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The Cowboys offense did what it needed vs. Rams — and stayed out of the way
By Bob Sturm
Oct 11, 2022
Let’s get something straight here at the top. This Cowboys offense is not feeling great about itself today.
It won a game in Los Angeles when it must have felt largely like passengers. Yes, the offense did contribute a small bit, but we should not lose sight of how small that bit was.
The offense was basically given a two-score lead. Then, it was set up several other times and its goal — a lofty one for sure — was to play another turnover free game. This one would be difficult to find great success at, because the Rams would get their best and most well-compensated weapons on the defense into spots where they could blindside Cooper Rush with all of their might. Aaron Donald got to Rush twice and knock the ball loose once. But, Tyler Smith would rally and fall on it before the Rams got the break they needed. Then, Jalen Ramsey clobbered Rush from behind at a full sprint. Again, the ball came loose and again it bounced right back to Rush. Lose one of those fumbles and the game gets much tighter. Lose both and the game probably is a Rams victory.
Sometimes the bounce of the ball is your friend.
Otherwise, there was a 57-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that answered the Cooper Kupp 75-yard touchdown a minute before that. Dallas was behind for 92 seconds the entire day and Pollard’s answer was loud and clear. So were the Cowboys fans on hand.
We must not look poorly at the offense playing a game without a turnover and able to run the ball with some production. The Cowboys’ 34 runs for 163 yards looks much better than the other 33 runs for 106 … but either way. There was some good from the offense in the midst of a day when it didn’t accomplish much.
But, we should not get carried away. Below, we see the 14 occasions in Cowboys history when the team passed for 80 yards or less and still won the game. The last time it happened was 2001 at Texas Stadium as Clint Stoerner beat the Arizona Cardinals, 17-3. The last time it happened away from home? That would be 1975 as they beat the Giants with Roger Staubach at the helm, 13-7.
Pro Football Reference
Both times, they won. That is the object of the game, so mission accomplished. But, let’s not delude ourselves. That is the defense and special teams going to win you a game. Accept it and enjoy it. But, you probably don’t want to try to do something that hasn’t been done in 47 years again.
But, wait. It gets a bit crazier.
What if we looked at the game from 80 yards passing or less and just 10 first downs in a game? What is the Cowboys’ all-time record in their 63 seasons of football?
Apparently, it has only happened 17 times in their history and their record in those games is now 2-15.
The Cowboys have won a football game one other time and it was Oct. 13, 1963, when they beat the Detroit Lions at the Cotton Bowl, 17-14. Don Meredith, who has popped into the news with Troy Aikman reviving “Turn out the lights, the party’s over” last week, beat Milt Plum in what must have been a thriller. The game featured an interception from the legendary Dick “Night Train” Lane and was played 59 years ago. And no, it has never happened on the road until Sunday.
So, again, I don’t want to ruin anyone’s Cooper Rush coronation ceremony, but the offense is not doing well in these past two weeks. They are sputtering and coasting home and staying alive with the gas tank on empty. It looks great because the defense is making it look that way. But, this is not actually going very well.
Sunday, the Cowboys had the ball 12 times — two of those didn’t really count at the end of both halves. Of the other 10, the offense only did much of anything on three possessions.
The first one in the second quarter was the Pollard touchdown run. The next one early in the third quarter featured the one big pass play of the day, the 27-yard pass to Michael Gallup down the sideline on third-and-16. That was a huge throw from Rush and the Rams have to be annoyed they allowed that long conversion. Then the last one, the 35-yard possession in the fourth quarter was a clock-killing drive that featured a number of solid runs from Ezekiel Elliott and Pollard. That was a nice 4-minute offense that did its job well.
But, our summary of this game is probably best done this way. We have heard that the best offense is sometimes a great defense. We can confirm now. The Cowboys should probably make sure Micah Parsons and friends get a few game balls for that win. And that’s OK.
But, yeah, they need Dak Prescott back, regardless of what the comments section or Cowboys Twitter might try to tell you.
Week 5 Data Box: at Los Angeles
Even the 22 points at the top are misleading. The offense technically scored 16, but you already knew that. Otherwise, we have a lot of red ink. Let’s be clear: A lot of this lack of production appeared to be the Dallas coaching staff rightfully content about asking a different request of the offense in this game. Once the Cowboys had their lead, I believe the call sheet might have been adjusted to “playing the game in front of you.”
