Archer: Cowboys offense has to pick up slack

Cowboys offense has to pick up slack
December, 13, 2013

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- Lost amid all of the love Jason Garrett showered on the Dallas Cowboys offense from Monday’s game against the Chicago Bears is the fact that they scored 14 points before their opponent decided to shut it down in the fourth quarter.

The Bears had a 42-14 lead just 36 seconds into the fourth quarter and it was simply time to not get hurt.

But, man, the Cowboys ran the ball oh-so-well, averaging 7.1 yards per carry. And Tony Romo had three touchdown passes. They scored on four of their eight possessions in the game excluding a first-half kneel down. It was all ice cream for the Cowboys offensively.

But it wasn’t good enough.

It wasn’t good enough because the defense did not force the Bears to punt in the game. And it wasn’t good enough because if the defense is going to be this bad, the offense has to be nearly perfect. And this offense has not been close to perfect. Well, once it was. They scored on eight of their 11 possessions against the Denver Broncos and lost 51-48. And the Broncos did not have to punt that day either.

The offense is not about to get into a finger-pointing session because of the defensive shortcomings.

“I think you have to be the best offense you can be,” tight end Jason Witten said. “I think when you start thinking that way and start pressing and saying those things, you're not running your system and you're not doing what you do as an offense. Obviously we need to be at our best and play our best football and we got to trust. This is what makes this game so special you trust the defense, you trust the special teams and they do the same thing to us. We're going to rely on that and trust that and we got a lot of good football players over there and stay together and that's what makes winning in this league so great.”

Some of the numbers look good for the Cowboys. They are third in points scored per game at 27.5, including six defensive touchdowns. They are strong in the red zone. The running game has been greatly improved over the last month and DeMarco Murray could have a 1,000-yard season.

But they are 22nd in yards per game (328.4). Romo had three games in which he did not reach 200 yards passing. Dez Bryant had five games in which he did not get 50 yards receiving. Miles Austin has disappeared. Gavin Escobar never really appeared.

“Every time we go on the field, we’re looking to score, so that doesn’t change the way we think, the way we approach each series,” offensive coordinator Bill Callahan said. “We just go about our own business. We don’t worry about things we can’t control. What we can control is getting better.”

They have three games to get better. The third-down offense has been junk all season. That would help the defense. The longer drives for the Cowboys, the less it is on the field. The deep passing game has been ineffective most of the year while facing some porous defenses. The Cowboys have 35 pass plays of 20 yards or more this year. Last year at this time they had 46.

Last year at this time Bryant was the most damaging receiver in the NFL not named Calvin Johnson. Last week he caught two passes for 12 yards.

“I think your job is to find a way to win the football game so invariably each team is made up a little differently,” Romo said. “We’ve had different times where the defense has helped us out this year and other games we’ve had to help out and that’s just why it’s a team game and each game is going to come up a little different.”

It has to change or the Cowboys will be home from the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

Callahan says running game let defense down in Chicago by not burning more clock

Offensive coordinator Bill Callahan was very pleased with the way the Cowboys ran the ball, but he said the offense let the defense down at the end of the first half and in the third quarter by not running more clock.

“We just felt like we could really run it and chew some clock and keep our defense off the field,” Callahan said Thursday in his weekly meeting with reporters at Valley Ranch. “Not only that, but also drive the ball. When we didn’t do it in that one possession later in the second quarter, I thought that’s when we let our defense down. We went three-and-out. We didn’t run it enough in that particular sequence and I thought that hurt us a little bit.

“Then, in the third quarter, I can’t remember if it was the first or second drive, we could’ve run a little bit more to try to control the clock. … I think we were three and out … I think we were incomplete on three consecutive plays, and then we went back into the running game.”

The Cowboys have run for increasingly better yards since the bye. They had 107 yards against the New York Giants, 144 yards against Oakland and 198 against the Bears. Before that stretch, they had run for more than 100 yards only against St. Louis. And it is the first three-game stretch of 100-yard rushing games in three years.

“I like what we did on Monday night,” Callahan said. “I think we had a really good plan. It was kind of a spin-off from what we did the week prior to that against Oakland. We built upon that, so to speak. Hopefully we can do the same in this game coming up.”

-- Carlos Mendez

The title of that article about Callahan and the running game is misleading.

It should be titled something like, "the play calling let the defense down by not burning more clock". The overall running game was just fine.

It's not a fair expectation but it's going to take the offense scoring 35 points or more for the Cowboys to win these last few games.

They're going to have to play with the same sense of urgency that they brought into the Denver game.

Frankly I don't think they can sustain that type of offensive success over a 3 game span.

~ohsnapgif~

Dez Bryant thinks offense can carry team

December, 13, 2013

By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com


IRVING, Texas -- With the Dallas Cowboys' defense struggling, wide receiver Dez Bryantwas asked if the offense carry the team in the final three weeks of the season.

Bryant, the Cowboys' leader in catches (70) and yards (908), wasn't trying to be disrespectful to the defense, but is confident in the offense's abilities.

"In my honest opinion, I really believe that we can," Bryant said after Friday's practice.

Before you rip on the defense, the offense hasn't been spectacular either. The Cowboys have the 22nd-ranked offense, ranking 15th in passing and 24th in rushing.

After scoring 48 points in a loss to the Denver Broncos on Oct. 6, the offense has scored at least 30 points three times, converted 50 percent of its third-down plays twice in the past eight weeks, and might have to play a perfect game on the offensive end to keep the season alive.

"We shouldn't have to rely on the defense, no disrespect to our defense, they should focus on what they focus on, and the O should focus on what we focus on," Bryant said. "If a team puts up (a certain) amount of points, we should be able to do the same."

It's almost unfair to ask the offense to keep up with opposing offenses. In the loss to theChicago Bears on Monday, the Cowboys' defense allowed scores on the first eight drives of the game. The Cowboys' offense did score four times out of nine possessions, but not with the same frequency of the Bears' offense.

It appears the Cowboys' offense can't keep up, but on the season coach Jason Garrett's group is tied for third in points per game (27.5).

So can the Cowboys' offense put up the points?

"I don't know, all I know is, whatever the coaches call we're going to try and execute the plays the best we possibly can," Bryant said. "That's our job. If its runs, we'll execute runs, us receivers will try our best to get our blocks. If it's a pass, us receivers will try our best to go out there and make that play."

It's about maximizing the resources you have to work with. The offense is obviously the strength of the team in both talent and performance. Either we can make excuses why we can't win, or we try to win with the strength of our team.

Not only is this offense not carrying the team, they've underperformed much of the year.

Genghis Khan said:

Not only is this offense not carrying the team, they've underperformed much of the year.

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It's been overshadowed by the spectacularly bad play of the defense. Also, if the defense had been better, the offense would have gotten many more opportunities.