We keep on hearing how the Cowboy offense is elite, but yet there were games last season where they truly underperformed:
14 points at Chicago-yes they lost Lamb early, but if I remember Chicago had a banged up secondary
20 points at Philly-they were shutout in the 2nd half where their defense only surrendered 3 points
17 at home against the Cardinals-there is zero excuse to lay an egg at home against one of the worst teams.
17 at home against the Chargers-Chargers dominated them
These are just a few examples. Everyone keeps on talking about the defense cause it was so bad, but the offense deserves some criticism as well. They must be more consistent or it won't matter how the defense performs.
If you could look at the gameday threads in the games mention above, OL play played a huge factor into what the offense produced. Key sacks/pressures on 3rd downs that resulted into a punt or a field goal.
Philly game, was a game that I thought we had a chance to win that game against a stout defense. Lamb went for a buck 10 but was forced fed the ball by Dak also had way too many drops in clutch moments. Pickens had 4 targets was a head scratcher.
Chicago game, Lamb got hurt on what many of us would considered just a bonehead play from the coaching staff. Dak had 2 picks & 2 sacks and faced pressure all game where he had to rely on Ferg for short dump offs and seam routes. I believed they pulled Dak in the 4th quarter and put Milton in. This game made us realize that this defense was in trouble, especially when Russell Wilson lit them up the week before. Schotty called out Dak without saying names but we was too busy fussing at him for putting Lamb in the backfield. lol
Cardinals game was worse than the Bears game. Dak was sacked 5 times and Ferg's & Williams fumble, Pickens unsportsmanlike penalty. Everything that could have gone wrong--did. One touchdown & FG on offense and a block punt from our defense Marshawn Kneeland.
Chargers game was fairly competitive until the second half. 3rd quarter 10 yard penalty put us behind the sticks, eventually punt because of 3rd down due to pressure on Dak. CD had a false start penalty eventually drive stalled. Next drive Cooper bebe false start penalty put us 3rd & long, drive stalled. Milton fumbled on the next drive, Chargers ran out the clock.
No offense is going to be perfect, there will be screw-ups with bad plays sprinkled in but in order for this offense to be elite our OL & offense has to eliminate the bonehead penalties and keep pressure off of Dak. Not saying Dak needs 6 seconds in the pocket but he or any quarterback needs to at least go through 2 progressions, which I didn't see a lot of that in key moments of the game.