The Dallas Cowboys question we can't stop thinking about ahead of Week 1 matchup vs Browns
Last year, there was a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde to the Dallas Cowboys offense, which makes me keep thinking about this question: What will the 2024 version of it actually look like? For starters, some context. To begin the 2023 season, the Cowboys' plan was clear: They wanted to run the ball and "control the […]
Last year, there was a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde to the Dallas Cowboys offense, which makes me keep thinking about this question: What will the 2024 version of it actually look like?
For starters, some context.
To begin the 2023 season, the Cowboys' plan was clear: They wanted to run the ball and "control the ball" in the passing game with short, quick-hitting throws. Dak Prescott rarely pushed the ball downfield and the so-called Texas Coast offense amounted to nothing particularly creative. For the most part, it worked, as the Cowboys cruised past the first handful of weeks to a comfortable 3-1 start, with their wins being blowouts and the one loss being a letdown on the road while the team missed multiple starters in the offensive line.
Then came the San Francisco 49ers, who held them to 10 points in a dominant performance, rendering the Cowboys offense useless in the bay. A week later, Prescott had to get creative and it wasn't until he started moving out of the pocket and force-feeding CeeDee Lamb that something clicked. The Cowboys offense was never the same after the bye week.
McCarthy pivoted from a conservative approach to a pass-happy unit that wanted to sling the football around. Prior to the bye, the Cowboys had the 12th highest pass rate in early downs in neutral situations, a metric often used to measure how aggressive a play-caller is via RBSDM. After the bye, they shot up all the way to 4th in the league. And boy, oh boy, did it work.
The Cowboys, who were terrible running the football in such situations (32nd in EPA/play pre-bye, 28th post-bye), led the sixth best passing offense in EPA/play when throwing the ball in early downs in neutral situations as Prescott and Lamb played their way into All-Pro honors and a spot on MVP and OPOY voting, respectively.
The Cowboys had a top 5 offense in points per game, third down conversion rate, EPA/play, success rate, and more. Brandin Cooks started putting up some numbers after a slow start, Jake Ferguson's rise commenced, and the team went on a roll that made them look like legit Super Bowl contenders.
As we approach 2024, one of the biggest questions on my mind is what will Mike McCarthy lean on when the season kicks off? Will he try to go back to what he originally envisioned the 2023 offense looking like? Or will he opt for what worked so well during the 2024 season?
If you ask me, this team better start slinging the football around right from the get go. If this team is to get far, their best bet is the passing game that Prescott and Lamb led last year.
Now granted, they've got to be better running the ball. But they've got to consider the passing game their true calling card to be the best version of themselves.
