CFZ Evaluating this team at mid-season

[Bobhaze]

Sunday’s game vs the giants will signify passing the mid-point of the 2023 season and it‘s a good time to evaluate this team’s strengths, weaknesses and needs going forward.

STRENGTHS (Not necessarily in order of importance)

• The Cowboys have been good at home as evidenced by an 11 game home winning streak. During the Garrett years, the Cowboys were barely above .500 so this team has gained a home field advantage for a change.
• The Cowboys beat the teams they are supposed to (other than Ariz). The Cowboys usually destroy lower rungs teams on their schedule.
• Pass rush. When this team has a two score lead, the pass rush led by Parsons is brutal on opponents.
• Dak has protected the ball well with 5 INTs so far. Only Joe Burrow (4) has less among starting QBs. Whatever anyone thinks about Dak, he’s been good, just not top 5 great. I still think he’s good enough to win playoff games with the right team around him.
• Cedee Lamb. Has emerged into a top 10 NFL receiver and completely reliable weapon for the offense. In fact the MOST reliable weapon.
• Pass defense. Despite the loss of Travon Diggs, the Cowboys secondary has held up well overall. They have 9 INTs, two for TDs and are ranked 3rd against the pass in yardage surrendered.
• The defense has generated 12 TOs in 8 games which is outstanding.
• STs have been excellent. Brandon Aubrey is probably THE most reliable player on the team, and the Cowboys have blocked 2 punts and a FG, creating 2 TDs and a safety.

WEAKNESSES

• Running game. The Cowboys only average 3.9 yards per rush and only avg about 110 yards a game. By having a weak running game, it forces Dak to have to do more which does not help this team. Pollard doesn’t look like a “bell cow” type back when receiving the majority of touches.
• Penalties. Dallas is tied w/ four other teams for most penalties with 60, and have THE most pre-snap penalties with 22. If they don’t fix the pre-snap penalty problems, they will have a short stint in the playoffs.
• OLine has been inconsistent. They have surrendered 23 sacks (11th most in the league so far) and the running game has been anemic. Tyron Smith has actually played well…when he‘s not hurt. This group needed help in the off-season and IMO the FO didn’t do enough to address it.
• Not enough Receivers getting involved. Cedee Lamb has been great and TE Jake Ferguson has emerged but Cooks, Gallup and other TEs have not been getting enough targets for whatever reason.
• Lack of depth at some key positions. RB, OL, LB are probably an injury away from trouble. This is true for most NFL teams but not the ones at the very top. We could all see a need at RB depth this off-season as well as OL but the FO has been reluctant to address it.

NEEDS GOING FORWARD TO COMPETE IN THE PLAYOFFS

• Address the pre-snap penalties! Leading the league in pre-snap penalties will spell doom in the playoffs. We have 11 penalties for lining up off-sides! Just sloppy and lack of attention to detail.
• Get more receivers involved to take pressure off Lamb. Cooks and Gallup have underperformed but occasionally they’ve been open and Dak hasn’t thrown to them. These guys must get more involved or DCs are going to shut down just Cedee to beat us.
• Get Rico Dowdle more involved in the run game. I love Tony Pollard but he’s more effective in the 15-20 touches per game rather than 20-25. Dowdle has more power- we must use him more!
• Faster starts for the offense. We cannot afford to continue with the opening 3 and out, especially against good teams. Poor offensive starts spell disaster in the playoffs.
• Need someone to make a play in clutch moments. Thats often the difference between good and great. Great teams make clutch plays when the game is on the line.

BOTTOM LINE AT MID-SEASON
Bill Parcells’ old quote “You are what your record says you are” has never been more true with this team. This is a good, not great team so far this season and the record reflects that. If we want to at least reach a conference championship game for the first time in nearly 3 decades, the team must improve. Good but not great is a repeat of too many recent seasons. Let’s hope they can up their game.

Your thoughts?

 

[maryquality]

Agree with you. Those pre-snap penalties are the WORST!! Those are the kind that can be prevented with discipline and coaching!! Nothing anyone can do about those other "subjective" penalties, like PI, holding and at times, RTP.

