Concern Rising for Cowboys O-Line
The Cowboys have a serious problem with their offensive line.
Head coach Mike McCarthy has just five weeks, against some of the NFL’s best teams, to get it figured out if they want to win the NFC East and make a real run in the postseason.
Despite rolling out a unit that, on paper, looks like one of the best in the NFL – with left tackle Tyron Smith, left guard Tyler Smith, center Tyler Biadasz, right guard Zack Martin and right tackle Terence Steele, they aren’t playing like a unit worthy of the high praise it continually gets showered with.
There are really three problem areas, all important to sustained offensive success – running the football, protecting the quarterback and minimizing penalties.
Starting with the running game, it just doesn’t pass the eye test.
The Cowboys continue to struggle to run the football when they want to, and more importantly, when they need to.
Over the last five games, the running backs are averaging 4.41 yards per carry, which looks like a good number. But it is skewed by all the yards they have gained in the final minutes of blowout wins over the Rams, Giants, Panthers and Commanders.
Tony Pollard, who has averaged 4.5 yards per carry over the last six games, has a 39.3 Elusive Rating – a Pro Football Focus stat that measures success and impact of a runner with the ball independently of the blocking, which is 25th among running backs in the NFL with at least 100 carries. Probably more proof that he is not the long-term answer as the starting running back, but that is something that will be determined in the offseason.
Rico Dowdle has been just a tick better at times, but he has also struggled to find running lanes behind this offensive line. As the Cowboys change-of-pace back, he is averaging just 3.9 yards per carry over the same six-game stretch.
The Cowboys have had negative, 0-yard, 1-yard or 2-yard runs on 55 of 159 carries since the bye, which includes 20 runs of zero yards or less.
The 34.5-percent of runs less than two yards has been a healthy split in all six games – 11 of the 34 carries against Seattle, seven of 18 runs against Washington, eight of 27 totes in Carolina, 13 of 33 carries against the New York Giants, eight of 21 runs in Philadelphia and eight of 26 runs against the Los Angeles Rams.
If the offensive line isn’t struggling to open holes in the running game, they are finding it hard at times to stop their opponents pass rush.
The Cowboys have allowed 12 sacks – three to the Rams, five to Philadelphia and four to Seattle, and if not for the size of quarterback Dak Prescott they would have given up several more over this stretch. He has taken 37 hits, been hurried 35 times and has been able to scramble away on five different occasions for positive yards.
Not the kind of numbers you want to see from a top-notch offensive line.
And then there are the penalties.
Coming out of the win over the Seahawks, in the six games since the bye week the offensive line has been flagged 24 times, with 18 of those penalties accepted.
Tyler Smith leads the way with 11 flags – seven holds, two false starts, one unnecessary roughness and one ineligible man down field, with eight of those penalties being accepted.
Steele has been penalized six times on seven flags (four false starts, two holding, one illegal hands to the face), while Tyron Smith has been flagged twice for holding, Martin twice (one holding, one false start) and Biadasz just one for holding.
All of this adds up to an offensive line that continues to make it harder to get things done offensively.
And while it hasn’t hurt them, after escaping with a win over a now 6-6 Seattle team, the Cowboys are entering a 4-game stretch where they will have to be at their best in all phases to earn victories.
McCarthy, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and offensive line coach Mike Solari now have 10 days to diagnose the underlying problem and find an immediate fix.
If they can’t, it could make for a really tough race to the regular season finish line.