As long as the Cowboys are able to get positive yards running the ball and ending every drive with a kick (punt, field goal or extra point), there seems little incentive to open up the playbook and the offense until the Rams force it with some scoreboard alterations. If they don’t push the issue, why should Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy?
As you see, 12 personnel won the day — 17 snaps for 109 yards, including the big Pollard run, of course. But, they ran the ball on 14 of those 17 snaps and stayed persistent and stubborn about how much they were going to try to shorten the game and take their small gains as part of an Elliott battering-ram performance. Here is what that looks like on the Next Gen player tracking:
Next Gen: Ezekiel Elliott vs. Rams
Not pretty, but also, not bad. I know that isn’t going to win anyone’s fantasy games, but when Elliott is basically running into a wall 22 times, we will take 3.5 yards per carry and countless minutes off the clock in total. Well done, Zeke. That is a winning performance from him.
And, now the passing chart.
Next Gen: Cooper Rush thrown chart vs. Rams
It’s very simple, Cooper. Don’t throw any picks or fumble on any sacks. That is the job. As you can see, it was the one pass that connected with Gallup and another few that Lamb dropped on a third down throw to the sideline and Gallup dropped at the other sideline. But, overall, this was the opposite of his performance against the Bengals. Dallas asked him that day to make throws to save the day. This was more? Don’t try to make throws that might ruin the day.
Again, that’s OK.
Film study
First quarter – 2:18 – third-and-5 – DAL 48 – C.Rush sacked at DAL 39 for -9 yards (A.Donald). FUMBLES (A.Donald), recovered by DAL-Ty.Smith at DAL 39. Penalty on DAL-Ty.Smith, Offensive Holding, declined.
This is interesting in that the two sacks where Donald beats Smith both had one thing in common — Pollard in the game and therefore, no real help for Smith. On this play, the Rams really overloaded the offensive left. That means Ernest Jones (53) is in the A-gap, Bobby Wagner (45) is in the B-gap and Donald (99) is out wide of Smith (73) with nothing to work with but space. What is most interesting is that left guard Connor McGovern (66) is ready to deal with Wagner, but he never rushes. Pollard then inserts on Jones and actually gets his job done pretty well at first. Jones is bigger and stronger, but Pollard gives it all he has. Smith, meanwhile, is trying to get his drop against Donald, but Donald is so wide that Smith tries to push him past Rush. The problem with that is Donald is so quick and strong that Smith cannot beat him to the top of his drop. Smith tries to hold him and it doesn’t matter. Donald rips through it and assaults Rush, knocking the ball out. To Smith’s great credit, he beats Jones to the fumble and saves the possession. Huge recovery in the banana stand.
Second quarter – 8:10 – first-and-10 – DAL 43 – T.Pollard right tackle for 57 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is outside zone right in 12 personnel. Great work from the offensive line and Pollard as well. Let’s look at it with some frames.
Above, you can see the double from Tyler Biadasz (63) and Zack Martin (70) with frontside Terence Steele (78) and Jake Ferguson (87) with their guys turned outside. Martin will want to move to the linebacker and then Pollard looks for his seam to cut back or continue to the edge of the front side on the right. Meanwhile, on the back side, McGovern has Donald (sort of) and Smith and Peyton Hendershot (89) both have their spots.
Pollard sees color on the front side, so he knows he has to cut back. He gets wide (hip of the tackle) and then gets north. He is going to have to choose which side of Biadasz here, depending on what looks good as he hits the hole with a sprint.
Pollard’s explosion is key, but this was blocked very well. McGovern fought his tail off to keep Donald from killing it. Donald had one arm out and Pollard ran through it. Then, strong safety Terrell Burgess (26) has Pollard in the hole and Pollard runs right out of his grasp. From there, he heads right to free safety Nick Scott (33) and does it again.
From here, you can see a convoy ahead with Hendershot and Simi Fehoko (81) and Pollard does the rest. Huge play and another banana stand special.
Second quarter – 5:02 – second-and-16 – DAL 29 – C.Rush sacked at DAL 20 for -9 yards (A.Donald).
