Machota: Why Cowboys keep playing fast, Zeke tries to get back on track and 10 more notes

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By Jon Machota Oct 3, 2020

FRISCO, Texas — Some of Ezekiel Elliott’s most memorable highlights have come on short screen passes that the Cowboys running back has turned into huge scoring plays. Elliott often referred to those previous plays as “Linehan Special,” named after former offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.

Dallas has tried to incorporate those plays into the passing game early this season, without much success.

“The screen game is big,” Elliott said this week. “It’s getting the ball out in the open field and in space. In the past, we’ve had a lot of explosive plays off the screen game. It’s been really good for us. We are definitely focusing up this week on just ironing that out and getting back to the level of screens we’ve run in the past.”

Dallas ran three screen plays to Elliott in the second half of last Sunday’s 38-31 loss at Seattle.

On first-and-10 from the Seattle 42 with six minutes left in the third quarter, quarterback Dak Prescott lined up in the shotgun. Elliott waited for a second in pass protection before leaking out to the left of the formation. Connor Williams, Tyler Biadasz and Joe Looney were set to be his lead blockers. But Elliott turned his head before securing the catch, leading to a drop. Had Elliott caught the pass, there wasn’t much room to operate, with an unblocked defensive back and star linebacker Bobby Wagner closing in on the play.

The Cowboys tried it again on the first play of the fourth quarter. On first-and-10 from Dallas’ 43, Prescott lined up under center. After faking the handoff to Elliott, who was moving to the left of the formation, Prescott rolled to his right, then threw back. Elliott had Williams, Zack Martin, Biadasz and Looney all in position for this to be a big play. But Prescott’s throw was off the mark. Elliott jumped to get it with one hand, but the ball was out of his reach. Wagner was quickly closing in as the blockers were setting up, causing Prescott to have to pump fake before getting off the throw as he was hit by Wagner.

The final time came on second-and-2 from Seattle’s 31 with 34 seconds left. Prescott was in the shotgun with Elliott moving to the right of the formation. Seahawks linebacker Shaquem Griffin read the play perfectly, bringing Elliott down for what would have been a 2-yard loss. However, Looney was called for being an ineligible man downfield, a 5-yard penalty.

“Just the timing,” Prescott said this week when asked about getting the screen game going. “Everybody being on (the same) page and the timing is something we’re going to work at and we’re going to get better at. We’ve taken some time over the last week of practice to do so. It’s something we’ve got to get going. Obviously, the pass game is working. And the run game does as well. So you need that other aspect of the offense.

“And that’s where a lot of explosive plays come from, whether it’s getting it to Zeke or getting it to a different back or a receiver in the screen game and getting those linemen out in front and doing it at the right time. It would be huge. It just adds another component to our offense. And we’ll get it right.”

It also probably hasn’t helped that Dallas has worked with a constantly changing offensive line because of injuries. Better results are expected from more time together.
“I think it may be a little more difficult because of that, but you guys forget we didn’t really have a full camp, we didn’t have an offseason,” Elliott said. “The screens, I think we just have to keep working on it, and I think with time it’s going to get better. We didn’t take a step forward this weekend on our screen game, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world.”

Here are 10 other notes to get you ready for Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns at AT&T Stadium.

1. Final throw at Seattle. It goes in the books simply as an interception, but a lot happened on Prescott’s final pass last week. After Prescott somehow avoided a sack and kept his feet to get the throw off, Noah Brown came open in the back of the end zone. From the end zone view on the all-22 footage, you can see that Prescott isn’t able to find the proper footing to get what he needed on the ball. Because he had come up from stumbling and was still trying to avoid more pressure, Prescott was forced to throw off his back foot. Had he been able to set both feet, Brown might have had a chance with some room in the back left corner.

