Kellen Moore is not the Dallas Cowboys problem
Starting the season with a 1-2 record is never ideal, especially when the only win requires an onside kick attempt. So it's easy to understand why Dallas Cowboys' fans are frustrated through three weeks of the 2020 season. It's gotten to the point where you start looking for something to blame. Even if it isn't […]
Starting the season with a 1-2 record is never ideal, especially when the only win requires an onside kick attempt. So it's easy to understand why Dallas Cowboys' fans are frustrated through three weeks of the 2020 season. It's gotten to the point where you start looking for something to blame. Even if it isn't the true reason the Cowboys are losing.
Some have not hesitated to put their finger on Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore as one of the main reasons the Cowboys have lost two out of their first three games. To that I say, not so fast.
Moore arrived in the 2020 season with very high expectations after leading the 2019 Cowboys to be one of the most efficient offenses in the league. Said expectations were reinforced when Head Coach Mike McCarthy confirmed that Moore would keep the play-calling duties even though he said he wouldn't hand off play-calling duties ever again.
After enduring years of conservative game-planning from Jason Garrett's coaching staff, what most Cowboys fans wanted out of Moore's was more aggressiveness.
So far, that's what we've seen. After years of betting on the run game on early downs, the Dallas Cowboys have let Dak Prescott cook. In fact, The Athletic has been using a "Cook Index" to measure NFL teams' aggressiveness.
According to The Athletic:
"The Cook Index measures how frequently teams pass on early downs in the first 28 minutes of games, before time remaining and score differential influence play calling. Teams that lean toward the pass are letting their quarterbacks cook."
Through the first three weeks of the season, the Dallas Cowboys rank first in this category with a pass frequency of 60% in early downs during the first 28 minutes of games. The Cowboys are also in the top 10 in early downs pass frequency throughout the entire game.
The reason why teams should be leaning toward aggressive plays in early downs is to avoid facing too many third downs. Sounds obvious, but plenty of teams are still making the wrong decisions in 2020.
Fortunately, analytics expert Ben Baldwin has some graphs to make us feel good about how aggressive the Cowboys have been. They've made a particularly good job on second and long.
One of the main complaints from fans in Week 3 revolved around screen passes.
Kellen Moore called some questionable screen passes despite Ezekiel Elliott's struggles as a pass-catcher. But even though I wasn't a fan of calling screens late in the game, it's hard to hate it. After all, the Seahawks were making sure to play deep and the Cowboys were aiming to get what they could before taking a shot downfield.
So really, what is there not to like from Kellen Moore's play-calling?
The Dallas Cowboys were playing with an offensive line that featured Brandon Knight and Terrence Steele to open the game. Later, they played with Zack Martin at right tackle while Joe Looney took over the guard position. Fourth-round rookie Tyler Biadasz debuted at center. In other words, the offensive line was a mess.
And still, they managed to go toe-to-toe with an offense featuring the runaway MVP, Russell Wilson. All of this while the defense had no answers as they allowed five passing touchdowns in Seattle.
This Cowboys team has a lot to clean up before being considered legit Super Bowl contenders, but make no mistake about it, OC Kellen Moore is not the problem.
Featured Image via Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
