Julius Jones vs. Marion Barber (1 Viewer)

[BigJim®]

Barber's aggressive style is aesthetically pleasing. But at 6-0, 221 pounds, there's a question as to how he would hold up over the course of the season as a lead back.

This is an odd statement. I would call 6'0"/221 about normal for today's primary RBs. It's larger than many of the historically uber productive backs like LT/Holmes/E.Smith/Payton/Sanders/CMart. [And no, I'm not comparing MBIII to those guys]. If anything, I'm wary of larger RBs as they seem to be the ones taking an abundance of hits and getting dinged routinely. Furthermore, I'm far more interested in a guy's running style when deciding if he's likely to take direct hits. Maybe the point of the above is "aggressive style" is synonymous with "taking a lot of hits," but I've not noticed Barber getting nailed with his running style.

 

[packersfan]

Good article on dallasnews.com today about Julius and Barber:

That was a good article. The bottom line is that the situation is working. It worked last season and it worked this season and as long as it continues to work the Cowboys should feel no sense of urgency to change it. The only thing that may happen is what I posted earlier - the hotter RB could get more carries as the game goes along. But I think the Cowboys will go into every game alternating the two early and then seeing which RB looks more poised to have the bigger game and react accordingly.I'll say it again that one thing I really think the Cowboys need to do is get the ball to both of them in the passing game more. Both run well in space and Jones really does well in space so it would make sense to get the ball to him on screens and short passes in the flat. For what it's worth, I've read two different stories this week which hint the Cowboys may try to do that this week against the Bears - use Jones in the passing game more to try and take advantage of his speed in space and use the Bears' aggressive behavior against them, get them to overpursue. That may be something to keep an eye on.

 

[BigJim®]

Good article on dallasnews.com today about Julius and Barber:

That was a good article. The bottom line is that the situation is working. It worked last season and it worked this season and as long as it continues to work the Cowboys should feel no sense of urgency to change it. The only thing that may happen is what I posted earlier - the hotter RB could get more carries as the game goes along. But I think the Cowboys will go into every game alternating the two early and then seeing which RB looks more poised to have the bigger game and react accordingly.I'll say it again that one thing I really think the Cowboys need to do is get the ball to both of them in the passing game more. Both run well in space and Jones really does well in space so it would make sense to get the ball to him on screens and short passes in the flat. For what it's worth, I've read two different stories this week which hint the Cowboys may try to do that this week against the Bears - use Jones in the passing game more to try and take advantage of his speed in space and use the Bears' aggressive behavior against them, get them to overpursue. That may be something to keep an eye on.

I agree with this fully. However, you have to admit there is a degree of coachspeak here and there is clearly second guessing going on when these questions keep being asked. Even national football analysts have questioned this situation- Peter King had a tidbit this past week and I know I've read/heard several others. "What's working" is a great concept ... until you lose when one guy is significantly less productive. That has not come into play yet, and I doubt the Cowboys are going 16-0. The moment the Cowboys lose a 20-17 game with similar production totals to what they've been getting, more pressure will be injected into the situation and coaches will be questioned far more critically by media and fans. Let's not be naive; coaches know how to keep their jobs and it isn't by controversially putting less productive players on the field, particularly when said players are FAs next year and seemingly not long for the team.

 

[doughboydeluxe]

Barber's aggressive style is aesthetically pleasing. But at 6-0, 221 pounds, there's a question as to how he would hold up over the course of the season as a lead back.

This is an odd statement. I would call 6'0"/221 about normal for today's primary RBs. It's larger than many of the historically uber productive backs like LT/Holmes/E.Smith/Payton/Sanders/CMart. [And no, I'm not comparing MBIII to those guys]. If anything, I'm wary of larger RBs as they seem to be the ones taking an abundance of hits and getting dinged routinely. Furthermore, I'm far more interested in a guy's running style when deciding if he's likely to take direct hits. Maybe the point of the above is "aggressive style" is synonymous with "taking a lot of hits," but I've not noticed Barber getting nailed with his running style.

While Barber may not "take" a lot of hits, he is involved in a TON of contact. He rarely runs out of bounds, and it seems like he takes on a tackler straight-up on just about all of his runs. While many of the times he is the initiator of the collision, contact is contact. He is a VERY aggressive runner.I agree with you about his size, though... it's not like he's 5'10" 180.

 

[BigJim®]

While Barber may not "take" a lot of hits, he is involved in a TON of contact. He rarely runs out of bounds, and it seems like he takes on a tackler straight-up on just about all of his runs. While many of the times he is the initiator of the collision, contact is contact. He is a VERY aggressive runner.

I agree with you about his size, though... it's not like he's 5'10" 180.

I agree with this, and in fact Barber never shied away from contact even dating back to his Gopher days. Anyone who saw him pick up the blitz by Zach Thomas last week has to love how he plays. I guess my point which you mentioned agreement with is the size itself seems irrelevant to the point of the author. That's plenty of size. Further, there's a difference between initiating contact and having a 'prone' running style. I'd typically just be worried about the guys who put their head down and run forward taking blind hits [i actually think JJ fits that mold]. IMHO Barber seems to do ok anticipating the contact he gets.

 

[packersfan]

Good article on dallasnews.com today about Julius and Barber:

That was a good article. The bottom line is that the situation is working. It worked last season and it worked this season and as long as it continues to work the Cowboys should feel no sense of urgency to change it. The only thing that may happen is what I posted earlier - the hotter RB could get more carries as the game goes along. But I think the Cowboys will go into every game alternating the two early and then seeing which RB looks more poised to have the bigger game and react accordingly.I'll say it again that one thing I really think the Cowboys need to do is get the ball to both of them in the passing game more. Both run well in space and Jones really does well in space so it would make sense to get the ball to him on screens and short passes in the flat. For what it's worth, I've read two different stories this week which hint the Cowboys may try to do that this week against the Bears - use Jones in the passing game more to try and take advantage of his speed in space and use the Bears' aggressive behavior against them, get them to overpursue. That may be something to keep an eye on.

I agree with this fully. However, you have to admit there is a degree of coachspeak here and there is clearly second guessing going on when these questions keep being asked. Even national football analysts have questioned this situation- Peter King had a tidbit this past week and I know I've read/heard several others. "What's working" is a great concept ... until you lose when one guy is significantly less productive. That has not come into play yet, and I doubt the Cowboys are going 16-0. The moment the Cowboys lose a 20-17 game with similar production totals to what they've been getting, more pressure will be injected into the situation and coaches will be questioned far more critically by media and fans. Let's not be naive; coaches know how to keep their jobs and it isn't by controversially putting less productive players on the field, particularly when said players are FAs next year and seemingly not long for the team.

That's assuming Jones will be consistently unproductive. I wouldn't want to make that bet. And there's the very real possibility that when the Cowboys lose there will be other facets of the team that will be more directly responsible for the defeat than the RBBC approach.

 

[Pnishthm]

Good article on dallasnews.com today about Julius and Barber:

That was a good article. The bottom line is that the situation is working. It worked last season and it worked this season and as long as it continues to work the Cowboys should feel no sense of urgency to change it. The only thing that may happen is what I posted earlier - the hotter RB could get more carries as the game goes along. But I think the Cowboys will go into every game alternating the two early and then seeing which RB looks more poised to have the bigger game and react accordingly.I'll say it again that one thing I really think the Cowboys need to do is get the ball to both of them in the passing game more. Both run well in space and Jones really does well in space so it would make sense to get the ball to him on screens and short passes in the flat. For what it's worth, I've read two different stories this week which hint the Cowboys may try to do that this week against the Bears - use Jones in the passing game more to try and take advantage of his speed in space and use the Bears' aggressive behavior against them, get them to overpursue. That may be something to keep an eye on.

I agree with this fully. However, you have to admit there is a degree of coachspeak here and there is clearly second guessing going on when these questions keep being asked. Even national football analysts have questioned this situation- Peter King had a tidbit this past week and I know I've read/heard several others. "What's working" is a great concept ... until you lose when one guy is significantly less productive. That has not come into play yet, and I doubt the Cowboys are going 16-0. The moment the Cowboys lose a 20-17 game with similar production totals to what they've been getting, more pressure will be injected into the situation and coaches will be questioned far more critically by media and fans. Let's not be naive; coaches know how to keep their jobs and it isn't by controversially putting less productive players on the field, particularly when said players are FAs next year and seemingly not long for the team.

 

[BigJim®]

That's assuming Jones will be consistently unproductive. I wouldn't want to make that bet. And there's the very real possibility that when the Cowboys lose there will be other facets of the team that will be more directly responsible for the defeat than the RBBC approach.

You're correct. I'm making hugely bold assumptions based on over a year of performances. Thanks for calling me out on that to keep me honest.

 

[packersfan]

I should add that based on what we know the only second guessing about this situation is coming from outside the Cowboys' organization. Parcells didn't second-guess the approach last season and there's nothing to indicate Phillips is second guessing it now. At the end of the day, his decision is the only one that matters, regardless of whether people here, Peter King or anyone else disagrees with it.

 

[packersfan]

That's assuming Jones will be consistently unproductive. I wouldn't want to make that bet. And there's the very real possibility that when the Cowboys lose there will be other facets of the team that will be more directly responsible for the defeat than the RBBC approach.

You're correct. I'm making hugely bold assumptions based on over a year of performances. Thanks for calling me out on that to keep me honest.

I don't think Julius Jones is a dog. That's what it boils down to. I like both of these guys and from a fantasy perspective I wish they'd get on separate teams because I believe both could be very good starters if they were consistently getting 18-20 carries a game. From an NFL perspective, it's a pretty darn good deal and the Cowboys have a tremendous luxury which is why I don't see any reason for them to change it barring injury.