Dallas Cowboys must embrace inevitable shootout with Seattle Seahawks
By Reid Hanson
When the writing is on the wall, like it is for the Dallas Cowboys, you might as well embrace it.
We’re only two weeks into the NFL season, and with the second most yards in the league, it’s become pretty darn clear the Dallas Cowboys are an offensive team (I mean that in both senses of the word). Simply put, their defense is everything we feared and their offense is everything we hoped for.
Similarly, the Seattle Seahawks are just 1 of 7 teams in the NFL averaging over 400 yards/game. With MVP candidate Russell Wilson and his arsenal of DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Chris Carson and Greg Olsen, they have yet to post under 30 points in a game.
The 2020 Dallas Cowboys defense, comically called at one point, Doomsday 2.0, have not seen their investment in pass-rushers pay off this season. They are abysmal at every level and there’s very little reason to believe any of that is going to change anytime soon. Seattle’s arguably in worse shape on the defensive side of the ball. They’ve already given up 970 yards on the season (last in the NFL), putting those “Legion of Boom” days long behind them.
The facts are unavoidable and the first team to accept those facts and focus on their strength will likely claim victory.
It’s a tale of two very similar teams: Two dynamic and explosive offenses and two embarrassingly inept defenses. The facts are unavoidable and the first team to accept those facts and focus on their strength will likely be the first team to go 40-burger on Sunday and claim victory.
While the Seahawks may have the worst defense in the NFL, the Cowboys, with their mounting injuries in the secondary, aren’t all that far behind. Not only did they move on from their top CB from last season, but their next two CBs, Chidobe Awuzie and Anthony Brown, are already ruled out for Sunday. To make matters even worse, starter Trevon Diggs has been missing practice and may force the Cowboys to dig deep into their reserves to field a secondary on Sunday.
A hamstring injury will keep Chidobe Awuzie out multiple weeks. The status of rookie corner Trevon Diggs is in question because of a shoulder injury. Diggs was in full uniform and on the field during the portion of practice open to the media Wednesday... https://t.co/NTtYs7kkhY
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) September 23, 2020
Raise your hand if you feel good about Jourdan Lewis and Daryl Worley starting, Cowboys Nation.
Yikes.
The Dallas Cowboys must accept their ineptitude and go all in on offense this Sunday. For two weeks we’ve seen them employ a slow and calculated attack and for two weeks we’ve seen them fall behind and scramble to catch-up. How about we skip Step 1, and just go straight to that up-tempo attack, shall we?
Yikes. How about we just NOT hand the ball off on 1st downs in the first quarter anymore #Cowboys cool? #CowboysNation pic.twitter.com/3ZHUonG6bZ
— SportDFW (@TheRealSportDFW) September 25, 2020
The Dallas Cowboys can’t afford to fall behind and must change their first quarter blueprint. Running the ball on early downs isn’t working. Asking Dak Prescott to stand fast in the pocket on obvious passing downs isn’t working either.
Motion at the snap and play-action have been working all season. Not just for the Cowboys but league-wide. No huddle has been huge for Dallas because it tires out the defense and allows the passing offense to sling it. Against the Seahawks that would target their weakest link – their secondary.
If the Cowboys want to win, it’ll be because of their offense started hot. They can’t afford to fall behind.
That doesn’t mean they can’t feed Zeke but it means they should do what they do best and right now and the passing game is significantly more helpful than the running game. The running game isn’t just .19 behind in expected points, but the running game is at a net negative (-.018) only successfully running plays on 43.4 percent of the time.
That means on 56.6 percent of Dallas’ runs are actually hurting the team. They can feed Zeke but they have to let the pass set up the run and not try to do it the other way around (because it clearly ain’t working).
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Defensively they need to do what they can to limit the big plays. If they can force the ‘hawks into long methodical drives, they increase their odds of holding them. But this isn’t about the defense. There will be time in Week 4 and beyond (when the schedule gets easier) to try new tricks on defense. This is about the offense and finding a way to score on every possible drive.
Mike McCarthy will likely keep up his aggressive ways and continue fourth down conversion attempts. Hopefully he can do it more with the offense still on the field rather than asking the punter Chris Jones to pass it, but I digress…
The Dallas Cowboys are an offensive team. They may be a decent defensive team once players recover from injury and the roster settles into the scheme, but they’re nowhere near that today. If the Cowboys want to win, it’ll be because of their offense started hot. They can’t afford to fall behind.
The NFL has given the Dallas O-Line Good News. light. Related Story
Next. The Cowboys learned something important this week. dark
The only area of the defense with potential to shine is the pass rush. If Dallas can get ahead on the scoreboard they can put their pass-rushers to work. But if they fall behind it’ll be more of the same from this hapless bunch. Offense, people. Embrace the 40-burger, cause it’s all we got.
- Published on 09/25/2020 at 11:01 AM
- Last updated at 09/25/2020 at 10:30 AM