This is not a replay — but, it sort of is. Pollard is in the backfield, but this time Hendershot is next to Smith. But, the tight end is just running a vertical and not chipping Donald at all. In fact, we could argue that he is the intended target if this gets protected. Of course, it doesn’t. This looks like the exact same rep as the first one, right? Greg Gaines (91) and Jones (53) are both in the A-gaps, Wagner (45) over McGovern, and Donald (99) wide over Smith. Pollard is in the back which should tell us that Biadasz is going to turn right so that the three-by-three protection is set. The Rams must be over the moon here to see Dallas playing the exact same protection scheme and the they call the exact same rush. Wagner never rushes, but occupied McGovern, Pollard has to try to deal with Jones, and Donald gets out wide on Smith and tries to beat him to the spot. This is not a complete instant replay. Pollard does much better this time, but Smith still loses the race to the spot and once you lose on Donald, you cannot recover. Smith does not hold this time, but he gets beat cleanly and Donald blindsides Rush. Just a clinic and a welcome to the NFL banana stand moment for the Cowboys first-rounder.
Third quarter – 13:10 – first-and-10 – DAL 37 – C.Rush sacked at DAL 29 for -8 yards (J.Ramsey). FUMBLES (J.Ramsey) [J.Ramsey], and recovers at DAL 29.
I will speculate on this one. It is first-and-10 and we have talked a lot about the fact that Dallas has been killing teams on first-down passing when it crosses up defenses that are sitting on the run. Motion from CeeDee Lamb (88) should tell us that the Rams are in zone, but they are also being deceptive with their intentions because Lamb in motion activates a Ramsey (5) blitz off the slot and the rest of the secondary will switch to man behind it. I think Pollard has to have the outside threat here, but he doesn’t seem to see it as he is helping McGovern and Smith with the switch inside. I do want to leave open the possibility that Smith is supposed to adjust to anything on his edge if the rush goes inside. This one may be Pollard or Smith, depending on the call, which I admit to not fully knowing. Meanwhile, Ramsey crushes Rush from behind and the ball comes loose. It seems teams are looking to test Pollard at every opportunity.
Third quarter – 11:48 – third-and-16 – DAL 31 – C.Rush pass deep right to M.Gallup ran ob at LA 42 for 27 yards.
Finally, Rush made a big-time throw in a big-time spot Sunday and it was this one. Two snaps after Ramsey belted him hard, he regrouped and found a deep back-shoulder fade to Gallup and converted a shocking third-and-16. At this point of the game with the score what it was, I expected a draw play to set up a punt. Instead, the Cowboys trust Rush to make smart and safe throws and go try to convert a third and really long if the situation allows. It did and Gallup made a nice play on the ball. Rush is not a passenger. He takes care of the ball and gets it where it needs to go at times. This was a great big moment Sunday.
By Bob Sturm
Oct 11, 2022
Let’s get something straight here at the top. This Cowboys offense is not feeling great about itself today.
It won a game in Los Angeles when it must have felt largely like passengers. Yes, the offense did contribute a small bit, but we should not lose sight of how small that bit was.
The offense was basically given a two-score lead. Then, it was set up several other times and its goal — a lofty one for sure — was to play another turnover free game. This one would be difficult to find great success at, because the Rams would get their best and most well-compensated weapons on the defense into spots where they could blindside Cooper Rush with all of their might. Aaron Donald got to Rush twice and knock the ball loose once. But, Tyler Smith would rally and fall on it before the Rams got the break they needed. Then, Jalen Ramsey clobbered Rush from behind at a full sprint. Again, the ball came loose and again it bounced right back to Rush. Lose one of those fumbles and the game gets much tighter. Lose both and the game probably is a Rams victory.
Sometimes the bounce of the ball is your friend.
Otherwise, there was a 57-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that answered the Cooper Kupp 75-yard touchdown a minute before that. Dallas was behind for 92 seconds the entire day and Pollard’s answer was loud and clear. So were the Cowboys fans on hand.
We must not look poorly at the offense playing a game without a turnover and able to run the ball with some production. The Cowboys’ 34 runs for 163 yards looks much better than the other 33 runs for 106 … but either way. There was some good from the offense in the midst of a day when it didn’t accomplish much.
But, we should not get carried away. Below, we see the 14 occasions in Cowboys history when the team passed for 80 yards or less and still won the game. The last time it happened was 2001 at Texas Stadium as Clint Stoerner beat the Arizona Cardinals, 17-3. The last time it happened away from home? That would be 1975 as they beat the Giants with Roger Staubach at the helm, 13-7.
Pro Football Reference
Both times, they won. That is the object of the game, so mission accomplished. But, let’s not delude ourselves. That is the defense and special teams going to win you a game. Accept it and enjoy it. But, you probably don’t want to try to do something that hasn’t been done in 47 years again.
But, wait. It gets a bit crazier.
What if we looked at the game from 80 yards passing or less and just 10 first downs in a game? What is the Cowboys’ all-time record in their 63 seasons of football?
