I've now read enough, heard enough, and even seen enough to get fully behind the Kellen Moore appointment. That now makes perfect sense to me, and I think it's a smart move. Perhaps brilliant move.
The stories of him as a recruit with his own legitimate playbook he'd written; the accolades from those in Detroit; his lineage with a successful coach for a father and a brother in the business; the praise from players like Zeke, Witten, Dak, and others....it sounds less risky by the minute.
Moore is one of those dudes that sees the game in multidimensional form, and eats and breaths the nuances of how to disguise plays and create mismatches. A young Andy Reid with Xs and Os in his eyes at all times who probably wears out the video system at The Star daily.
The Cowboys are gonna look very different this year. That in itself is desperately needed because even with the fair share of wins, the games have grown stale. Mostly the offense, which wasn't so much "predictable" as it was just too much the same for too long. It simply doesn't explode often enough.
Not that football has been reinvented in young Moore's mind. The plays he'll call have been run in the NFL thousands of times before, but combinations of routes and alignments will make it seem different anyway, at least in these parts. There are only so many ways to execute a run or forward pass.
In fact, the true challenge for Moore will often be to just remember to dial it in. This is still the best dang smash-mouth football team in the NFL, and Zeke still has a head the size of a smart car behind 225 pounds of ferocity. The draft suggests they intend to do just that with a new sidekick for Zeke and more beef for the beef truck. The moves made say run the dadgum ball, but can Moore remember that when the air game is working effectively?
Much like Reid, or Sean Payton, or Mike Martz, or any coach who basks in his "offensive guru" celebrity image, it can be hard at times to just call the right play instead of the "me" play. That certainly has gotten the best of Reid, Payton, and Martz over the years, whose egos are bigger than the franchises they've presided over.
We've got to hope that the aw-shucks Rain Man persona Moore exudes is for real, and that he doesn't get eaten up by the public enamor of his genius after a couple of inspiring outings. Reid, Payton, and Martz have out-thought themselves more times than I can count.
There's absolutely no doubt the passing game desperately needs a freshness to give Dak more comfort and time to make the throws he likes. Dak's effusive praise of Moore hints that it will. Guys like Jarwin and Gallup will likely become far more prominent in the offense immediately. Pollard could be a very interesting component, too.
But what most floored me was Zeke's gushing over Moore. That honestly surprised me, just like it did Michael Irvin. Moore and Zeke couldn't be more different dudes, and I would have thought those personalities would just pass in the halls with nary a glance.
But when Irvin openly questioned the hiring of Moore, Zeke stopped him in his tracks and delivered my most favorite quote of the offseason: “After speaking this weekend with Ezekiel Elliott, I kind of did a 180 on it. One of the things Zeke said, he said, ‘Michael, this kid is smart.’ He said he’s smart, and I think the most important thing he said … ‘He’ll listen to us. What we see on the field, he’ll listen and incorporate it in the game plan.'”
If the players are that excited, then I'm that excited. How can you not be? That alone could stop this up-and-down trend from season to season we've watched unfold for years.
Still, it's critical for Moore to remember what this team is, and what it centers around. There's an advantage to being one of the very few physical run teams in the NFL because most defenses are built fast and small to deal with Reid and Payton. Very few are built to stand up to Dallas' offensive line and Zeke Elliott. That has to remain the identity.
Finding the proper balance will be the key to getting this offense out of the mud and scoring as its talent level says it should. If so, Dallas is right in the thick of it all this season. For real.
The master stroke of it all, unbelievably, could be behind that familiar teenaged blank stare that we didn't think twice about until now.
