- Thread starter Bluenoser
- Start date
theoneandonly
Quality Starter
- Messages
- 5,273
- Reaction score
- 560
Thx Blue. That had to be a pain in the ass.
- Messages
- 4,211
- Reaction score
- 370
Wtg ZC.
Thx Bluenoser, nice job on the season.
Thx Bluenoser, nice job on the season.
ThoughtExperiment
Quality Starter
- Messages
- 9,906
- Reaction score
- 3
ZC deserved it for being first to tout Dak as the man.
- Messages
- 58,539
- Reaction score
- 9,040
Indeed
- Messages
- 3,665
- Reaction score
- 22
Thanks Bluenoser for your time and effort in making this thing work. Very nice of you.
I appreciate the congratulations of others too.
I've mentioned this before, but I feel especially fortunate as a fan that this team has happened to do what I have been hoping they'd do. For almost a decade I was in favor of the team investing premium draft picks / resources in the OL. For the past few seasons, once the OL became outstanding, I was strongly in favor of leveraging the OL's excellence by obtaining a truly top notch RB with a premium pick.
The team just as easily could have been built a different way (for example, by having built a truly dominating defense) and had similar or greater success. I just got lucky, personally, as a fan that the team happened to take the path that I preferred. It has been great fun to watch.
The thing with Dak is that I saw nearly every game he played at Mississippi State. I followed his team and understood the context of his performances (when he was playing hurt, when his supporting cast was noncompetitive, when he ran because he was the team's only viable rushing threat, etc.). Any halfway serious football fan can appreciate a great throw (even if it isn't caught) and notice when a particular player throws more great throws than you'd expect. I simply had a lot more data points on Dak than people who had only watched his highlight reel or who had closely watched and graded only a subset of his games (often paying the most attention to Dak's performance in games that his supporting cast was clearly inferior to the competition). I knew he was better than what many thought of him, but any halfway serious football fan who closely followed his career at Mississippi State would have come to the same conclusion.
There were at least two fairly big things that I didn't know, though.
First, for as long as I've been following football I've heard it said of QBs that "you can't teach accuracy." Up until this year, I pretty much believed this to be true. But this year, for me, Dak disproved it. He is far more consistently accurate now than he was in college. I'm sure much of it is due to improved footwork made possible by significantly improved pass protection.
Second, I had no idea that the Cowboys coaching staff would be so outstanding in handling a rookie QB. Dak has a number of significant assets, but even the most talented prospects fail under poor coaching. I drastically underestimated Linehan and company. They had Dak playing at a high level in no time. In no time. It is amazing.
I appreciate the congratulations of others too.
I've mentioned this before, but I feel especially fortunate as a fan that this team has happened to do what I have been hoping they'd do. For almost a decade I was in favor of the team investing premium draft picks / resources in the OL. For the past few seasons, once the OL became outstanding, I was strongly in favor of leveraging the OL's excellence by obtaining a truly top notch RB with a premium pick.
The team just as easily could have been built a different way (for example, by having built a truly dominating defense) and had similar or greater success. I just got lucky, personally, as a fan that the team happened to take the path that I preferred. It has been great fun to watch.
The thing with Dak is that I saw nearly every game he played at Mississippi State. I followed his team and understood the context of his performances (when he was playing hurt, when his supporting cast was noncompetitive, when he ran because he was the team's only viable rushing threat, etc.). Any halfway serious football fan can appreciate a great throw (even if it isn't caught) and notice when a particular player throws more great throws than you'd expect. I simply had a lot more data points on Dak than people who had only watched his highlight reel or who had closely watched and graded only a subset of his games (often paying the most attention to Dak's performance in games that his supporting cast was clearly inferior to the competition). I knew he was better than what many thought of him, but any halfway serious football fan who closely followed his career at Mississippi State would have come to the same conclusion.
There were at least two fairly big things that I didn't know, though.
First, for as long as I've been following football I've heard it said of QBs that "you can't teach accuracy." Up until this year, I pretty much believed this to be true. But this year, for me, Dak disproved it. He is far more consistently accurate now than he was in college. I'm sure much of it is due to improved footwork made possible by significantly improved pass protection.
Second, I had no idea that the Cowboys coaching staff would be so outstanding in handling a rookie QB. Dak has a number of significant assets, but even the most talented prospects fail under poor coaching. I drastically underestimated Linehan and company. They had Dak playing at a high level in no time. In no time. It is amazing.
- Messages
- 2,329
- Reaction score
- 11
Bushmaster78FS
In the Rotation
- Messages
- 851
- Reaction score
- 0
Who you got for SB51 Zero? 
- Messages
- 5,614
- Reaction score
- 0
yimyammer
Pro Bowler
- Messages
- 10,167
- Reaction score
- 4,038
were you talking him up pre and post draft?
If so, good call. I didn't have a clue which is understandable, I'm just shocked that every team in the NFL deemed him basically a 5th round pick (compensatory pick at the end of the 4th)
ThoughtExperiment
Quality Starter
- Messages
- 9,906
- Reaction score
- 3
Yes he was.