Cowboys have the No. 1 rushing offense in the entire NFL

[Craig]

IIRC, we were third last week, though Murray was leading the league, personally.

Yes, that is what i was thinking of.

 

[21Savage]

I see the first part but we weren't last last year. Do people forget how well this O-line was playing towards the end of last year? Yes, we signed Waters but he rotated with Bernardeau initially and when he got injured the drop off wasn't that bad.

Of course drafting Martin was big and Leary is now in his 2nd full year playing guard and may be one of our top 3 linemen. So......they weren't worst last year.

 

[ConstantReboot]

That's what happens when you have a functional O-line.

We also had a functioning oline last year? Although not as good as this year. Whats the difference?

 

[RS12]

I hate to be a downer, but we were pretty hyped after week three last season, too, irrc, after beating the Giants opening weekend and then spanking the Rams pretty bad in week three. There's still a long way to go this season.

Wait, what? Usually you are the guy talking them up when they are sucking? Going with even keel approach? That was the best I have felt about this teams performance in a long time. A part of me definitely wants to see this team playing this way in Dec instead of Sep though. I guess too many late season collapses doesnt make a believer just yet.

 

[Sinister]

We also had a functioning oline last year? Although not as good as this year. Whats the difference?

Fredbeard was rookie Center, Leary was coming off arthroscopic knee surgery. I'm not saying that they did not get better as the year progressed, but last years line set-up for this years success. This line has been dysfunctional for years, last year was the beginning, but they were still trying to plug holes at the beginning of the 2013 year.

This year is the first year with a functional o-line.

 

[Idgit]

Wait, what? Usually you are the guy talking them up when they are sucking? Going with even keel approach? That was the best I have felt about this teams performance in a long time. A part of me definitely wants to see this team playing this way in Dec instead of Sep though. I guess too many late season collapses doesnt make a believer just yet.

I don't talk them up when they suck necessarily. I just like to see the criticism where it belongs. Recently, that's mostly been on the defense and not on every other possible thing imaginable. We've been 8-8 the last three seasons and not 3-13, after all, though you'd never know it by reading these boards.

But, yeah, it's nice to feel good about things after a big win. Just saying we should probably temper the enthusiasm a bit. It does seem like we should be able to ride the OL a long way this season if we all stay more or less healthy, though. I just don't want to get too carried away at 3-1.

 

[50cent]

Having a talented offensive line is the main reason why we have the number one rushing attack.

We had a pretty talented unit last season too.

 

[50cent]

• 62 David Arkin G
• 73 Mackenzy Bernadeau G
• 67 Phil Costa C
• 72 Travis Frederick C
• 68 Doug Free T/G
• 65 Ronald Leary G
• 78 Jermey Parnell T
• 77 Tyron Smith T
• 64 Brian Waters G
• 75 Darrion Weems T

This is the offensive line last year. Maybe you forgot that the Cowboys had to bring in Brian Waters last year because the guard play was so bad. Waters ended up getting hurt and the OL was very inconsistent week to week. But please continue in your denial...

Yea, that 5 yard per carry mark was very inconsistent. You're in denial, I just want you to show me which game last that we didn't run the ball well. Take into consideration the number of run calls and that we never out of any game sans NO and the run game was decent that game when they called upon. Murray's production never happened huh? You don't get those yards running inconsistently on so few carries. He had 3 games with over 19+ carries. Think about that, a pro-bowl RB made the roster rushing inconsistently.

 

[Sinister]

Yea, that 5 yard per carry mark was very inconsistent. You're in denial, I just want you to show me which game last that we didn't run the ball well. Take into consideration the number of run calls and that we never out of any game sans NO and the run game was decent that game when they called upon. Murray's production never happened huh? You don't get those yards running inconsistently on so few carries. He had 3 games with over 19+ carries. Think about that, a pro-bowl RB made the roster rushing inconsistently.

I said the Cowboys O-Line was inconsistent, when did I ever say anything about Murray? I thought the O-Line play was uneven last year.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

Who'd a thunk that fixing the OL and developing an effective running game would have paid such dividends? Oh yeah, a lot of us did. This should have happened years ago but at least we're on the right track.

 

[gdogg24]

Last year our O-Line was ok... when we had Waters and as I recall when we had him we were trying to do the same things we're doing now. Granted there's way more creativity in the play calling this year than last. The thing is we lost Waters (I think Leary was iffy too) early on and we went back to our same crap. This year we're sticking with it and barring injury I don't see things changing. The interior of our O-line is steady, and what I mean by that is we can lean on them and consistently win games. Think about this too, Fredrick only in his 2nd season, Martin's still a rookie that unit is gonna get better.

 

[50cent]

I said the Cowboys O-Line was inconsistent, when did I ever say anything about Murray? I thought the O-Line play was uneven last year.

