The Dallas Cowboys struggled running the rock last year. Their 2,119 yards rushing and 4.5 yards/attempt finished just inside the NFL’s top-10, but runs resulting in first downs or touchdowns where in the bottom half, indicating the most critical plays were left wanting.
From week eight on, Dallas produced -0.036 expected points on the ground (a negative output) and a success rate of only 39.1% (22nd in the NFL) when we adjust for blowout situations.
To put it bluntly, the running game did more harm than good.
The Dallas Cowboys struggled on the ground last season largely because of their offensive line.
While some of the Cowboys struggles can be attributed to Ezekiel Elliott’s torn knee, it’s the Cowboys offensive line that carries the most responsibility. The O-line struggled in every capacity down the stretch. Tony Pollard found more success than Zeke, but by and large, the entire running game looked to be stuck in mud after the bye week.
An offensive line is a single point failure system. If one lineman can’t execute his block, the play is vulnerable.
What many people fail to realize is that just one block can make all the difference. An offense’s line, like a defense’s secondary, is a single point failure system. It doesn’t matter how good four of the linemen are doing, if the fifth lineman can’t execute his block, the play is vulnerable.
Pro Football Focus crunched the numbers on this in the offseason and found a play in which all blocks were executed properly, the offense enjoyed a success rate of 60.2%. That’s leaps and bounds better than what Dallas was getting in the second half of last season (39.1% SR).
On plays in which there were one or more failures in blocking, success rate dropped to 25.7%. Often times, it doesn’t matter a hill ’a beans who’s toting the rock, if the play isn’t blocked well, it’s probably going to get blown up.
So why has the running game been failing the Dallas Cowboys?
It’s the offensive line, plain and simple. Zeke wasn’t healthy enough to overcome the blocking issues (something even healthy running backs struggle to do) and Pollard didn’t get enough opportunities. It’s all really about the offensive line, and we know for a fact, the offensive line wasn’t good enough last year.
Luckily (luckily?) the Dallas Cowboys mixed things up this offseason. While they gambled big (Banking on Tyron’s health, banking on Tyler Smith’s instant impact, banking on Biadasz’s and Steele’s progression), they knew the status quo wasn’t going to work.
Zeke’s knee didn’t help matters but the real reason the running game struggled last season is because the offensive line struggled. The guy running the ball rarely matters much.