Even as Zeke sat, washed up on the sideline, many of us thought, why abandon the run?
Last year, our running game ended up being pretty good. But it was only pretty good because our defense was good. Otherwise, our run game would have been rather average, especially without the dynamic that Pollard brings.
Remember in 2021 when little Aidan Diggs said, "Zeke doesn’t hit the hole hard anymore"?
I’m paraphrasing, but when a child says something like that you know he’s repeating it because he heard it somewhere else. That was a long time ago, and the Cowboys ended up riding it out with Zeke even when his teammates kids knew he’d lost it, which is kind of funny because everyone kinda knew it but Zeke.
I want to see Pollard get paid as a Cowboy, personally, so I’m fine with the franchise tag.. Plus, even with his injury, I don’t expect him to lose as much as people think. He will maybe lose a smidgen. But he will still be Tony Pollard.
There were times last year when he looked like Adrian Peterson out there, so I’m not going to regret it too much if I franchise him and it doesn’t work out. He’s sort of made himself the x-factor at times.
That said, despite losing Zeke, which I view as addition by subtraction, at the end of the day, unfortunately, I think we can be a more explosive offense, and that’s what Dak needs to be Dak. If we have faster backs, and contrary to popular belief, we do now, then it really comes down to our offensive line, and I’d expect the Cowboys to draft a bruiser or a short, stocky guy like Tucker or Corum.. then again, there are guys like McBride, Abinikanda, and Gibbs that have all facets of their game ready to rock day 1.
Whatever happens, we’ll be more explosive by default, which will help all facets of the offensive production.
It will come down to whether or not McCarthy sticks with the run or goes with the pass. In some games, you have to pass more than you run or you’ll become too predictable. But it’s about picking which of those games you’ll pass more in and which ones you won’t that matters.
Either way, the success of the run game will still come down to consistency so you need to worry about making it work early and often.
