Even before Dak Prescott got injured, the Dallas Cowboys offense struggled to get much going Sunday night.
Prescott finished his night completing 14 of his 29 passes for 134 yards with no touchdowns and an interception before fracturing his thumb. Not helping the cause was the inability to establish the run game, with Ezekiel Elliott gaining just 52 yards across 10 carries in the 19-3 loss to the Buccaneers. The only other players with carries, Prescott and Tony Pollard, combined for 19 yards in eight attempts.
It was a woeful offensive showing, one that looked even worse when Tampa Bay linebacker Devin White effectively said they knew what was coming on the ground.
“Last year we learned they really weren’t going to commit to the run game,” White told reporters Sunday. “And the runs that they did, they were going to try to get outside and not run into the interior. But most of the running game was quick game. Lot of curls, lot of hitches, lot of slants. We kind of knew that going in, so we were able to attack it.”
That, obviously, does not reflect well on Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore.
During his weekly appearance with “Shan and RJ” on Friday, McCarthy was asked if he found that alarming.
“I mean, there’s not a whole lot in this game that you can – in my opinion – find alarming after one week,” McCarthy said. “I get the emotional component of disappointment for everybody, the fans, trust me, we were disappointed after Sunday. I think when you get comments like that, anytime you have confidence in your playing, feel like you had a beat on the other guy, that’s part of the game. But at the end of it, it really comes down to execution.
"When you have the fruits of victory, I guess that's one of them where you have those types of comments. But I think it’s more an expression of confidence that they had in their playing, and they were successful. Trust me, self-scouting is a big part of what we do in every aspect of the game, so that’s part of our responsibility to be on top of that."
The Cowboys are patching things together on the offensive line. Tyron Smith already is out until later in the season, forcing rookie first-round pick Tyler Smith to start at left tackle. He had Connor McGovern to his right at first, but McGovern got hurt Sunday, forcing Matt Farniok to step in at left guard.
That’s a lot of youth on the left side of the line, which McCarthy admitted was a factor in the conservative play-calling.
“Now, some of the things we ran in the game, conceptually and play-type wise, yeah maybe they were a bit conservative," McCarthy said. "But with the things going on with the young guys on the left side, I think some of that’s understandable.”
Clearly, being conservative didn’t lead to great offensive results. And with injuries all over the offense and Cooper Rush now taking over at quarterback, it’ll be fascinating to see how the Cowboys attempt to put some spark back into the offense.
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