“I just remember trying to tell myself, ‘You can’t go down, you can’t go down,’” Prescott said. “I was able to get up, get my balance, and then at the time, I saw Noah Brown going across the back of the end zone. The ball just got away from me. I want to throw that to him, high out of the back of the end zone, whether he was going to make the grab or nobody did. It got away from me. They went and fought for the ball and, obviously, they came down with it. It’s something you got to live with. But just be able to keep that alive and give my guys a chance, I’m going to live with that decision.”

2. Offensive production. Prescott said this week that there’s no doubt this is the most explosive offense he’s been a part of in his career. The statistics back that up through three games. If the Cowboys were to keep the same pace for an entire 16-game season, Prescott would throw for 6,336 yards and 27 touchdowns while also rushing for 12 scores. Peyton Manning holds the NFL record for most passing yards in a season, 5,477.

If the Cowboys stayed at this pace, Amari Cooper would finish with 1,424 receiving yards, Michael Gallup would end up with 1,312 and CeeDee Lamb would have 1,226. Elliott is on pace to rush for 1,168 yards and 21 touchdowns. All of these stats are unlikely to be achieved, but it does give some perspective on just how productive the Dallas offense has been through three games. And it doesn’t sound like their style will be changing.

“We want to play fast,” Prescott said. “We want to play with tempo, regardless if we’re up by a few touchdowns, the game’s tied or we’re down. It just gives us more opportunities on offense, more opportunities to create big plays and score more points. I’d say the tempo is definitely purposeful.”

3. And then there’s the defense. Regardless of how impressive the offensive statistics are, they won’t mean much if the Dallas defense continues playing the way it has to start the season. The Cowboys are on pace to go 5-11.

Opposing quarterbacks this year have combined to complete 71 of 108 passes against the Cowboys for 831 yards, nine touchdowns, one interception and a 114.1 passer rating. Only the Jacksonville Jaguars are allowing a better opponent passer rating (118.6).

The most glaring issue at Seattle was how often Seahawks receivers ran wide open. There aren’t any significant roster moves expected to bolster the back end, so the improvements are going to have to come from within. The Dallas safeties haven’t played well, and the cornerbacks have constantly rotated players because of injuries.
“I don’t know that there’s a lot of winning grades going around on the back end,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Nolan said. “Some of it is technique-related, allowing guys to get on top of you when you should stay on top, if you’re a deep zone defender. I believe a couple of guys got their eyes in the wrong place. Obviously, nothing’s ever intentional when someone makes a mistake. They want to perform well. So when they do, a lot of times, it’s technique-based. And part of technique is just having your eyes in the right place. If you don’t see it, obviously you’re not going to cover it. I think that’s something we need to clean up just a little bit more.”

4. Team identity. Knowing that there are limitations on defense, it was interesting to hear Mike McCarthy this week break down what he’s looking for in the team’s identity this season.

“Right now, we want to be as balanced as we can,” he said Friday morning on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM). “Balance isn’t always about numbers. It also comes down to who you are playing against. Seattle loaded up, they clearly went into the game with a focus on stopping Zeke. You have to have the ability to get the ball outside and also find different ways to get the ball to Zeke. To me, we want to be aggressive on offense because the biggest thing I look for offensively is ball distribution.

“Defensively, we want to stop the run. We haven’t done it quite yet throughout the course of the game, but we want to get in position to where our pass rush can pin their ears back and get going. We haven’t played with the lead a whole lot this year, so that’s ideally the identity we’d like (to have). We’d like to play to the strengths on our football team.

“I like the progress of our special teams. By design, we wanted to be overaggressive early. That was part of the plan for John (Fassel) and I as far as the approach to the season. We clearly did that in the first couple games, so it’s nice to see our guys settle in. We need to have a big game Sunday. I think so far we’ve had a good week on special teams. We had some tough moments up there in Seattle.”

McCarthy’s opinion of good distribution on offense is getting the ball to the right player on each play.

