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Truth hurts? FOX duo of Troy Aikman, Joe Buck offer harsh assessment of Cowboys' offense: 'I'm not seeing any creativity'
By Brad Townsend , Staff Writer Contact Brad Townsend on Twitter: @townbrad
Joe Buck is a play-by-play man by trade. Fox primarily pays him to provide facts, insight, color and sparing analysis.
Opinion? That is supposed to be the realm of Buck's longtime Fox No. 1 NFL team booth-mate, Troy Aikman.
As the final seconds ticked away of a pitiful Cowboys' first half on Sunday in Charlotte, however, Buck couldn't help himself. Actually, he simply told it like it was to the national audience, but the facts themselves were damning.
"The Dallas Cowboys' re-imagined offense: No Dez, no Witten, they have six receptions in the half, 46 yards," Buck said. "They have four first downs and 61 total yards. This has been a whiff in the first half."
Aikman chimed in that the Cowboys also were 0-for-5 on third-down conversions. Surely, Cowboys fans weren't expecting Aikman and Buck to sugarcoat a rosy picture of a first half in which Dak Prescott totaled 61 yards passing and Ezekiel Elliott had 18 rushing yards on seven carries, were they?.
Carolina 10, Cowboys 0.
"Cowboys didn't run a play in the half in Carolina territory and have been penalized 60 yards," Buck said.
Earlier in the half, when Cowboys receiver Allen Hurns failed to gain separation on a third-down out-route and Prescott tossed the ball out of bounds, Aikman opined, harshly, but accurately:
"Well, Allen Hurns is the big free-agent acquisition from Jacksonville, No. 17 . . had injuries the past couple of years . . but he doesn't have speed. . . he's not going to threaten anybody down the field."
We don't know what Fox's studio analysts said about the Cowboys, if anything, during halftime, because KDFW-Fox4 cut to a brief local news rundown, followed by a plethora of commercials, then the start of the second half.
Before the game, however, the Fox studio team showed a montage of comments by a serious-looking Elliott, sitting at what looked to be a boardroom table.
"With losing guys like Witten and Dez, me and Dak have become the face of the franchise," Elliott said. "This offseason we definitely were pushed into a leadership role where we really didn't have any choice but to be leaders.
"Dak and I both grew a lot this offseason. I think we handled it well. . . I'm at the head of the table now."
Fox studio analyst and Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long spoke of the added expectations that Prescott carries by simply being the Cowboys' starting quarterback.
"Playing quarterback in the NFL comes with its own set of responsibilities," Long said. "You're essentially the face of the franchise being the quarterback.
"Playing quarterback in Dallas, you're chasing ghosts. You're chasing Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach There's a lot of history in this organization, but they have to put the pieces around him. A couple of years ago they were in the right position: Running game, play-action pass, it was all working well. Last year the protection broke down; the run game wasn't there. It was a problem."
As a national TV audience saw Sunday, the Cowboys' offensive problems of 2017 continued through the first half of a listless performance at Carolina.
Midway through the third quarter, with Dallas still trailing 10-0, Aikman summed of the Cowboys: "We talked about it. They're without Dez Bryant. Dez Bryant had a tough year last year. They're without Witten. But who's going to be the workhorse for this offense in the receiving corps? So far it's nobody. They've got a lot of depth, heard a lot of talk in the offseason about how creative things were going to be with Tavon Austin and trying to work (Michael) Gallup in and Allen Hurns and of course (Cole) Beasley.
"I'm not seeing any creativity."
Moments later, Brett Maher, who was made the Cowboys' starting kicker when the franchise decided to part ways with Dan Bailey, missed a 47-yard field goal.
"So the new pieces are not working to this point," Buck said.
Though the Cowboys did "rally" to within eight points, their new parts and "re-imagined" offense did not add up to much of a sum in this season opener.
Don't blame Aikman and Buck. They just told us the truth.
By Brad Townsend , Staff Writer Contact Brad Townsend on Twitter: @townbrad
Joe Buck is a play-by-play man by trade. Fox primarily pays him to provide facts, insight, color and sparing analysis.
Opinion? That is supposed to be the realm of Buck's longtime Fox No. 1 NFL team booth-mate, Troy Aikman.
As the final seconds ticked away of a pitiful Cowboys' first half on Sunday in Charlotte, however, Buck couldn't help himself. Actually, he simply told it like it was to the national audience, but the facts themselves were damning.
"The Dallas Cowboys' re-imagined offense: No Dez, no Witten, they have six receptions in the half, 46 yards," Buck said. "They have four first downs and 61 total yards. This has been a whiff in the first half."
Aikman chimed in that the Cowboys also were 0-for-5 on third-down conversions. Surely, Cowboys fans weren't expecting Aikman and Buck to sugarcoat a rosy picture of a first half in which Dak Prescott totaled 61 yards passing and Ezekiel Elliott had 18 rushing yards on seven carries, were they?.
Carolina 10, Cowboys 0.
"Cowboys didn't run a play in the half in Carolina territory and have been penalized 60 yards," Buck said.
Earlier in the half, when Cowboys receiver Allen Hurns failed to gain separation on a third-down out-route and Prescott tossed the ball out of bounds, Aikman opined, harshly, but accurately:
"Well, Allen Hurns is the big free-agent acquisition from Jacksonville, No. 17 . . had injuries the past couple of years . . but he doesn't have speed. . . he's not going to threaten anybody down the field."
We don't know what Fox's studio analysts said about the Cowboys, if anything, during halftime, because KDFW-Fox4 cut to a brief local news rundown, followed by a plethora of commercials, then the start of the second half.
Before the game, however, the Fox studio team showed a montage of comments by a serious-looking Elliott, sitting at what looked to be a boardroom table.
"With losing guys like Witten and Dez, me and Dak have become the face of the franchise," Elliott said. "This offseason we definitely were pushed into a leadership role where we really didn't have any choice but to be leaders.
"Dak and I both grew a lot this offseason. I think we handled it well. . . I'm at the head of the table now."
Fox studio analyst and Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long spoke of the added expectations that Prescott carries by simply being the Cowboys' starting quarterback.
"Playing quarterback in the NFL comes with its own set of responsibilities," Long said. "You're essentially the face of the franchise being the quarterback.
"Playing quarterback in Dallas, you're chasing ghosts. You're chasing Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach There's a lot of history in this organization, but they have to put the pieces around him. A couple of years ago they were in the right position: Running game, play-action pass, it was all working well. Last year the protection broke down; the run game wasn't there. It was a problem."
As a national TV audience saw Sunday, the Cowboys' offensive problems of 2017 continued through the first half of a listless performance at Carolina.
Midway through the third quarter, with Dallas still trailing 10-0, Aikman summed of the Cowboys: "We talked about it. They're without Dez Bryant. Dez Bryant had a tough year last year. They're without Witten. But who's going to be the workhorse for this offense in the receiving corps? So far it's nobody. They've got a lot of depth, heard a lot of talk in the offseason about how creative things were going to be with Tavon Austin and trying to work (Michael) Gallup in and Allen Hurns and of course (Cole) Beasley.
"I'm not seeing any creativity."
Moments later, Brett Maher, who was made the Cowboys' starting kicker when the franchise decided to part ways with Dan Bailey, missed a 47-yard field goal.
"So the new pieces are not working to this point," Buck said.
Though the Cowboys did "rally" to within eight points, their new parts and "re-imagined" offense did not add up to much of a sum in this season opener.
Don't blame Aikman and Buck. They just told us the truth.
