Dallas Cowboys: 3 ways Dallas is striking fear in the hearts of opponents
By Reid Hanson
It’s Halloween so let’s talk about something really scary – the Dallas Cowboys. For reasons entirely different than last year, the Dallas Cowboys are one of the scariest teams in the NFL. This year, though, they aren’t scaring Cowboys fans, but rather teams all across the league.
The Dallas Cowboys are striking fear in the hearts of NFL opponents in a variety of ways.
As one of the top teams in the NFL, Dallas is winning a variety of different ways. But let’s focus on fear here, this being Halloween and all. What exactly are teams afraid of when facing the Dallas Cowboys?
Spooky Quality No. 1: Pick your poison offense
The Dallas Cowboys offense is deadly. How are they deadly? Go ahead and pick. Dallas can beat opponents on the ground or through the air. They can go over the top or they can pick you apart underneath.
They have the ability to adapt to just about any defense and even have depth insulating them from modest injuries. See also: How Dallas increased 12 personnel in the wake of Michael Gallup‘s injury.
Before the bye week skewed the stats, the Cowboys had two running backs among the NFL’s top-10 in rushing yards. Running efficiency is excellent too – they’re not just empty totals we’re looking at. Dallas is averaging a success rate of 46.8% on the ground this season which ranks 5th in the NFL.
The passing offense is even deadlier. Dallas is averaging .289 EPA through the air (3rd in NFL) with a 57.6% success rate (best in NFL).
Note: Success rate speaks to whether a play helped or hurt the offense’s scoring chances (not all positive yardage does) and EPA details to what degree it help or hurt those scoring chances.
The offense has the ability to adapt to any situation and Dak Prescott has shown proficiency in making the right call at the line, and making the right call after the snap. The Dallas Cowboys are happy to let opposing defenses choose their own death and that’s a very scary thing.