“You don’t want to get into a situation where you’re forcing a ball to a player because you’re definitely running a chance of passing up a better option,” he said. “So that comes in the game planning, scheme, how we line the perimeter players up, what they’re asked to do. So really, good ball distribution is seeing the ball distributed at a high completion percentage in the passing game and obviously touches and targets to the runners.”



Michael Gallup (Joe Nicholson / USA Today)

5. Injury updates. Despite having 10 players on injured reserve, the weekly injury report was actually pretty positive for the Cowboys. Only three players appeared on it all week. DE DeMarcus Lawrence (knee), CB Trevon Diggs (shoulder/knee) and LT Tyron Smith (neck) were all limited Friday, but all three are expected to play against the Browns.

Smith has missed the past two games because of neck stingers. With his return, look for Dallas to go with a starting offensive line of (left to right) Smith, Connor Williams, Joe Looney, Zack Martin and Terence Steele. The right tackle position will come down to Steele, who has started there the last three weeks, or Brandon Knight, who started at left tackle the past two weeks in place of Smith. Knight has played better, but the Cowboys might elect to maintain continuity and stick with Steele, who is listed as the first-team right tackle on the unofficial depth chart.

Biadasz continues to battle with Looney for the starting center spot, but I think the Cowboys continue going with Looney this week.

All seems to be good with wide receivers Cooper and Lamb. Each looked to be possibly playing through mild injuries in Seattle. Lamb wasn’t on the field for the final five plays. But both were full participants in practice all week and never appeared on the injury report.

“I’m feeling a lot better,” said Cooper, who had been dealing with a foot injury. “I’m definitely feeling 100 percent going into the game. I’m good to go.”

Look for Lawrence to again be on a limited snap count, rotating with Everson Griffen opposite of Aldon Smith. Lawrence played 31 defensive snaps last week. Griffin played 40 and Smith 60.

6. Latest on Randy Gregory. He is not allowed to play in a game until Week 7, but Gregory can begin practicing with his teammates next week. The suspended pass rusher has been seen at practices the past few weeks, working off to the side with athletic trainers. He’s also been in team meetings.

“He looks good,” McCarthy said. “I got a chance just to visit with the trainers on him (Wednesday). He’s making progress. We haven’t made that determination if he will practice Oct. 5, but based on where he is today and just going off what they told me about him in the past, everybody feels good about his conditioning.”

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Friday on The Fan that “I think, not unlike Aldon, it’s like riding a bike. When you get in here and you get in shape and you got the skills that God gave him, and their football IQ, they don’t tend to forget. Certainly, Randy has done a great job. He’s got to finish this week out in terms of working with the strength-and-conditioning staff, just restricted to meetings. But starting next week you can start to work back in with our team for a couple of weeks, and then after Week 6, he’s going to be able to join the team. So I believe that it’s a competitive group in there, but one of the guys who stood out and does a lot of what Randy does is Dorance Armstrong. So he’s really having some great practices and doing a great job doing that as well. But I do think Randy can really add something to this football team.”

7. Jet sweeps and reverses. They just haven’t been there early this season. They didn’t look particularly good in training camp, either. It’s clear that offensive coordinator Kellen Moore wants to find ways to get the ball in Lamb’s hands beyond just the passing game. But to this point, opponents have been in a good position to contain those plays.

“Obviously, speed to the edge and try to capture the edge as quickly as possible, try to get a guy to the perimeter,” Moore said this week of getting Lamb involved in those plays. “Can get some stuff off it in the run game and play-action game. You got to keep working. You can’t just throw it away just because it didn’t work for a play. It’s a long season, there’s a lot more opportunities. And we just got to keep working at it.”

8. What has McCarthy learned about this team? There were no OTAs or minicamps. Training camp was much different from a typical year out in Oxnard. There were no preseason games. There have been only three regular-season games.

But what has McCarthy learned so far about the group he took over at the beginning of the year?

