State of the Star: Breaking down important stats during the bye week
As we enter the bye week for the Dallas Cowboys, they currently have a 4-2 record and sit in second place in the NFC East. Their two blemishes are composed of a surprising loss to the Arizona Cardinals and a humiliating loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Coming off the bye, Dallas Cowboys have the […]
As we enter the bye week for the Dallas Cowboys, they currently have a 4-2 record and sit in second place in the NFC East.
Their two blemishes are composed of a surprising loss to the Arizona Cardinals and a humiliating loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Coming off the bye, Dallas Cowboys have the Los Angeles Rams and then the Philadelphia Eagles. So, there is an argument that that bye comes at an opportune time; one where they can get ready for the division leaders.
With it being the bye week, now is a good time to look back at the season so far. Look and see how the Cowboys stack up against the league in all facets.
Let's start with the offense.
For the rushing game, the Cowboys' most common run concepts are zone runs. Inside zone is 24.2% of the time, and outside zone is ran 17.0% of the time. What's more surprising is how little power is run, only having 16 plays of power (9.7%).
Tyler Smith has been the best run blocker according to PFF, having a grade of 91.6. Zack Martin is the second with a grade of 75.2, and Jake Ferguson is third with a grade of 68.3.
In pass blocking, Asim Richards holds the crown of the best grade, but he also only has 7 snaps; his grade is 83.8. The person with the highest grade, who has played meaningful snaps is Tyron Smith, who has a grade of 80.5. The next highest (with more than 100 snaps) is Tyler Smith with a grade of 73.3, followed by Zack Martin with a grade of 68.2.
Terrence Steele has been the most volatile offensive lineman allowing 2 sacks, 6 QB hits, 10 hurries, 18 pressures, and he was beaten by his defender 14 times; all team highs.
The Cowboys predominately use 2 personnel groupings, 11 personnel (54.9%), and 12 personnel (15.8%).
If you didn't like the passing plan last year, you shouldn't like it again as hitch routes are the primary passing route. The Cowboys have attempted hitch routes 29 times this year. Their next most attempted route is slant routes, attempting them 21 times.
Then of course there is the motion usage.
One thing about their offense that is quite surprising is their RPO usage. They only have 36 RPO plays on the year, coming in at 27th in the NFL.
They have only had 17 explosive run plays (run over 10 yards), which is good for 21st in the NFL. While they have had 34 explosive pass plays (passes over 15 yards), 8th in the NFL.
On defense, things look a lot better.
The Cowboys have only allowed 12 explosive run plays (7th lowest in the NFL) and they have allowed 30 explosive passing plays (16th lowest in the NFL).
They have 12 takeaways (4th highest in the NFL), as well as doing phenomenal at affecting the QB. 20 sacks (6th in the NFL), 23 QB hits (14th in the NFL), and 118 hurries (1st in the NFL).
They do not like to disguise coverage on the back end, ranking ninth in the NFL with 312 reps where the middle of the field stayed the same pre-nap to pot-snap.
The Cowboys primarily operate out of two coverages, cover 3 (137 reps), and cover 1 (120 reps).
Stephon Gilmore has been the most targeted player in coverage, being targeted 35 times. He has only allowed a 42.9 completion percentage and has 6 forced incompletions. DaRon Bland continues to excel, being targeted 32 times, allowing a 46.9 completion percentage, and having 7 forced incompletions.
Their best pass rusher has unsurprisingly been Micah Parsons, but the emergence of Osa Odighizuwa has been a nice surprise. Osa has an 18.2% pass rush win percentage, 3 sacks, 3 hits, and 15 hurries.
Their best-run defender is another unsurprising name in Demarcus Lawrence. Lawrence has 6 tackles for loss/no gain, 9 solo stops (which is a tackle that leads to an offensive failure), and he has missed 0 tackles.
We'll see what the team does to improve its deficiencies and what it does to expound upon its strengths when they return to action.
