The OL played well last year. They started slow and weren't quite as sharp as the previous season but there were several factors that went into that.
1. When a new OL coach comes along, there is always a lag from what they will be in time. It was the same for Callahan in Washington. His units always start taking off in year two after getting acclimated to what he wants in his first season as OL coach.
Now, Pollock was kept so the transition would be relatively seamless from Bill to him... however, the transition is never really seamless when going from one coach to another. So I would expect an improvement this year, even if the only change was going from year one to year two of Pollock/Columbo. However, the additional factors listed below also hampered Pollock in his first year as OL coach.
2. Dallas didn't have the RB position straightened out, even though they thought they did. Randle simply did what he wanted to do and wasn't very good at playing within the blocking scheme. He broke off a few big runs because he didn't do what he was supposed to do and it caught defenses by surprise a few times. Plus, Randle is a bonafied idiot, which frankly, never helps. McFadden simply isn't that good either and Micheal/Turbin were castoff players who didn't really even know the system at all last year. Plus, Micheal is a bonafied idiot, which again, never helps.
3. McFadden had some issues running the Cowboys preferred zone blocking scheme. Some say the Cowboys changed their blocking scheme to fin McFadden, while some others say they didn't. I think that Dallas runs both man and zone and likes to do so because doing both at a reasonably high level creates all kinds of problems for the defense. So, IMO, they ran a lot more man than they wanted to because of McFadden's better play in that blocking scheme.
So, while the team might not have changed the blocking scheme from zone to man... I think that they ran a whole lot more man and a whole lot less zone than they wanted to. They wanted to be a zone team that was capable of running man effectively. Instead they were a man blocking team that ran zone sometimes.
Regardless of if you want to call it a scheme change or merely a deviation from what they wanted to do... either way it complicated things for Pollock and the OL a lot. It doesn't take much to throw off a unit that is comprised of 5 players (and a RB)... and this no doubt hurt the OL's ability to relax, play and dominate.
This factor was pretty big, IMO.
3. Health and trying to stay healthy. Martin missed most of camp with his neck injury, which undoubtedly hurt the timing of the unit early on in the season. Plus, the starters got very little actual play-time in preseason games, so they had to play their way to cohesiveness if the first part of 2015.
Timing is important for any RB and their OL but is even more vital for a zone team. By the time the OL had enough snaps together, the guy who had all the starter reps in camp was off the team and McFadden had to create the timing with the OL in mid-season.
4. La'el Collins had to get used to playing and working with Smith, Frederick and the whole line, as well as having to work his way through timing issues and being a rookie. Even without all of the above reasons, taking one starter out (Leary) and putting another in (Collins) who is a rookie would cause some discombobulation on that unit, every time.
5. QB play was horrific and it effected every facet of the franchise.
If you put all of that together, it is easy to see why there might have been a little fall-off from 2014 to 2015.
Actually, these things are reason for optimism this year.
1. Pollock and Columbo will be in year-2 and should be better. Everything is always easier in the second season.
2. The team will have Ezekiel Elliott this year, instead of Randle (talk about a monumental upgrade). He will make the line better, just by himself. Elliott is a terrific runner in a zone blocking scheme. He is not only super talented, but he will do what the scheme and coaches call for him to do. He will find the hole and he is talented enough to do some damage when he gets there.
3. Health is one thing that the team can't control really, so all we can do is hope for the best with injuries.
4. Collins was playing at a higher level as the season wore on. This season he should be much easier for Collins. Now he has a year working next to Smith and Frederick and should be comfortable with his assignments. He will be much improved over last year and much, much improved from his first few starts last year. He already was physically bludgeoning defenders... and becoming a more consistent player will make the entire line better.
5. Romo is back and healthy and hopefully will be able to stay that way.
So really, four of the five reasons that I listed above are likely going to be spots where the OL can improve. That should really scare the rest of the NFL.
