The Dallas Cowboys finished the 2021 season with a 12-5 record and an NFC East championship. Unfortunately, the season was marred by an offensive collapse following the victory against Minnesota. Injuries, coaching issues and positional inconsistencies were just a few of many reasons why.

After a frustrating off-season and intense draft process, the Cowboys are ready to bring their 90 players to training camp.

There will be new starters on all three phases of the game, and coaches on hot seats. Does this equate to continued success?

There hasn't been a repeat NFC East champion since 2004, and the Cowboys haven't made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since 2007.

A desire for change starts at the top and works its way down. Despite plenty of success from 2021, there's many lessons this year's team needs to learn from if they want to do get better.

Utilize both running backs

Even though last year was the first 17-game NFL season, Ezekiel Elliott had his lowest number of carries (237) in his career. In turn, it gave Tony Pollard a career high (130). This gap needs to continue to tighten.

The Dallas Cowboys offense moves down the field at a better pace with balance. When the running game is on, the entire offense is on. The combination of Elliott and Pollard runs an average yards per carry of 4.7, which would be the sixth-best rushing offense in the NFL.

Dallas wins every game when each running back gets 10+ carries. Both players are coming off injuries, but still have plenty of juice on the field, together. Allowing Elliott to remain on the field as a lead back, while also playing in pass protection and as receiver out of the backfield, gives Pollard an expanded role of being a flexible player in and out of the backfield and running plays on the outside.

Closing the gap between the two, each getting between 150-200 rushes, can give the team balance and lessen the hits they will take. There's a possibility one or both could be gone next off-season, but they're still effective when properly used.

Learn to adapt

Aside from head coach Mike McCarthy, the next coach with the hottest seat is likely offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. The offensive start to the season, compared to the second half were night and day.

From Week 1-8, the Cowboys offense lead the league with +11.1 average points above expectation. Weeks 9-18 took sharp turn with +6.03 a.p.a.e., ranking among the middle of the league. Despite this, the offense finished number one in offensive efficiency.

The issues began in Week 9 versus the Denver Broncos. Teams had been blitzing QB Dak Prescott at a heavy rate, but numbers show Prescott thrives when pressured. Instead, the defense played heavy coverage, only blitzing three to four players the majority of the game. Moore had no adjustments.

As the season went along, more teams followed the Broncos' method and the offense never showed signs, outside of the NFC East, that they could overcome the way teams defended them.

Moore has had all off-season to go over 2021 and adapt his scheme. The Cowboys can't afford to go into 2022 with a vanilla offense and an inability to adapt. Otherwise, there will be a number of vacant coaching jobs in north Texas.

Be involved in the trade market

In recent years, the Cowboys have only peeked into the trade market by the yearly deadline. Amari Cooper being the obvious standout. The trade helped Dak to evolve as a passer, open the offense and bring Cooper back into the realm of the elite WRs.

Year after year since then, the Cowboys have seen players like Odell Beckham Jr, Von Miller or Laurent Duvernay-Tardif get moved to other teams and have an immediate impact where they were sent.

Instead, the Cowboys in recent years have been used more as a spin team. A team that is tied to players with interest from the organization, to increase the player's interests on the market.

The Cowboys have loved their guys to the point that it's a detriment to any potential success. If the team continues to ignore valuable veterans, it will be another year of rinse and repeat.

This year the Dallas Cowboys have until November 3rd to continue to team build. If there's a player available that fixes a major hole and is obtainable, they need to do more than "look into it" or "show interest".

Prioritize winning over viewership

Despite the lack of consistent on the field success, the Cowboys front office has boasted their off-field accomplishments.

From having the most valuable franchise in sports, to having the highest attendance in the middle of the pandemic (?), most success of the team stems from the business angle. When the team, itself, hasn't handled their business on the field.

The franchise continues to display the Cowboys as America's Team, when the only thing of note is achieves is high yearly viewership ratings. Even taking it to the point of ridiculous with Stephen A Smith being part of the schedule release video.

Jerry Jones has said that the four pillars of running the Dallas Cowboys are tradition, competition, business, and entertainment. If the Stephen and company care about the Tradition of the Business, they need to start prioritizing Competition over Entertainment.

Cut bait with players holding the team back

The harsh reality every team deals with is moving on from key players who've become liabilities.

Dallas' first inclination that they're starting to realize this was the release of Jaylon Smith. No longer the defensive threat he had become, was instead a liability in Dan Quinn's defense, and was let go after four games. This allowed bigger roles for Micah Parsosn, Jayron Kearse and a rotation of Keanu Neal and Leighton Vander Esch.

Even though the Cowboys seemingly have learned this lesson, after releasing Greg Zuerlein this offseason, it came too little too late. Zuerlein finished 2021 completing under 90% on both field goals and extra points. Missing 12 kicks beyond 30 yards.

The Cowboys also felt it necessary to move on from WR Amari Cooper and RT La'el Collins, subjectively. All in the name of cap relief. Don't be surprised if next off-season we see even more big names gone in March 2023.

Getting rid of Smith was the right move at the time as it helped the defense in addition by subtraction. It's likely they'll be in the same situation this season and will need to make these decisions. Whether it's through trades or outright release, the Cowboys can't afford to let players hold them back in a season so wide-open in the NFC.

Clock management

Whether it's the first or last game of the season, Mike McCarthy's biggest criticism from 2021 was been how he has mismanaged the clock. Not using timeouts, allowing opposing team's too much time to play with, or setting up final plays, it was often hard to look at.

Here's how the #49ers–#Cowboys game ended: Per NFL rules, Dak can't spot the ball on his own and snap it. Ball must be spotted by the ref. By the time that happened, clock reached triple zeroes. pic.twitter.com/NY9H7IHmsD

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 17, 2022

The harsh truth is the best way to learn lessons is to make them. That's the good news. Dallas had a number of clock management snafu's in 2021, to the point that it should be seared into the minds of the coaches and players.

Clock management is something the head coach is a key component of. Recognizing how much time is left, timeouts available, etc. Moore needs to call better plays, Prescott needs to execute them, but it starts with the head coach.

Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports