Dallas Cowboys: The monumental impact of the coaching staff

Instead of focusing on all things Dak, let’s shift our attention to the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff

Over the next day or so, almost all of the conversation surrounding the Dallas Cowboys will be about Dak Prescott and the contract negotiations. Whether they get done, don’t get done, all of the details will be spoken about ad nauseam. Instead, what we do know is Dak will be the quarterback for 2020, regardless of a new contract or just the franchise tag. Let’s talk something else.

One of the biggest problems of the last 10 years with the Dallas Cowboys has been the coaching, and not the quarterback play. Sure, there were the Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel times, but the Cowboys have been lucky to have Tony Romo and then Dak Prescott, most teams struggle to get one starting quality quarterback, much less two, in over a decade.

What really needs to be talked about is how bad the defenses, special teams, and play-calling have been and why changes could be a huge boost to the team as a whole. We have talked about Mike McCarthy and his potential impact to the team, but not enough people have realized how large of an issue these things have been.

(All rankings below are from Football Outsiders, they use a more analytical approach)

Let’s start with special teams, as an example. In the last ten years the Cowboys have ranked in the top 10 in special teams only three times. For some perspective the Chiefs have been in the top 10, seven straight years. Last season was one of the worst years in the last ten, the Cowboys were not consistent at all.

So, what about defense? Well here the Cowboys were more consistent, except in the wrong ways. Only once were the Cowboys in the top 10 in defense in the last ten years, and really, only once in the top 12. Another under-performing unit for a team that has been pretty solid on offense, or have they?

Looking at offense the last four years have been really good. Three of the four years the Cowboys were a top ten team on offense. Prior to 2016, the Cowboys were only a top 10 team once, but did tend to hang around the top 12. A better performance than the other two phases of football.