WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY: Cowboys Nuggets
Welcome to WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY, where you can feast on a few nuggets of information as the Cowboys continue to enjoy their 2-0 start while also getting ready for the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Az. Here are some strong idioms (1,700+ words worth) on the red zone struggles, health of the offensive line, Brandon Aubrey and more. Let’s get to it.
WHAT’S UP WITH RED ZONE OFFENSE?
The Cowboys lead the league in points scored after two weeks of play with 70, but it could be a lot more.
The Cowboys 50-percent success rate scoring touchdowns when possessing the ball inside their opponents 20-yard line is only good enough to be tied for 21st in the NFL. Not good enough for sustained effect.
While it has come against the Giants and the Jets, who boast a couple of the best defenders in the NFL in Quinnen Williams and John Franklin-Myers, it is still not good enough to get where the Cowboys want to be at the end of the season, playing for a title.
“Their front will be one of the best fronts we play all year, and I think that goes without saying,” McCarthy said. “But, to go the long way against that defense is difficult. So, you have to give our players a tremendous amount of credit.”
The culprit so far has been the passing game. Of the six field goals that have come from being stopped inside the 20, four of them ended because of missed connections in the short passing game. Another came on a completed pass short of the line to gain, and the last on a stuffed inside run.
Inside the opponents 20, Prescott has completed just 10 of 18 passes for 39 yards, two touchdowns and a sack. He has also rushed twice for 21 yards.
Their ranking puts them behind all three NFC East foes – Philadelphia (66.67%), Washington (62.5%) and the Giants (57.14%). Good thing there is still a long way to go.
Prescott is near the bottom, 27th and just behind Deshaun Watson, in yards per attempt in the red zone, and 17th in completion percentage in the RZ, right behind this week’s opponent – Arizona’s Joshua Dobbs.
“When you are in that mode, you gotta really be comfortable converting those third downs. The plays that we struggled on, well first and second down wasn’t as productive down there tight red as it was the whole (red zone).
Is it something to worry about? Is it nitpicking since they have outscored their two opponents by 60? Is it just the growing pains of a new offense and a new play caller? Was it they were just facing two really good defenses? All certainly possible.
The next few weeks, where they face Arizona, New England and San Francisco, should give us the answer.
“You have to put the ball in the end zone,” McCarthy said. “I think we had the ball 20 minutes in the first half and the Jets are one play away from leading at halftime, potentially. That’s the beauty of this game.”
WHAT’S UP WITH HEALTH OF THE OL?
While being one of the best offensive lines in the league when intact – left tackle Tyron Smith, left guard Tyler Smith, center Tyler Biadsz, right guard Zack Martin and right tackle Terrence Steele, the Cowboys continue to walk the tightrope on health.
The key backups – Matt Waletzko and Josh Ball, are on injured reserve, so the guys they rolled into the season with are a six-year veteran, a rookie fifth-round draft pick and a rookie undrafted free agent – Chuma Edoga, Asim Richards and T.J. Bass.
They are just one tight hamstring away or rolled ankle from being called upon.
It didn’t take long for that scenario to play out.
Tyler Smith’s hamstring tightened up in the week leading up to the season opener, and he was ruled out against the Giants. In stepped Edoga to start the opener. An eye poke sent Edoga to the bench for a few plays, and that gave Richards and Bass their first action in the NFL.
Edoga started again in Week 2, but a more serious injury ended his day midway through the game, and Bass got the call to pick up the reins. He did so without missing a beat.
“I thought he did good,” McCarthy said about Bass. “What an experience, huh? Hey, welcome to the NFL. But, uh, I thought he did a nice job both at the left guard and right guard.”
Martin rolled an ankle, missing five plays, which allowed Richards to get more work.
The two rookies have held their own, playing a combined 65 snaps and giving up no sacks and committing no penalties.
“I thought both our young guys (did good),” McCarthy said. “What an experience for them. Just great, great experience.”
As a unit this season, they have been called for just three penalties – two Terrence Steele false starts, one in the third quarter against the Giants and the other in the fourth quarter against the Jets; and a Tyron Smith holding call in the fourth quarter against the Jets. They have given up just one sack, and it came late in the second quarter at the Jets 13 with the Cowboys leading 10-7 and driving for their second TD of the game. And Biadsz saved a turnover 20 yards past the line of scrimmage because of pure hustle.
