Tag: fumbles

Elliott blames fumbles for disastrous Cowboys loss: ‘I need to figure it out’

The two-time rushing champ turned the ball over on consecutive carries Monday night as ball security continues to be an issue in Dallas.

Ezekiel Elliott was clearly the centerpiece of the Cowboys’ offensive game plan going in to Monday night’s game against Arizona. Of the team’s first fifteen offensive plays, Elliott’s number was called ten times.

But when he fumbled the ball away on touches No. 9 and 10, turnovers that directly resulted in two Cardinals touchdowns, the game plan had to change.

After the humiliating 38-10 home loss, the running back placed the blame squarely on his own shoulders.

“I’m supposed to be a guy this team can rely on,” Elliott told reporters on a postgame conference call. “I’m supposed to be a guy that this team can lean on when times get rough. I just wasn’t that today. I got off to a terrible start; defense was playing well. But I killed our momentum. Two fumbles? I can’t do that. I can’t.”

After his second fumble, Elliott found himself on the bench. For several plays on the team’s next offensive series, he watched Tony Pollard take his spot in the backfield as Dallas tried in vain to pull themselves out of yet another deep hole. The three-time Pro Bowler says the coaching staff was fully justified in pulling him.

“I’m giving the ball away. I can’t. I wasn’t helping the team,” Elliott explained. “They did the right thing and gave some of those reps to TP. I can’t do that. I have to be a guy this team can lean on, especially in the times right now with so many of our starters hurt and not playing. It’s not acceptable, and I need to figure it out.”

Elliott ended the game with 49 rushing yards on just 12 carries as offensive coordinator Kellen Moore was forced to shift to a pass-heavy approach as the Cowboys attempted to play catch-up.

Quarterback Andy Dalton was making his first start in place of Dak Prescott, but for the veteran backup, it was same song, different verse.

“We’re hurting ourselves with the turnovers,” Dalton told the press after the game. “We’ve got to get this fixed. It’s been the trend this year, especially early in games. That’s affected how we’ve been able to play. We haven’t been able to run our full offense, run it how it should be run just because we’re getting down in these games because we are turning the ball over.

“The ball’s the most important thing. We can’t be handing it to the other team.”

Dalton was responsible for two turnovers as well, tossing two interceptions Monday night in a comeback effort.

As for Elliott’s latest ball security issues- he has lost four fumbles already in 2020, more than he had during all of last season- the two-time rushing champ can’t put his finger on what’s wrong with his grip lately.

“Um… honestly, I can’t… I can’t really… even… I don’t know why. I’ve just got to focus up. I’ve got to be better with it.”

Also at a total loss regarding turnovers is head coach Mike McCarthy. The Cowboys have given the ball away over a league-worst 15 times through six games.

“It’s something that we work diligently on. It’s not carrying over to the game. That’s something we have to continue to stay after,” McCarthy offered in his postgame remarks. “Maybe we’re trying too hard, or maybe we’re overcoaching it. It clearly has put us in a position [where] we’ve been playing uphill every single game. We haven’t got into a groove or a rhythm and got out in front yet this year. It’s self-inflicted wounds that continue to plague us. We’ve got work to do, and we’ve got to do it fast because we’ve got Washington coming on us quickly.”

Elliott is also looking ahead, eager to get back to work with a short week of practice that will no doubt focus on ball security.

“I’ve just got to have a short memory. I’ve got to get that behind me and get play some good ball, get on a roll.”

But he expects that Washington’s defense will smell blood in the water and be looking to strip Elliott at every opportunity.

“When you’re fumbling every game, obviously teams are going to lock in on it and they’re going to go for it more. That’s just more reason for me; I need to figure it out.”

If Elliott does not figure it out and puts the ball on the ground again in Week 7, he could easily find himself on the sidelines once again. McCarthy made it clear that Elliott’s status as the default leader of the team with Prescott gone doesn’t afford him any extra leeway when it comes to fumbles.

