Brian Schottenheimer did his best to hide an obvious weakness during the Dallas Cowboys’ first win of the season
The Dallas Cowboys are far from a finished product but the film reveals encouraging details about offense that should allow Dak Prescott & Co. to keep winning.
As Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer indicated postgame and again Monday, the team has a lot to clean up following its first win of the season.
However, there’s also a lot to like, especially on offense. Below are the two biggest things that stood out from the unit Schottenheimer calls after reviewing the All-22 film.
Schottenheimer did his best to hide it, but Cowboys’ pass protection is a weakness
The first thing I noticed from the film is how often the Cowboys manufactured big plays through the help of max protect looks. Dak Prescott’s big pass to George Pickens in overtime is a perfect example. The offense lined up in a 12 personnel look (two tight ends) with both blocking before releasing on checkdown routes.
That, in addition to the running back and offensive line, gives Prescott an eight-man protection to give him enough time to allow CeeDee Lamb’s and Pickens’ deep routes to develop. The Cowboys call a single-high safety beater where both receivers get vertical 15 yards deep before breaking inside. Even with a max protect call, Prescott is pressured, but he gets just enough time to find his man.
Schottenheimer and Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams should be applauded for finding answers in pass protection, but it’s clear the staff doesn’t trust its O-line to keep the pocket clean. And they shouldn’t. Dallas ranks 32nd in the NFL in PFF pass blocking grade.
George Pickens’ ability to win isolated is huge for Cowboys’ offense
Sunday’s win was Pickens’ first big performance as a Cowboy, but it was much more than that: It was proof that the offense has something it had lacked in previous years. Dallas now has a man who can win isolated on the opposite side of Lamb. So far, it’s clear defenses prioritize double coverage on Lamb, but it’s equally clear that winning versus Pickens one-on-one is no easy task.
Even more challenging is doubling two receivers without compromising run support or other areas of coverage. It’s a Jimmy’s and Joe’s game, and the Cowboys have a pretty good Jimmy and an even better Joe at wide receiver.
Pickens won in isolated situations more than once in crunch time. Once, to keep a fourth-quarter go-ahead drive alive with a slant route on third and five. Later, with a quick out in the end zone in which the Cowboys set the strength of the formation to the opposite side, leaving Pickens one-on-one with a cornerback who stood no chance (the play is drawn in my X post below, the second to last diagram). Winning “iso ball” situations takes Dallas’ passing offense to another level.
The Cowboys are far from a finished product, but the film reveals encouraging details about the offense that should allow Dak Prescott & Co. to keep finding ways to win games.
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