So, the only questions about the offensive line going into Week 3 revolve around injuries. How healthy are Martin, Edoga and Tyler Smith?
“I don’t see Zack practicing … but he will definitely have an opportunity to play Sunday,” McCarthy said. “Same thing with Chuma.”
No word on Smith though.
But despite the injury bug that has nipped at the team early in the season, they are playing at a high level.
They might not be the NFL’s best, but there are few playing better as a group.
They just need to get healthy and stay that way. Easier said than achieved.
WHAT’S UP WITH MR. ALMOST AUTOMATIC?
Hello Brandon Aubrey, and welcome to the NFL.
A kicker, who might have been the leader in the clubhouse throughout a training camp battle with Tristan Vizcaino, has had plenty of opportunities to blow it.
But after that first extra point shank to start his career, he has hit 13 kicks in a row.
His 55-yard field goal would have been good from 65. All 16 of his kickoffs have landed in the end zone for a touchback.
I would say Aubrey has been everything the Cowboys could have hoped for.
“The secret weapon,” McCarthy said. “We are just now letting it out of the bag. No, he’s earned every one of these opportunities. We just got a late start working together. When you watch him, you can clearly see why we made the decision we did.”
Kicking is no longer a problem for this team.
Well, until it is, but we won’t think about that at this point.
Aubrey’s the guy and he looks like he will only get better as he gets more time on the field of play.
WHAT’S UP WITH THE OVERLOOKED PLAY OF NO. 7?
All anybody could do the last two seasons when mentioning the Cowboys pass defense was talk about the play of Trevon Diggs.
Now, here we are two weeks into year three and not much has been said. Probably because not much needs to be said. The Cowboys have only given up 10 points in two games. The only touchdown coming on a 68-yard Zach Wilson to Garrett Wilson strike that simply beat the Cowboys man coverage. However, on the play Diggs had his man locked down in coverage on a 17-yard post from the other side of the formation.
He has been, through two games, the lockdown corner the Cowboys believed he was all along.
In two games and 101 snaps, he has been thrown at only a handful of times and given up just two short completions, both coming against the Giants.
Against the Jets, he was targeted five times for no catches, snagged his first pick of the season, forced two incompletions and a 0.0 passer rating allowed.
Diggs is tied for third in the NFL, and for the team lead, in passes defensed with three. He also has one interception and one forced fumble.
Dude is on fire and there are still 15 games to play in the regular season.
WHAT’S UP WITH POLLARD’S WORKLOAD?
Lots of questions out there during the offseason about whether, or not, Tony Pollard could handle a big workload.
First big test – passed.
After touching the ball just 16 times (14 carries) in 37 snaps to start the season against the Giants, the Cowboys put their newly minted RB1 to work in the home opener.
Pollard carried the rock a career-high 25 times and pulled down another career-high 7 receptions in 56 snaps.
“He has always showed incredible endurance,” McCarthy said about Pollard and the workload. “He has fought through injury, so I feel like he is definitely built for it.
“I think some of the most impressive things he did (Sunday) was in protection. He had a couple chips that were excellent. So, he is doing all the little things we ask of him. But, as far as touching the football, we were trying to get him on the perimeter a couple times there in the fourth quarter, but the execution wasn’t quite there. But when he gets in the second level, he is so dangerous.
That’s a workhorse in anybody’s book.
The last time Ezekiel Elliott rushed at least 25 times in a game, came in the 2019 season when he had 28 totes in a 24-22 loss to the Jets.
WHAT’S UP WITH THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT?
The Cowboys will be facing a second straight backup quarterback in Joshua Dobbs when they head to Arizona to take on the Cardinals on Sunday.
But the Cowboys are all too familiar with Dobbs and what he can do.
Before landing in Arizona this past offseason, Dobbs was in Tennessee last season just long enough to make the first start of his career when he got the call in Week 17 against Dallas. He threw for 232 yards on 20 of 39 passing, with one interception, by Nahshon Wright, and one touchdown in the loss.
On that day in December last season, the Titans offense was seven for 16 on third downs, and Dobbs was responsible for all of them – six pass completions (three of the deep variety) and one on the ground in a called quarterback run.
While Dobbs is no Kyler Murray, who will be out at least another two weeks working his way back from last year’s ACL injury, he is probably better than a lot of the backups in the NFL.
His backup is rookie fifth-round draft pick Clayton Tune, from the University of Houston and Hebron High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.