“Every player that plays in this league- no different on our football team- if you don’t take care of the football, it obviously does affect your opportunities,” McCarthy said. “At the end of the day, Zeke is our bell cow, and we need to get it right. He’s part of the plan. He’s going to be part of our success. We have to get it right; we have to take care of the football. That’s for everybody that touches the football on our team.”

Dalton has faith that Elliott will rectify his fumbling problem.

“You never want to turn over the ball. For him, he understands that. He knows that. Zeke’s going to get this thing fixed.”

Elliott says he’s ready to getting back into the lab to do just that.

“I want to say I’m sorry. This one’s on me. And I need to be better for this  team.”

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Sky is Falling: Elliott’s two fumbles put Cowboys in double-digit deficit again

The Dallas Cowboys are shooting themselves in the foot. A quality defensive effort early in the game combined with an inaccurate Kyler Murray was giving the club some life. Near turnovers almost gave it away, and then real turnovers did the deed. …

The Dallas Cowboys are shooting themselves in the foot. A quality defensive effort early in the game combined with an inaccurate Kyler Murray was giving the club some life. Near turnovers almost gave it away, and then real turnovers did the deed. Once again, for the fifth consecutive week, Dallas finds itself training by at least 14 points.

The culprit this week? Lost fumbles on back-to-back runs by Ezekiel Elliott. Giving Arizona a short field on three consecutive drives and allowing the Cardinals to convert 5-of-9 third and fourth down opportunities has the team in disarray yet again. Arizona leads 14-0 midway through the second quarter.

This is the first time in Elliott’s career he’s lost two fumbles in a game, though he did fumble twice earlier in the season, recovering one. He’s already tied his 2019 lost fumble total on the season with three.

Murray took advantage, finding Christian Kirk on a shovel pass on the first turnover and then running down to the goal line before a short Kenyan Drake score on the next.

The club has now allowed 74 points off of turnovers on the season; through just six games.

[vertical-gallery id=656490][lawrence-newsletter]Tony Pollard was in at halfback on the subsequent drive.

Chris Carson and Seahawks have not had contract extension talks yet

Seattle Seahawks running back Chris Carson stated that the team has not reached out to him about a potential contract extension yet.

Seattle Seahawks running back Chris Carson is entering the final year of his rookie contract and is hoping for a contract extension. Carson admitted that he has been anticipating it after seeing several of his fellow tailbacks attain financial security from their respective teams.

“Of course it’s something that’s on my mind,” Carson told reporters during his press conference on Tuesday. “You see a lot of guys, they’re starting to get paid, but I try not to distract me from this season. I just try to push it away, but like I said, it is something that’s on my mind but I try not to let it affect me.”

Carson stated that Seattle has not reached out to him to offer an extension or discuss his future in any way. When asked if he wants to remain in the Emerald City, Carson confessed that he has no clear idea of where he will end up next.

“I mean, if everything plays out the right ways,” he said. “I guess we’re just going to have to see.”

Considering he was a seventh-round pick in 2017, it is safe to say Carson has far exceeded expectations. He was a double-edged sword for the Seahawks in 2019, rushing for 1,230 yards and seven touchdowns and adding 266 receiving yards and two more TDs, but also fumbling seven times, losing four of them. However, Carson remains confident in his abilities and stated he has worked on his fumbling issues in preparation for the 2020 season.

“Just being a seventh-round draft pick, you’re always going to have that chip on your shoulder but at this point in the game I don’t really have nothing to prove,” Carson said. “I feel like my game has spoken for itself for the last three years or whatever. As far as the fumbling, that was something that played a big part last year, it’s something I worked on in the offseason. But like I said, you’ve got to have a quick mindset, let that go and just move on from it. Learn from it and like I said, move on from it.”

Carson could still receive an extension before the season starts, but his future is up in the air at this point.

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Maurice Jones-Drew ranks Chris Carson as only 15th-best starting back

NFL.com’s Maurice Jones-Drew ranks Seattle Seahawk Chris Carson as only 15th-best starting running back in the NFL due to his fumbles.

The Seattle Seahawks are hoping for big things this season from running back Chris Carson. Sidelined at the end of last year with a hip injury, Carson is expected to be able to return to form in 2020.