Apparently, it has only happened 17 times in their history and their record in those games is now 2-15.
The Cowboys have won a football game one other time and it was Oct. 13, 1963, when they beat the Detroit Lions at the Cotton Bowl, 17-14. Don Meredith, who has popped into the news with Troy Aikman reviving “Turn out the lights, the party’s over” last week, beat Milt Plum in what must have been a thriller. The game featured an interception from the legendary Dick “Night Train” Lane and was played 59 years ago. And no, it has never happened on the road until Sunday.
So, again, I don’t want to ruin anyone’s Cooper Rush coronation ceremony, but the offense is not doing well in these past two weeks. They are sputtering and coasting home and staying alive with the gas tank on empty. It looks great because the defense is making it look that way. But, this is not actually going very well.
Sunday, the Cowboys had the ball 12 times — two of those didn’t really count at the end of both halves. Of the other 10, the offense only did much of anything on three possessions.
The first one in the second quarter was the Pollard touchdown run. The next one early in the third quarter featured the one big pass play of the day, the 27-yard pass to Michael Gallup down the sideline on third-and-16. That was a huge throw from Rush and the Rams have to be annoyed they allowed that long conversion. Then the last one, the 35-yard possession in the fourth quarter was a clock-killing drive that featured a number of solid runs from Ezekiel Elliott and Pollard. That was a nice 4-minute offense that did its job well.
But, our summary of this game is probably best done this way. We have heard that the best offense is sometimes a great defense. We can confirm now. The Cowboys should probably make sure Micah Parsons and friends get a few game balls for that win. And that’s OK.
But, yeah, they need Dak Prescott back, regardless of what the comments section or Cowboys Twitter might try to tell you.
Week 5 Data Box: at Los Angeles
Even the 22 points at the top are misleading. The offense technically scored 16, but you already knew that. Otherwise, we have a lot of red ink. Let’s be clear: A lot of this lack of production appeared to be the Dallas coaching staff rightfully content about asking a different request of the offense in this game. Once the Cowboys had their lead, I believe the call sheet might have been adjusted to “playing the game in front of you.”
As long as the Cowboys are able to get positive yards running the ball and ending every drive with a kick (punt, field goal or extra point), there seems little incentive to open up the playbook and the offense until the Rams force it with some scoreboard alterations. If they don’t push the issue, why should Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy?
As you see, 12 personnel won the day — 17 snaps for 109 yards, including the big Pollard run, of course. But, they ran the ball on 14 of those 17 snaps and stayed persistent and stubborn about how much they were going to try to shorten the game and take their small gains as part of an Elliott battering-ram performance. Here is what that looks like on the Next Gen player tracking:
Next Gen: Ezekiel Elliott vs. Rams
Not pretty, but also, not bad. I know that isn’t going to win anyone’s fantasy games, but when Elliott is basically running into a wall 22 times, we will take 3.5 yards per carry and countless minutes off the clock in total. Well done, Zeke. That is a winning performance from him.
And, now the passing chart.
Next Gen: Cooper Rush thrown chart vs. Rams
It’s very simple, Cooper. Don’t throw any picks or fumble on any sacks. That is the job. As you can see, it was the one pass that connected with Gallup and another few that Lamb dropped on a third down throw to the sideline and Gallup dropped at the other sideline. But, overall, this was the opposite of his performance against the Bengals. Dallas asked him that day to make throws to save the day. This was more? Don’t try to make throws that might ruin the day.
Again, that’s OK.
Film study
First quarter – 2:18 – third-and-5 – DAL 48 – C.Rush sacked at DAL 39 for -9 yards (A.Donald). FUMBLES (A.Donald), recovered by DAL-Ty.Smith at DAL 39. Penalty on DAL-Ty.Smith, Offensive Holding, declined.
This is interesting in that the two sacks where Donald beats Smith both had one thing in common — Pollard in the game and therefore, no real help for Smith. On this play, the Rams really overloaded the offensive left. That means Ernest Jones (53) is in the A-gap, Bobby Wagner (45) is in the B-gap and Donald (99) is out wide of Smith (73) with nothing to work with but space. What is most interesting is that left guard Connor McGovern (66) is ready to deal with Wagner, but he never rushes. Pollard then inserts on Jones and actually gets his job done pretty well at first. Jones is bigger and stronger, but Pollard gives it all he has. Smith, meanwhile, is trying to get his drop against Donald, but Donald is so wide that Smith tries to push him past Rush. The problem with that is Donald is so quick and strong that Smith cannot beat him to the top of his drop. Smith tries to hold him and it doesn’t matter. Donald rips through it and assaults Rush, knocking the ball out. To Smith’s great credit, he beats Jones to the fumble and saves the possession. Huge recovery in the banana stand.