“They’re resilient,” he said Friday. “They answer the bell at every step of the way. They really take to coaching. I really am enjoying the atmosphere that we’re building here. It’s a group that’s really into football and trying to do it not only the right way but our way. The feedback and the interaction is nonstop, and we have the opportunity to get on the same page because there’s more than one way to skin a cat in this game. But the most important thing is we’re doing it our way with input, conversation and collaboration. I would say they’re definitely a resilient, resilient group. I do like that about our football team.”

9. Can Cedrick Wilson keep it up? Cooper said no one on the team was surprised by Wilson’s breakout performance last week. The third-year wide receiver caught five passes for 107 yards, including touchdowns of 40 and 42 yards. They were the first two touchdowns of Wilson’s career and the first TDs by a Cowboys wide receiver this season.

“Everybody kept saying the same thing: ‘It looked like practice,’ because that’s exactly what he’s been doing in practice,” Cooper said.

The Cowboys likely won’t need that type of production every week as long as Cooper, Lamb and Gallup stay healthy. But it’s pretty nice knowing that a No. 4 wide receiver capable of that type of day is waiting to contribute when needed.

“It creates issues,” Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods said this week of Wilson’s breakout performance. “You have to account for it and just have something prepared if they want to come out and do that, so we will be ready for that. Yeah, some of their receivers, you see from just watching, who is No. 11 (Wilson)? You see him making big plays and it is like, ‘Who is that guy? I know about the other guys.’ They are very deep at receiver and they are very talented, but that is the NFL.”

10. What else are the Browns saying?

QB Baker Mayfield on if this game has special meaning with his return to play in Texas:
“Austin is the best city in Texas. I will have plenty of people there, friends and family, loved ones and all those good people there. But I have to treat it like any other game and have to go do our job.”

Mayfield on his memories of the Cowboys as a kid growing up in Texas: “I was actually a Packers fan because of Brett Favre. I remember the one and only NFL game I ever went to before playing in a game, the Cowboys were playing the Giants, I think, in a wild-card game and Troy Aikman was still playing. My dad’s friend got us on the field, and I got to meet him down there. There are no pictures to prove it; that is a family internal issue, but that was the one only time I was in there and that was in the old Cowboys Stadium on the Astroturf.”

Mayfield on former college teammate Lamb: “CeeDee is extremely special. Just from the time when he stepped on campus as a true freshman, I knew he was going to be special. He just has that ‘it’ factor. It is something you can’t teach and can’t coach it. He is a dog when he steps on the field. He has that mentality, I have said it before, and it stays true. He is who he is, and he will do whatever it takes to win, and that is why I know the Cowboys are probably loving having him on their team.”

DE Myles Garrett on returning to his hometown of Arlington to play at AT&T Stadium: “Definitely going to have some family there. It would not be home for me if I did not have the family and friends there that I have known and grown up with. Given the opportunity to play in front of them, which is 10, 15 minutes down the street, that is a blessing, and I hope to be able to come out of there with a win. … (The) Cowboys’ stadium, you can make a name for yourself getting a big win there. They are America’s Team, and all eyes are on them almost every week. Going to make sure to put on a big showing.”

Garrett on Prescott: “We have to make sure we corral him and keep him in the pocket, knowing that he has the ability to get out of the pocket and make some plays with his feet either downfield or getting actual yardage running. He is a talented player. He is worth a lot to that team, and he has proven his worth day in and day out over there. We have to make sure that we do not allow him to make those big plays that he is accustomed to making and make sure that we are on our P’s and Q’s with our rat holes and where he can escape.”

WR Odell Beckham Jr. on whether his emotions are different playing the Cowboys this week, considering his history against them with the Giants: “No, I do not have any old rivalry or anything for them. Actually, all of my family grew up in Texas, so they are all huge Cowboy fans. It has always been kind of a funny story with them as far as being in New York and them being in Dallas. I do not have any animosity, hate or rivalry with them.”
 

bbgun

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this was written before the Cleveland game
 
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