert: They're still good and they're going to find succe s against a mediocre-at-best Packers defense. Whether or not the Cowboys' defense can stop Rodgers, well, that's an entirely different story -- one Dubin will answer later. For now, let's take a look at the Cowboys' offense and how it matches up against the Packers' defense.Zeke's regre sion isn't just on himIn his rookie season, Elliott immediately became the best pure runner in football -- and were still better all-around backs, of course -- by leading the league in rushing with 1,631 yards. He added 15 rushing touchdowns and one receiving score. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry. For the sake of comparison, averages 4.8 yards per carry in his Hall-of-Fame caliber career. Translation: Zeke was amazing.Elliott's not the same Austin Wagner Women Jersey Elliott this year, though -- so far, at least. Through four games, Elliott is averaging 3.6 yards per carry. He's on pace for 1,108 rushing yards (523 fewer than last year) and eight rushing touchdowns (seven fewer than last year). So, what's wrong? It's worth noting that Elliott's stats are skewed from an abysmal outing in Denver, when the Cowboys fell behind by a significant margin against the league's best defense and gave the ball to Elliott just nine times (he picked up eight yards). There's no shame in getting stopped by the , who They've also shut down , , and . Melvin Gordon, Ezekiel Elliott, LeSean McCoy & Marshawn Lynch combined against the Broncos' run D this season: 50 carries, 95 yards, 0 TD. Field Yates (@FieldYates) There's also reason to believe that Elliott's struggles aren't entirely on him. Pro Football Focus tracks a statistic called elusive rating, which "attempts to distill the impact of a runner with the ball independently of the blocking in front of him by looking at how hard he was to bring down." Basically, it tracks mi sed tackles. Elliott might be averaging 1.5 fewer yards per carry this year, but his elusive rating is up 11.1 points.Meanwhile, , which measures run blocking. Last year, the Cowboys offensive line ranked fourth in adjusted line yards. This year, they rank 18th. This doesn't mean Zeke is blamele s in his struggles. It just means that there are other factors at play. It means Zeke is being forced to work harder for his yards this year likely due to a combination of play-calling, le s dominant offensive line play, and better defensive play. And for some reason, the Cowboys don't seem to want to use zone-read nearly as much. Cowboys go to read-option run and Zeke gets a wide open nine yards. Should be doing this over and over and over. Nick Shore Kids Jersey Cian Fahey (@Cianaf) Some have suggested that I'm not willing to go there yet. And I think Zeke's numbers will continually improve as the year goes on. He wasn't going to average 5.1 yards per carry during his entire career. And he's not going to average 3.6 yards per carry Dave Taylor Jersey for the rest of his career.So, how will Zeke fare against the Packers? Well, considering the Packers' defense is giving up 111 rushing yards per game and 4.2 yards per carry, and , I'd wager that he'll experience a succe sful outing. The Packers' defense is also a bit banged up, with defensive tackle , linebacker , and Davon House all dealing with injuries. The Packers haven't held a team to under 100 rushing yards since Week 1.Dak's responseWhen Prescott experienced one of the worst outings of his career against the Broncos, he faced -- for really the first time in his career -- extensive criticism ( ). Dak has responded, though. Since that lo s to the Broncos, in which he went 30 of 50 for 238 yards, two touchdowns, two picks, and a 68.6 pa ser rating, Prescott's gone 33 of 54 for 435 yards, five touchdowns, one pick, and a 109.7 pa ser rating.It turns out, when Prescott isn't forced to drop back 50 times against the best secondary in football, he's pretty darn good. The reaction to Week 2 was overblown. Maybe Prescott isn't good enough to singlehandedly lead the Cowboys past the Broncos in Denver, but not many quarterbacks are. Prescott isn't ready for that yet, but when he's got a steady running game and doesn't have to drop back 50 times, he's one of the best quarterbacks in the game.Even still, Prescott's numbers have taken a step back this year -- his completion percentage, YPA, INT%, and pa ser rating are all worse. But his regre sion isn't entirely Anze Kopitar Kids Jersey on him. Like Zeke, Dak's been dealing with worse offensive line play. Last year, according to PFF. This year, they're on pace to allow 184 total pre sures. Prescott's overcoming the increased pre sure, though. Under dure s, Prescott's posted an 86.1 pa ser rating (the fifth-best in football), according to PFF. Last year, Prescott's pa ser rating under pre sure was 75.8. So, he's actually improved in that area.Prescott should experience succe s against a Packers' defense that made look great two weeks ago. The Packers' defense ranks highly against the pa s, but that's due to a Week 1 outing against the , who couldn't move the ball at that time, and the , who bravely tried to play offense without a quarterback The Packers' defense isn't the Broncos' defense. Two weeks ago, Dalton completed 77.8 percent of his pa ses for 212 yards, two touchdowns, and a 124.1 pa ser rating. Prescott can do the same. He's at his best when he's blitzed, going 29 of 48 for 296 yards, four touchdowns, one pick, and a 97.2 pa ser rating, per PFF. His pa ser rating when he isn't blitzed is 86.5. And the Packers love to blitz. To this point, the Packers have used blitzes on 37.3 percent of their defensive snaps, according to PFF. The league average last year was 30.1 percent. Two ways the Cowboys can attack the Packers' defense? On cro sing routes and post routes. According to PFF, opposing quarterbacks are 11 of 15 for 174 yards and a 111.5 pa ser rating on cro sing routes and 9 of 11 for 152 yards and a 111.2 pa ser rating on post routes against the Packers.Dez Bryant vs. And so, let's not forget about the Cowboys' third weapon: Dez Bryant. Admittedly, Bryant has been underperforming this season. He's averaging 53 yards per game and has caught just two touchdowns. Bryant is always an interesting player to watch on Sundays -- because he's the Cowboys' best receiver -- but there's added intrigue this week. That's because there's a chance the struggling Bryant will go up against Packers rookie cornerback Kevin King.The 6-foot-3 King, the first pick of the second round, hasn't snagged an interception yet, but that doesn't mean he's been bad. According to PFF, King is allowing a 73.8 pa ser rating in coverage. He's yet to surrender a touchdown, despite the fact that he was a signed to cover A.J. Green. He'll likely draw the matchup with Bryant. Can the rookie hang with Bryant? It'll be a tough a signment considering Bryant's done relatively well against the Packers in his career. Against Green Bay, Bryant has averaged 6.6 catches, 83.6 yards, and 0.8 touchdowns per game (five career games, including Arthur Kaliyev Men Jersey the playoffs). Those numbers would look a bit better if he had actually caught that one pa s in the playoffs -- you know what I'm talking about.King's been good, but not great. Bryant's been neither good nor great so far this season. He needs to take it to the rookie if he wants to shut down the idea that his days as a WR1 are over.
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