Cowboys' best player from Sunday's loss proves how flawed coaching staff's process was all along
It's difficult to find a silver lining for an NFL team with a 3-5 record and a tough schedule ahead, but if there was a big positive for the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, it's gotta be running back Rico Dowdle.Week 9 marked the first time the Cowboys treated him […]
It's difficult to find a silver lining for an NFL team with a 3-5 record and a tough schedule ahead, but if there was a big positive for the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, it's gotta be running back Rico Dowdle.
Week 9 marked the first time the Cowboys treated him like a true RB1. With Ezekiel Elliott out due to disciplinary reasons, Dowdle got 12 carries, while the rest of the team's running backs combined for three. In those 12 carries, Dowdle got 75 yards, averaging 6.3 yards per attempt.
On top of it all, Dowdle added five catches for 32 yards and a touchdown, which happened on a wild play in the first half in which Dak Prescott scrambled around the pocket before finding his man in the end zone.
For fans calling for Dowdle to be treated as the team's true starter at running back, it was a truly refreshing sight. It's also likely to have a major impact on the roster moving forward, as it's impossible to imagine the Cowboys going back to their committee approach after such a statement game from the young back.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, whose seat is getting increasingly warmer as the season goes on, told the media last week that going with a "running back by committee" was never his preferred shot. Dowdle's performance combined with the lack of production of Elliott, Dalvin Cook, and others, suggests that he'll be getting most of the attempts moving forward.
It also serves as confirmation of what we already knew: The Cowboys staff truly mismanaged the running back position leading up to this game. Dowdle was clearly the best running back on the team and it feels like we knew that back in the offseason. Yet, the Cowboys treated Elliott like the true starter, prioritizing him in the rotation and even resting him in the preseason. Following Dowdle's big game in Pittsburgh, one week later, Elliott was being fed over Dowdle in the first quarter against the Detroit Lions. It should've been Dowdle all along and it's wild that it took them until Week 9 (and Elliott missing multiple team meetings) to start acting like such.
"Coming in we thought we'd be able to run the ball," Dowdle told reporters postgame. "Those (offensive linemen) did a great job creating space up there."
Despite his individual success and likely his secured promotion to clear-cut RB1, Dowdle is very conscious of the situation the Cowboys finds themselves in: At 3-5, the simple truth is that the team urgently needs answers.
"We've got to keep fighting," Dowdle candidly said. "It's a tough situation we're in right now, 3-5, obviously this is not the spot we want to be at at this point of the season, but it is what it is right now, we just have to learn from it and continue to keep fighting and go out there to try to find a way to put it together and get some wins."
