I was pleasantly surprised with Cook's play. I counted 6-7 drops, including a TD. The INTs and sacks are learning lessons. Cook can spin it - his arm strength is 100% NFL caliber. His decision making seemed on par for a guy who has had zero run with the 1s this year. He has to start the rest of the way.
You never know what you've got until you try it. Fields and Taylor already have complete resumes on what they are capable of. Hell Purdy was the last man picked in the NFL Draft. Not saying Cook is Purdy.but drafting is not an exact science. A 4 game audition would at least make the end of the season interesting.Could add some enthusiasm to the offense.
Also, Drake Maye looked lost in his 1st game against the Jets, which I believe was his 1st game overall.
Yeah agreed with all the above…he looked like an undrafted rookie … slow to make some decisions, took some sacks, threw into coverage and got picked, etc. But he did settle down and holy shit he had more yards in his first game than Fields did in half of his starts… There is NO upside to playing Fields again, and while Tyrod would be better in terms of evaluating the rest of the offense maybe, I think Cook needs to start the rest of the way…nothing to lose…if he sucks, we improve our draft position, and if he shows something, well then maybe he is roster-able next year even if as the #2. Win win I agree
I thought the kid had a live arm. Pretty green but he might develop into something. It will be hard to develop on this team, but on some team...?
Agreed, Cook has to start the rest of the way even with Tyrod healthy. Not that he was great or anything, but I thought he helped evaluate guys as much as Tyrod. He put a lot of balls where a WR should make a catch. We had so many drops, it's crazy. Metchie dropped another TD. AD had 3 drops, and it's becoming clear why the guy was not able to succeed in Indy at least so far. He is young though, so I am OK with him as #3, but he really needs to work on catches in traffic especially with his hands and not chest. Plus drops from everyone today, mason Taylor, Iseah Williams, Smart, etc... That was tough for a rookie coming in as a sub. Hopefully Tyrod will be OK for the next game so Fields remains inactive, but it should be Cook from here on out. He showed enough to warrant more evaluation. The picks were pretty bad. The second one AD beat his guy and Cook underthrew the ball. On the 1st one, also a bit underthrown and maybe you don't make a throw in this situation. These were tough interceptions. Also, I thought he had a chance to get a 1st down with his legs at some point, but then jumped untouched short of line of gain. He did have some nice throws as well and should have had a TD if Metchie didn't fuck up again. One good thing is that he seems to have a better arm strength than I thought. The balls were pretty crisp even long distance ones. He needs to start and let's see if we have a long term back-up in place. It certainly won't by Tyrod who is done physically at this point of his carrer.
Honestly if Metchie and Mitchell don’t improve their catch %, I don’t think they are any good as WR3…maybe WR4 and WR5 in those kinds of packages, but as a starting WR3? No way. Dudes can’t fucking catch. Nothing worse than having a first down (or a TD like yesterday) in hand but the WR drops a very catchable ball…that is deflating…can’t have that with a guy that needs to be relied on to contribute. I was kind of hoping that we had WR3 and WR4 with these two guys and just needed to go draft WR2, but after seeing these drop issues continue, I’m not sure we can rely on either of them…again, there’s a reason why they were easy trade always for their respective teams…they probably saw what we are seeing now…they are not reliable receivers I don’t know…they may get better but I kind of feel like WR hands are a bit like QB accuracy…they either have it or they don’t…and if they don’t I think while not impossible to improve with practice and coaching, more often than not I just don’t think it can be coached up all that much…sooner or later, and especially in crunch time, the player will revert to what they are…a receiver who drops too many balls or a QB who is too inaccurate
I want to give a little bit of a break to AD (not much as he did drop 3 balls AGAIN), but some of them would have been difficult catches. Cook was throwing lasers with a defender all over AD. He was also open for a TD again but Cook underthrew and had a pick. And he did that 100 yard game last time, plus he is younger, so I can't kill AD yet as a #3. Metchie on the other hand drops another TD on basically a hand off - a soft pass with no one near him. And even in the TDs he did score, he was schemed open by Tanner. You can't have half of your schemed TDs dopped like that on the easiest possible balls that can be thrown your way.
Why? No, seriously, why? AD is an NFL receiver and NFL caliber receivers do NOT drop balls that hit them in the hands. Full stop. If they do, then they are no longer NFL caliber WR's and should be walking the street or working at Taco Bell, another full stop. Their JOB is to CATCH footballs. Not bat, drop, tip, slap, slip...zero. In my mind the difference between a #1 WR and a #5 WR is speed, route running, understanding an offense or a combination along with size. However, from WR1 all the way down to WR5 or 6 their ONLY job, at the end of the day, is to CATCH the damn ball. Can't do that then they shouldn't be on the team.
Actually no. NFL WRs drop more than you think, so I would say there isn't a full stop there. JaMarr Chase I think is the best wideout in the whole league and he drops passes quite a bit. I think they estimated he left over 120 yards on the field last year with his drops and that is just scary considering he went for 1700+ total. Also Ceedee Lamb, we would all kill KILL to have him here as a WR, he has dropped 8 passes this season the most for a Cowboys WR in over 10 years and the season aint over yet. Of course they aren't going to cut him, he's not going to working at Taco Bell anytime soon. With Mitchell, between the trade and the Jets overall dysfunction, he has caught passes from like 4-5 different QBs this season. That inconsistency is very difficult on a receiver and so is catching passes from a practice squad level QB in Cook that was throwing telegraphed passes with little to no touch on them.
This is definitely a thing and it was discussed on the postgame yesterday. Catching passes is not universal. Mitchell went from Jones to Fields to Tyrod to Cook. That's four guys in the span of a month he's had to learn to play with and Cook he never even took practice reps with I'm assuming. Metchie... I dunno, the two dropped TDs were bad and very well thrown balls. It's definitely an issue when it comes to things like slants and outs or in the case of the second INT, a back shoulder throw.
I know you do, but I don’t. Receivers drop balls, I get it…they all do. But the drop rates we are seeing from Mitchell and now from Metchie as well I guess are way too high…not every throw is going to be a perfect fucking feather pass into your hands (but they’ve dropped those too!) I’m not inclined to give any of these guys a pass…I’m really not. You’re an NFL receiver…then catch the fucking ball when it hits you in the hands. Period.
The problem here is you are comparing, literally, the leagues best receivers with Mitchell. If Mitchell drops 3 passes on the way to a 3 TD/120 yd. day, I'm certain we can all "forgive." However, when you are a team that has it's lips stuck, consistently, to the bottom of the barrel, they need to catch everything. Why? Because, when you blow monkey ass, EVERYTHING you do wrong is personified by a factor of 1,000. Sad but true.
Yes…all receivers will drop a pass here and there…not sure we should be comparing to Lamb and Chase as they are some of the best and get a lot of targets…I haven’t looked it up but I’d bet their drop rates in terms of targets are much better than what we are seeing from our guys lately. And yes, QB’s make a difference and some catches are hard, and I also will grant that just because a receiver manages to contort and twist and turn and maybe get his hands on the ball but not catch it doesn’t mean he can’t catch But while we have seen some of that, most notably when Fields was throwing inaccurate passes a lot, that’s not what we are seeing now…they didn’t drop passes that would have been great miracle catches yesterday…they dropped very catchable balls that hit their hands…and the disease is spreading…even Taylor dropped one or two yesterday that he normally catches. I just can’t give the receivers a break honestly…we need to get better as a team. Receivers who drop too many passes aren’t going to do that. There’s a reason their teams gave them away for peanuts…
This should tell you something... Some of the drops were on Cook yesterday by his own admission. Some of them weren't. As usual we're fans severely overreacting on the internet.
Yes for sure..there is a lot wrong with this team, starting at QB but really all the way through the roster to every position group other than RB I guess… But still, I’m not in the mood to give these receivers a break…it’s not like every other receiver gets perfect passes dropped into their hands…they ALL deal with this kind of shit…some more than others sure but they all do. Difference is starting WRs don’t drop passes at this rate. And we need to rebuild…we need players who make plays, who show up in crunch time…we have very few of those kinds of players today, and receivers who drop passes are not those guys we should be counting on
His throws were not only hard, but they were often timed poorly, either to late or to early. He had no chemistry with the WRs because he's 3rd string, inexperienced, and raw, and was also getting a lot of pressure. He has signs that he could develop into a decent QB though.