But Carson’s health issues aren’t what is keeping him in the middle of the pack of NFL.com’s Maurice Jones-Drew’s top running backs heading into the season . . . it’s concerns whether or not he can protect the football.

“Carson, who finished in the top five in rushing yards last season, has been highly productive the last two seasons, but I have one major problem with his game,” Jones-Drew writes. “He simply coughs up the ball too much. Carson had seven fumbles last year alone. That is a killer for any offense.”

Carson’s ball-security skills were certainly called into question last season, but hopefully entering his fourth year in the league he is able to prove he’s well worth the risk.

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Seahawks addressing mounting ball security concerns

After logging five fumbles and an interception against the 49ers, the Seattle Seahawks need to re-focus on protecting the football.

The Seahawks were able to narrowly escape the 49ers in Week 10 despite major issues in protecting the football. Against San Francisco, Seattle fumbled five times – including three for losses – and quarterback Russell Wilson threw an interception.

Well into the second half of the regular season, ball security remains a major point of emphasis for Seahawks’ offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

“We continue to address it, do some ball security circuits and things like that,” Schottenheimer said Thursday. “The thing we talk about with our guys – the fundamentals, we’ll continue to drill that – there’s also a philosophy.”

Schottenheimer explained there is a fine line, however, between protecting the ball and playing to win. He used running back Chris Carson as a prime example.

“We don’t want them to lose their competitiveness – that’s the way Chris runs, he runs competitive – but they’ve got to understand that there’s nothing more important than the ball,” Schottenheimer said. “We talked a little bit about that this week, our guys get it. They’re aware that we need to do it better, they can do it better, and we expect that we’ll start that this week.”

But to keep a playoff berth a realistic goal, the Seahawks will need to do more than just “start that this week” – they’ll need to prove it won’t be a major issue going forward in the homestretch of the season.

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Chris Carson is a double-edged sword for the Seahawks this season

Seattle Seahawks running back Chris Carson has been a double-edged sword for the team this season with high production but multiple fumbles.

Chris Carson has been a bit of a double-edged sword for the Seattle Seahawks this season. The third-year running back out of Oklahoma State has rushed for 853 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games in 2019, while chipping in 189 receiving yards for two additional scores.

However, he already has a career-high six fumbles on the season doubling his previous career-high in 2018. This could become a real concern moving forward despite Seattle’s 8-2 record.

The Seahawks may be a high-ranking team in the NFC right now, but they have had to fight for almost every one of their victories. Carson has contributed greatly to the team’s success and is their best running back by a country mile, but his ball security issues are still noticeable.

Coach Pete Carroll repeatedly preaches protecting the football, something the Seahawks were not able to do in their narrow overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday. Carson had a fumble himself, but he also provided 101 total yards and a touchdown in the matchup.

Carson’s issues began early, when he fumbled in each of the first three games of the season. After that, Carson did not fumble in his next five outings. He then proceeded to fumble twice against Tampa Bay in a contest Seattle escaped by the skin of its teeth with a win.

Carson has been one of the most important players on the Seahawks’ roster and is crucial to their offensive success. His positive contributions far outweigh the negative, but he must continue to work on his ball security to help his team win even more, especially with the tough schedule the Seahawks have over the final six weeks of the regular season.

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Fumbles and ball security sore spots in Seahawks win over 49ers

The Seattle Seahawks were able to escape the San Franciso 49ers Week 10 despite five fumbles – three for losses – Monday night.

The Seahawks were able to head home with a victory Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers, although it wasn’t always pretty. Seattle struggled with ball control throughout the game, posting three lost fumbles for a total of five fumbles throughout the contest.

Wide receiver DK Metcalf and running back Rashaad Penny both turned over the ball but San Francisco was unable to capitalize on the takeaways. Tackle Germain Ifedi, however, originally recovered a Russell Wilson fumble on a play before his own lost ball and had to watch the 49ers score a defensive touchdown as a result.

