A Golden Age of Cowboys Rushing Game Came During 2022

[TheMarathonContinues]

God love Tony Pollard....but as "horrid" as Zeke was in the 9ers game, and as hard as "everyone" blows about how we were kicking their arse until he got injured....

he had one more yard per carry than zeke.

One more yard.

Some arse whupping golden age. Boy we really showed them!

One yard per carry is huge though. And we know Pollards game. He can breakaway at any time. I’m not sure if he stayed healthy that the outcome would’ve changed but I know it had to be better than just Zeke.

And I had more so of a problem not running Davis. Should’ve still split carries.

 

[DandyDon52]

His offenses will always put up numbers because he's pushes the pass. But his offense will always fail in tight situations. Because he's not a good playcaller.

Let's look at what happened since he started calling plays. If you doubt me, go look at the numbers.

The OL started giving up more sacks. And it starts with the OL because the Cowboys drafted and built a OL that wanted to run, they drafted the rb to run. But Kellen wanted to pass. Idc what stat you want to throw out about the team running the ball alot. Use context with that and you get the whole story on that. You can have a 16 play drive which Dallas has had plenty of. He'd run it say 10-12 times and they just blow up the defense. That's probably 1/3 of the teams carries or that game on that one drive. The following drive what would typically happen? A 3 and out with no runs. Running the ball was an inconvenience for him. MM basically said it without saying it, rather saying they had a differing opinion on philosophies.

Elliot was tearing the league up before Kellen took over. He had 1631, 987, 1434 yrds in his first 3 yrs. The 987 season the nfl had its witch hunt. I think they win the superbowl that yr if the nfl doesn't destroy their season. Kellens first yr he depended on Elliot and again tore the league up with 1357 yards 12 tds 54 rec 420 rds and 2 more ttds.then 2020 came and Moore went pass stupid from that yr on.

Ok so Dallas had a OL built for running the ball and a qb who had benefited from that and controlled games much like Purdy and Hurts do now. But Moore wanted mahommes and the Chiefs. That's not what this team was built for. So the OL started giving up more sacks and dak started turning the ball over more. All starting in 2019. The yr Moore took over the offense.

When you have 3 elements of your offense starting regressing all in the same yr, it's pretty easy to see what the problem was. Granted Jerry deserves most of the blame because he forced Moore on MM. So he enabled a guy that the job was too big for.

you cant blame all that on kellen, the jones boys wanted to cut down on elliots carrys , they said as much.
They also like the passing game as it is more entertaining and needed to prove dak is a great qb and worth the contract they gave him.

Dallas did not build a OL for running the ball lol , it was for passing and running. I dont think any team builds a line for just running.

Linehan was the one pushing the run game, and the reason elliot got so many carries. But the jones boys wanted more passing
and elliot to get less carries so he would last longer, and they thought kellen was the next McVay, so fired linehan and made kellen OC.

Now they fired Kellen and made mike OC.
Mike never had a rushing champ RB when he was in GB.

 

[DandyDon52]

Very much a possibility. Coaching factors could have been essential. But for this now I'm willing to focus on:

-Who were the maulers during that 8 game stretch, and what was their status, deployment?
-Running backs, their gifts and usage.

why dont you just tell us, not many have the time to find the 8 games you speak of etc.
I think it may have started in the rush games ?

 

[jazzcat22]

Now they fired Kellen and made mike OC.
Mike never had a rushing champ RB when he was in GB.

Many coaches never had a rushing champ.

Tom Landry never had a rushing champ.

https://www.footballdb.com/leaders/yearly-rushing-yards

 

[DeaconMoss]

Get your game on. What was different between the 8-game-golden stretch and the playoffs?

Simple. It wasn't the playoffs.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

One yard per carry is huge though. And we know Pollards game. He can breakaway at any time. I’m not sure if he stayed healthy that the outcome would’ve changed but I know it had to be better than just Zeke.

And I had more so of a problem not running Davis. Should’ve still split carries.

Dig.

the one yard more is cool and all...but far from the 6+ the OP wants us to admire. If Tony were getting that 6+....i'd say he would have been the difference maker. So my concern is not this 8 game stretch which was "golden age"....but why he (tony) and us steadily declined.

People love blaming zeke...it's fashionable and really in-the-know. But there's more to it than that. Injuries? I suppose maybe, Cowboys have shown that simply cannot manage player and team injuries situations.

 

[Flamma]

A Golden Age of the Cowboys Run-Game Came During 2022...and I suspect you might have missed it. Or failed to appreciate its epic grandeur.

There was an 8 game stretch in 2022 where a certain Dallas running back averaged 6.2 yards per carry over 111 carries. That my friends is King Arthur's Camelot. High Valyria. Elvish Rivendale. The promised land of a promised people. Oh yes, it was forty-burger time on the scoreboards. Running backs don't do that in today's NFL. Maulers up-front don't maul so viciously, play after play. Runners don't dart and dance with such results.

Yet it did happen.

Before I continue with details of this mini "golden age" and describe my view of the vital elements, I'm curious to hear your thoughts:
-What was the stretch of games?
-Who was the running back? (softball question)
-What were the key ingredients and how can it happen again?

You're not the only one that saw this.

 

[Mac_MaloneV1]

The overall numbers are mostly a reflection of games 3-8 of that set when the player's snaps increased and the entire offense was healthy, so they threw the ball well. They completed 71% of their passes with a 103.8 passer rating at 7.81 y/a during that stretch. Over the course of the whole season, those numbers would rank 1st, 3rd, and t5.

In the five games before that data set, the player averaged 5.8 ypc. If you remove outliers, player averaged 3.9 ypc. The offense completed 58% of passes with a 81.2 passer rating at 6.69 y/a. Over the course of the whole season, those numbers would rank 33rd, 29th, and 27th.