Second quarter – 8:10 – first-and-10 – DAL 43 – T.Pollard right tackle for 57 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is outside zone right in 12 personnel. Great work from the offensive line and Pollard as well. Let’s look at it with some frames.
Above, you can see the double from Tyler Biadasz (63) and Zack Martin (70) with frontside Terence Steele (78) and Jake Ferguson (87) with their guys turned outside. Martin will want to move to the linebacker and then Pollard looks for his seam to cut back or continue to the edge of the front side on the right. Meanwhile, on the back side, McGovern has Donald (sort of) and Smith and Peyton Hendershot (89) both have their spots.
Pollard sees color on the front side, so he knows he has to cut back. He gets wide (hip of the tackle) and then gets north. He is going to have to choose which side of Biadasz here, depending on what looks good as he hits the hole with a sprint.
Pollard’s explosion is key, but this was blocked very well. McGovern fought his tail off to keep Donald from killing it. Donald had one arm out and Pollard ran through it. Then, strong safety Terrell Burgess (26) has Pollard in the hole and Pollard runs right out of his grasp. From there, he heads right to free safety Nick Scott (33) and does it again.
From here, you can see a convoy ahead with Hendershot and Simi Fehoko (81) and Pollard does the rest. Huge play and another banana stand special.
Second quarter – 5:02 – second-and-16 – DAL 29 – C.Rush sacked at DAL 20 for -9 yards (A.Donald).
This is not a replay — but, it sort of is. Pollard is in the backfield, but this time Hendershot is next to Smith. But, the tight end is just running a vertical and not chipping Donald at all. In fact, we could argue that he is the intended target if this gets protected. Of course, it doesn’t. This looks like the exact same rep as the first one, right? Greg Gaines (91) and Jones (53) are both in the A-gaps, Wagner (45) over McGovern, and Donald (99) wide over Smith. Pollard is in the back which should tell us that Biadasz is going to turn right so that the three-by-three protection is set. The Rams must be over the moon here to see Dallas playing the exact same protection scheme and the they call the exact same rush. Wagner never rushes, but occupied McGovern, Pollard has to try to deal with Jones, and Donald gets out wide on Smith and tries to beat him to the spot. This is not a complete instant replay. Pollard does much better this time, but Smith still loses the race to the spot and once you lose on Donald, you cannot recover. Smith does not hold this time, but he gets beat cleanly and Donald blindsides Rush. Just a clinic and a welcome to the NFL banana stand moment for the Cowboys first-rounder.
Third quarter – 13:10 – first-and-10 – DAL 37 – C.Rush sacked at DAL 29 for -8 yards (J.Ramsey). FUMBLES (J.Ramsey) [J.Ramsey], and recovers at DAL 29.
I will speculate on this one. It is first-and-10 and we have talked a lot about the fact that Dallas has been killing teams on first-down passing when it crosses up defenses that are sitting on the run. Motion from CeeDee Lamb (88) should tell us that the Rams are in zone, but they are also being deceptive with their intentions because Lamb in motion activates a Ramsey (5) blitz off the slot and the rest of the secondary will switch to man behind it. I think Pollard has to have the outside threat here, but he doesn’t seem to see it as he is helping McGovern and Smith with the switch inside. I do want to leave open the possibility that Smith is supposed to adjust to anything on his edge if the rush goes inside. This one may be Pollard or Smith, depending on the call, which I admit to not fully knowing. Meanwhile, Ramsey crushes Rush from behind and the ball comes loose. It seems teams are looking to test Pollard at every opportunity.
Third quarter – 11:48 – third-and-16 – DAL 31 – C.Rush pass deep right to M.Gallup ran ob at LA 42 for 27 yards.
Finally, Rush made a big-time throw in a big-time spot Sunday and it was this one. Two snaps after Ramsey belted him hard, he regrouped and found a deep back-shoulder fade to Gallup and converted a shocking third-and-16. At this point of the game with the score what it was, I expected a draw play to set up a punt. Instead, the Cowboys trust Rush to make smart and safe throws and go try to convert a third and really long if the situation allows. It did and Gallup made a nice play on the ball. Rush is not a passenger. He takes care of the ball and gets it where it needs to go at times. This was a great big moment Sunday.