Someone had to block for that dude and the only change was Berny to Waters and right back to Berny. They were scapegoats IMO. The disparity in play calling was so uneven it's remarkable it produced a pro bowl running back. I think it's disingenuous to say they were inconsistent at run blocking when they were given so few opportunities to run block and still produced a pro bowl RB. I love Murray but he's not Barry sanders creating holes that aren't there.

 

[Sinister]

Someone had to block for that dude and the only change was Berny to Waters and right back to Berny. They were scapegoats IMO. The disparity in play calling was so uneven it's remarkable it produced a pro bowl running back. I think it's disingenuous to say they were inconsistent at run blocking when they were given so few opportunities to run block and still produced a pro bowl RB. I love Murray but he's not Barry sanders creating holes that aren't there.

You are right, but it's not only about avg. yards per carry it's the situations that the Cowboys were in. It's the trust that the coaching staff places in the line. Maybe, Garrett/Callahan should have had more trust in the line, but there is a reason they didn't. Were the reasons unfounded maybe.

Leary had knee surgery prior to the season, and you have to admit that watching Berny get pushed around or Fredbeard being a rookie had something to do with the the trust that the coaches granted that line.

Sometimes the O-line would come out and dominate the opposing D-line, but the next game the O-line was terrible. The O-line was the very definition of inconsistent.

It's a dysfunction that doesn't exist this year.

My own view and it's just mine, they O-line was an issue because of the guard play, they were not physical at the point of attack and it created problems.

By the way in the last game of the year when the Cowboys needed Murray most he averaged 2.8 yds a carry (17-48). Is it Murray's fault, absolutely not. The line play was bad, Orton was bad.

 

[ConstantReboot]

Fredbeard was rookie Center, Leary was coming off arthroscopic knee surgery. I'm not saying that they did not get better as the year progressed, but last years line set-up for this years success. This line has been dysfunctional for years, last year was the beginning, but they were still trying to plug holes at the beginning of the 2013 year.

This year is the first year with a functional o-line.

I think last year we had a pretty decent oline and we had a runningback who averaged 5 yards a carry. Sometimes the line gave Romo a lot of time that even he didn't know what to do. Im not saying our as good as this year. But last years line was decent even to win games if we ran the ball. Just that the one calling the plays choose to pass more than run.

 

[Manster68]

Ladies and gentlemen, it is true. Your Dallas Cowboys have the No. 1 rushing offense in the entire league. A "worst-to-first" type of leap transformation.


The Cowboys are No. 1 in the NFL in total rushing yards.

The Cowboys are No. 1 in the NFL in total rushing attempts.

The Cowboys are No. 4 in the NFL in yards-per-carry-average.

The Cowboys are currently on pace for the 3rd-highest-rushing season in franchise history (on pace for 2,640 yards; surpassed only by the 1978 and 1981 seasons.)

The Cowboys are averaging 165 rushing yards per game, more than double their average of 79 per game two seasons ago.

Do not be surprised it the Cowboys bounce around in the top five of this category. The defenses of the teams Dallas plays in the next five weeks I believe are stingier than the Saints.

 

[ConstantReboot]

I said the Cowboys O-Line was inconsistent, when did I ever say anything about Murray? I thought the O-Line play was uneven last year.

Results matter. You may say that the oline was inconsistent but yet Murray was still able to gain 5 yards a carry which is nothing to sneeze at. The difference is the playercaller. He just knows that the strength of this team is running the ball like what most have the people here has been saying for a while now.

 

[Sinister]

Results matter. You may say that the oline was inconsistent but yet Murray was still able to gain 5 yards a carry which is nothing to sneeze at. The difference is the playercaller. He just knows that the strength of this team is running the ball like what most have the people here has been saying for a while now.

You're correct results do matter, maybe the Cowboys didn't run enough last year and give Murray a chance. I think someone mentioned the Green Bay game where Romo threw two interceptions in the final three minutes and I understand.

I also think it is a mindset that they can run the ball and maybe the Cowboys just didn't have that mentality.

 

[adbutcher]

That's what happens when you have a functional O-line.

Anyone with one functioning eye can see that.

 

[Red Dragon]

Do not be surprised it the Cowboys bounce around in the top five of this category. The defenses of the teams Dallas plays in the next five weeks I believe are stingier than the Saints.

Well, if before the season began anyone had told us that during the first 9 games of the season the Cowboys would be "bouncing around in the Top 5 in NFL rushing metrics," I think we would all have been delighted.

 

[gdogg24]

Results matter. You may say that the oline was inconsistent but yet Murray was still able to gain 5 yards a carry which is nothing to sneeze at. The difference is the playercaller. He just knows that the strength of this team is running the ball like what most have the people here has been saying for a while now.

Murray is a really good running back, now I think he has a good line to block for him. You know I've been thinking our 90s' O-line was great but that year Emmitt sat out to start the season it was pretty clear we needed him. I think now it's kind of the same thing I don't think we can just plug any guy back there and he'd go 4 games over 100 yards and was is it 5 TDs?