So in other words, when they threw the ball well, the player averaged another ~.5y/a overall, and when you remove outliers, it was ~2 y/a.

The same adjustment in the 6-game data set moves the players y/a from 6.02 to 5.23.

 

[Bobhaze]

Hmmmm….a “golden age” for the running game during the 2022 season? Can’t agree with that when you look at the golden years of the Cowboys running game over decades- even by season.

Lately, 2014 and 2016 stand out as “golden years” for the running game. 2014 with DeMarco Murray was one of the most dominant in recent memory. Zeke’s rookie year was also a great year for the run game. Calvin Hill and Duane Thomas in the early 70s, followed by Tony Dorset’s ’77-82 were dominant. Emmitt’s early to mid 90s years were certainly golden. In 2022? Compared to the past…not so much.

 

[LatinMind]

Maybe we went pass stupid because elliot turned into two yards and a cloud of dust.
It's funny that when Pollard got touches and took over all of the sudden the running game was looking pretty good wasn't it?
Maybe you should check your pass versus run percentages ya think?

Well it's McCarthy's offense now so we'll see how effective it is.
At the same time we'll see how horrible kellen moore does in los angeles.

Aikman, Warner, and Carr have all done videos on the Cowboys offense and all 3 have been in a consensus on one key thing. The offensive system didn't know how to use its playmakers.

 

[LatinMind]

you cant blame all that on kellen, the jones boys wanted to cut down on elliots carrys , they said as much.
They also like the passing game as it is more entertaining and needed to prove dak is a great qb and worth the contract they gave him.

Dallas did not build a OL for running the ball lol , it was for passing and running. I dont think any team builds a line for just running.

Linehan was the one pushing the run game, and the reason elliot got so many carries. But the jones boys wanted more passing
and elliot to get less carries so he would last longer, and they thought kellen was the next McVay, so fired linehan and made kellen OC.

Now they fired Kellen and made mike OC.
Mike never had a rushing champ RB when he was in GB.

Of course it goes back to Jerry. Nobody will ever hear any noise from me bout any blame Jerry gets in coaching. That's the area he is really bad with. I really believe with teams Jerry has built after Jimmy he costed himself atleast 2 more trophies because the coaching was trash.

But I wanted to point out all this stuff happened the yr he took over the offense. And there's no way around that.

 

[starfan1]

you cant blame all that on kellen, the jones boys wanted to cut down on elliots carrys , they said as much.
They also like the passing game as it is more entertaining and needed to prove dak is a great qb and worth the contract they gave him.

Dallas did not build a OL for running the ball lol , it was for passing and running. I dont think any team builds a line for just running.

Linehan was the one pushing the run game, and the reason elliot got so many carries. But the jones boys wanted more passing
and elliot to get less carries so he would last longer, and they thought kellen was the next McVay, so fired linehan and made kellen OC.

Now they fired Kellen and made mike OC.
Mike never had a rushing champ RB when he was in GB.

But dallas statistically are a top 5 run team and pass blocking is bottom 5 so that doesnt make sense

 

[darthseinfeld]

A Golden Age of the Cowboys Run-Game Came During 2022...and I suspect you might have missed it. Or failed to appreciate its epic grandeur.

There was an 8 game stretch in 2022 where a certain Dallas running back averaged 6.2 yards per carry over 111 carries. That my friends is King Arthur's Camelot. High Valyria. Elvish Rivendale. The promised land of a promised people. Oh yes, it was forty-burger time on the scoreboards. Running backs don't do that in today's NFL. Maulers up-front don't maul so viciously, play after play. Runners don't dart and dance with such results.

Yet it did happen.

Before I continue with details of this mini "golden age" and describe my view of the vital elements, I'm curious to hear your thoughts:
-What was the stretch of games?
-Who was the running back? (softball question)
-What were the key ingredients and how can it happen again?

It was like that the 1st half of 2021 as well, however like 2023 we couldnt sustain

 

[817Gill]

Little hint:
Zach Martin's mid-2022-season comments spelled out part of the equation, in big bold capital letters.

Blue Steele!

 

[GMO415]

People shouldn't do PCP and start threads.

 

[noshame]

Aikman, Warner, and Carr have all done videos on the Cowboys offense and all 3 have been in a consensus on one key thing. The offensive system didn't know how to use its playmakers.

Well the offensive system was limited by the quarterback's skills.

 

[nalam]

I think the thread starter is mentioning the time when Dak was injured and we were relying on running game and defense when Rush was QB to win 4 out of 5 games. Run game was working until Steele got injured , probably.

 

[Cowboys5217]

I believe that in order to qualify a time period as an "age", the phenomenon (elite results running the ball) must be a span of several years.

A few weeks to a month doesn't qualify as an "age" or "era" or "dynasty" .

Most likely, you are talking about the middle of last season when the Cowboys played all four NFC North teams in a row.

The Vikings were ranked 31st in defense, the Lions 32nd and the Bears 29th. The Packers were ranked 17th.

Against the run, the Bears were ranked 31st, the Lions 29th, the Packers 26th and the Vikings 20th.

Yep. A "streak" is a much more proper term than "age" in this regard.

 

[charron]

Didn't they combine for 200+ yards for a game early on? They did start out pretty hot in the run game then it kinda went away.

 

[Mac_MaloneV1]

Didn't they combine for 200+ yards for a game early on? They did start out pretty hot in the run game then it kinda went away.

They had 170-something against the Giants, but never hit 200.

The running game was never really going the first 6 weeks of the season, they just happened to hit a couple of big ones that made the numbers look much, much better than they were.