Although the Dallas Cowboys looked better defensively in their last two wins over the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, the poor play returned on Thursday night in a 44-30 loss to the Detroit Lions. As bad as the defense played, though, quarterback Dak Prescott accounted for two interceptions, and the run game disappointed in what turned out to be a track meet between the two NFC teams.
Running back Javonte Williams, whom the Cowboys signed to a one-year, $3 million deal in the offseason, has put together a career year with 1,022 rush yards and nine TDs. However, with fellow offseason acquisition Miles Sanders on injured reserve due to knee and ankle injuries, coupled with a disappointing rookie season from Jaydon Blue, there has been a greater workload on Williams.
That is something that Marcus Mosher, host of Locked on Cowboys and Locked on Dynasty, touched on, saying the Cowboys could have really used some more juice in the backfield on Thursday night and that whiffing on the Blue pick forced them to put a ton of miles on Williams, who appears to be slowing down. With only 67 rush yards in the loss, Williams was definitely not as explosive as he has proven to be throughout the season, as the large workload potentially starts to catch up with him.
Javonte Williams Has Had a Career Year in Light of Jaydon Blue's Struggles
The Cowboys likely hoped that Blue would wrestle the job away from Williams and Sanders by now, but instead, more wear has been placed on Williams as he takes the majority of the snaps on offense. Blue rushed for 1,161 yards and 11 TDs at Texas and added 503 receiving yards and seven TDs, but that production has not carried over to the NFL yet.
Entering the Lions matchup, Williams had the 20th-best overall grade from Pro Football Focus (73.9) out of 53 qualified RBs, but he ranked inside the top 10 in carries, rushing yards, rushing TDs, and yards per carry. With no good option to replace him, there is an increased likelihood that the Cowboys will re-sign him for next season, considering what he has contributed to the run game. For comparison, Blue only has 22 carries for 65 yards in four games all season, which is even less than Prescott (138 yards, two TDs) and wide receiver KaVontae Turpin (67 yards).
While that speaks to his lack of production and how badly the Cowboys missed on the draft pick, head coach Brian Schottenheimer has shown a tendency to trust players with a hot hand. Look no further than second-year wideout Ryan Flournoy, who had 114 receiving yards in CeeDee Lamb's absence back in Week 5 before surpassing that with nine catches for 115 yards and a TD on Thursday night as Lamb exited with a concussion and George Pickens struggled to get going.
Clearly, Blue has done nothing up to this point to earn that trust from Schottenheimer, but the confidence in Flournoy shows that anyone can earn some additional playing time if the results are taking place on the field. With that clearly not the case for Blue so far, Williams has emerged as the workhorse back for Dallas, and he may be the only option the Cowboys have to sustain their improved ground game beyond this season.