“We did a terrible job taking care of the football tonight, a miserable job,” coach Pete Carroll told reporters. “I don’t even recognize us when the ball is flopping around like that. We got a lot of work to do. We won’t win if we keep doing this. We have to take care of the football better than that.”

Carroll has always preached ball security but the concepts were lost on Seattle Monday night. For a team with the fewest turnovers in the league last season, it was difficult to watch at times.

There was one shining moment in the turnover battle when center Joey Hunt was able to save a Chris Carson fumble.

“It was a miserable night there, but one of the great plays of the night was Joey Hunt’s fumble recovery,” Carroll said. “You guys don’t make a big deal about that. Joey laid out, slid into it, cut it up just the way he’s supposed to. It was a huge play for us, because we come back and score after that. I think it was, we wound up second and 11 and we still overcame it, so a big play.”

Seattle has a bye week before facing the Eagles Nov. 24 and you bet ball security will be a point of emphasis when the Seahawks return to practice next Monday.

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5 takeaways from Seahawks’ thrilling 27-24 OT win over 49ers

The Seattle Seahawks defeated the previously unbeaten San Francisco 49ers with a statement victory. Here are five takeaways from the game.

The Seattle Seahawks (8-2) defeated the previously unbeaten San Francisco 49ers (8-1) on the road in overtime as the clock expired, obtaining perhaps their most important victory of the season. They now head into their bye week in the thick of the NFC West race. Here are five takeaways from Monday’s game.

The defense stepped up and showed drastic improvement at times

The Seahawks consistently got to the quarterback for seemingly the first time all year, in perhaps their most crucial game of the season. After surrendering 10 unanswered points to begin the game, the defense stiffened up and made plays in key moments. Jarran Reed strip-sacked Jimmy Garoppolo and Jadeveon Clowney recovered the ball, returning it for his second touchdown of the season and putting Seattle on the board. Quandre Diggs had a key interception off a pass that deflected off Kendrick Bourne’s hands and set up Seattle’s second touchdown to take a 14-10 lead. The defense also did enough in overtime to stop the 49ers offense and force a field goal try, which Chase McLaughlin shanked badly. However . . .

The defense dropped interceptions that could have sealed the game in regulation

On the 49ers’ final drive before overtime, Tre Flowers dropped an interception off another deflection by Bourne, bobbling it but failing to come up with the ball. Garoppolo then threw a ball directly to K.J. Wright, but he also failed to catch it. The ball to Flowers was tough to corral, but the pass to Wright was thrown right to him, and he could have sealed the game for Seattle right then and there.

Crucial fumbles and takeaways galore

Both offenses routinely had the ball stripped, and two of these fumbles were returned for touchdowns. In addition to Clowney’s fumble recovery for a TD, 49ers defensive end DeForest Buckner scooped up a fumble by Germain Ifedi after a fumble by Russell Wilson, returning it for a touchdown that San Francisco would put an exclamation mark on with a two-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 21-18. Clowney also had a strip-sack of his own, with Poona Ford recovering to set up a rushing TD by Chris Carson (who also had a fumble before the Seahawks’ second TD) to make the score 21-10 in favor of the Seahawks. Speaking of key fumbles . . .

DK Metcalf’s red zone fumble before halftime was costly

With just over a minute to go before the half, Wilson completed a pass to Metcalf. The rookie second-round pick tried to power his way through to the end zone, fighting through tacklers along the sideline. As Metcalf spun inside the 5-yard line, 49ers defensive back Jaquiski Tartt stripped the ball from Metcalf at the 2. It was more of a great play by Tartt than a mistake by Metcalf, but a golden opportunity to score was squandered.

Sweet redemption for Myers

After nearly costing the Seahawks the game against Tampa Bay last week with two misses, one of which came as regulation expired, Myers made two clutch field goals. His first was a 46-yarder that gave Seattle a 24-21 lead with 1:45 in regulation, and his second was the game-winning 42-yarder that went just inside the right upright after Kyle Shanahan nullified Myers’ first attempt (which he also made) by burning his final timeout. There were many fans wondering if Myers should have been cut after last week, and some outright clamoring for it. It’s safe to say he got redemption in Santa Clara.

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