We ran it on first down 16 times last week on first down. Thanks for the flashback, Kellen, but that wasn't as bad as we've seen Garrett offenses go in the past.
But 3-12 on 3rd down means we're not in enough 3rd and short situations. Here are the 16 runs we had on 1st down.
Ezekiel Elliott right end for 1 yard*
Ezekiel Elliott left tackle for no gain
Ezekiel Elliott left end for 4 yards
Tony Pollard up the middle for 6 yards
Ezekiel Elliott left end for 14 yards (after four straight passes)
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for no gain[RZ, goal line]
Ezekiel Elliott left tackle for 12 yards
Ezekiel Elliott left tackle for no gain
Ezekiel Elliott left tackle for 3 yards*
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 1 yard*
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 5 yards
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 4 yards*[RZ, FG]
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 9 yards
Ezekiel Elliott up the middle for 6 yards
Tony Pollard right tackle for 4 yards*[RZ, downs]
Ezekiel Elliott right guard for 3 yards*
*plays resulted in a punt, FG, or turnover on downs. This happens 6 of the 10 times we have 4 yards or less on 1st down.
Now contrast to the first down passing.
Dak Prescott pass complete short left to Amari Cooper for 9 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short left to Ezekiel Elliott for 10 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short middle to Tony Pollard for 4 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete deep right to CeeDee Lamb for 33 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short right to Amari Cooper for 6 yards
Dak Prescott pass incomplete short middle intended for Ezekiel Elliott* [missed FG]
Dak Prescott pass complete short left to Amari Cooper for 9 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short middle to CeeDee Lamb for 12 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short middle to Michael Gallup for 14 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short right to Ezekiel Elliott for 12 yards [OPI penalty]
Dak Prescott pass complete short middle to CeeDee Lamb for 9 yards [1st and 20]
Dak Prescott pass complete short right to Michael Gallup for 12 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short right to Amari Cooper for 11 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short left to Amari Cooper for 14 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short right to Amari Cooper for 5 yards
Dak Prescott pass complete short left to Amari Cooper for 4 yards
Dak Prescott pass incomplete short left intended for Dalton Schultz*[downs]
Only twice did we fail to get another set of downs when we led with a pass. Dak is also an insane 15/17 completions on 1st down. Now maybe that's because the defense has no idea what is coming because we normally run so much, but it is hugely successful.
What's irritating is that this trend was clear after the first half, yet we regressed in the second half to running twice as often on 1st down as in the first half.
Hell, as great as the RBs are on this team, this tells me that even the 24 runs to 45 pass attempts (Dak turned three pass attempts into 30 rushing yards and we had three sacks) resulting in 34.7% rushing is a little too high to begin with and we definitely need to run less on 1st down (16 rushes vs 17 passes).