 

[mcmvp]

Slight correction on your INT number…think you forgot CJ Stroud. I believe he still only has one INT on the year.. kid is seriously balling…but carry on

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Penalties are even worse. Some of the other teams with 60 have played an extra game

 

[conner01]

Love to get Dowdle more involved but need to get the oline creating some holes. We ran 15 times against eagles. The games we’ve ran very much were blow outs where we ran to eat clock. We need 25 or so runs a game to make the passing game explosive. Can’t run 25 times when you only get 3 yards. And you can’t have so many penalties that put you behind the chains. Really good write up and pretty spot on. A few fixes and we can be a good team but we need those fixes soon

 

[conner01]

I’d love a bit more creativity in the run game too. The days of pounding it behind Martin are over. Need to run more edge runs and more creative blocking inside

 

[Bobhaze]

Slight correction on your INT number…think you forgot CJ Stroud. I believe he still only has one INT on the year.. kid is seriously balling…but carry on

You are right! My mistake. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[DallasEast]

NEEDS GOING FORWARD TO COMPETE IN THE PLAYOFFS

• Get more receivers involved to take pressure off Lamb. Cooks and Gallup have underperformed but occasionally they’ve been open and Dak hasn’t thrown to them. These guys must get more involved or DCs are going to shut down just Cedee to beat us.

I partly disagree. Get more receivers involved by using them properly. Target Cooks more often in the intermediate range. He will have more opportunities to take it to the house. In my opinion, Gallup's strength is solely as a deep threat. Take the top off the defense and have him run deep routes more often, regardless of whether he gets more targets.

Leave the short throw yardage after-the-catch in the hands of Ferguson and Lamb. Ferguson is rounding into a fine tight end receiving threat. Make him more of dump off release valve for Prescott. He has the size to push for yards after contact.

Stephon Diggs has Josh Allen
Tyreek Hill has Tua Tagovailoa
Ja'Marr Chase has Joe Burrow
Travis Kelce has Patrick Mahomes
Heck. Even Amon-Ra St. Brown is getting used properly by Jared Goff

By. No. Means. Take. Pressure. Off. Lamb.

Put MORE pressure on Lamb. Target Lamb more often. This guy has shown he is a number one receiving threat in this league. Prescott and the coaching staff should not run away from the receiving asset standing right in front of their eyes. Want to put the foot on defenses' necks? Do it with Lamb.

 

[Aven8]

I’m curious when is Hendershot coming back? We need that 2nd TE that can catch around here. He looked promising last season.

 

[DallasEast]

Slight correction on your INT number…think you forgot CJ Stroud. I believe he still only has one INT on the year.. kid is seriously balling…but carry on

C.J. Stroud is the real deal. I knew Tampa's pass defense was allowing quarterbacks to sling the ball on them but did not believe they gave him enough time to beat them. I really think Tank Dell will become a star receiver pretty quick just for playing with Stroud.

 

[Denim Chicken]

 

[KJJ]

We definitely need to get more receivers involved because if CeeDee goes down we’re screwed.

 

[Bobhaze]

Agree with you. Those pre-snap penalties are the WORST!! Those are the kind that can be prevented with discipline and coaching!! Nothing anyone can do about those other "subjective" penalties, like PI, holding and at times, RTP.

We’ve had 10 false starts and a whopping 11 offsides calls, along with 2 delay of game penalties. That means over 1/3 of this team’s penalties are pre-snap. It’s a complete lack of focus and attention to detail that must be addressed.

 

[blueblood70]

Sunday’s game vs the giants will signify passing the mid-point of the 2023 season and it‘s a good time to evaluate this team’s strengths, weaknesses and needs going forward.

STRENGTHS (Not necessarily in order of importance)

• The Cowboys have been good at home as evidenced by an 11 game home winning streak. During the Garrett years, the Cowboys were barely above .500 so this team has gained a home field advantage for a change.
• The Cowboys beat the teams they are supposed to (other than Ariz). The Cowboys usually destroy lower rungs teams on their schedule.
• Pass rush. When this team has a two score lead, the pass rush led by Parsons is brutal on opponents.
• Dak has protected the ball well with 5 INTs so far. Only Joe Burrow (4) has less among starting QBs. Whatever anyone thinks about Dak, he’s been good, just not top 5 great. I still think he’s good enough to win playoff games with the right team around him.
• Cedee Lamb. Has emerged into a top 10 NFL receiver and completely reliable weapon for the offense. In fact the MOST reliable weapon.
• Pass defense. Despite the loss of Travon Diggs, the Cowboys secondary has held up well overall. They have 9 INTs, two for TDs and are ranked 3rd against the pass in yardage surrendered.
• The defense has generated 12 TOs in 8 games which is outstanding.
• STs have been excellent. Brandon Aubrey is probably THE most reliable player on the team, and the Cowboys have blocked 2 punts and a FG, creating 2 TDs and a safety.

WEAKNESSES

• Running game. The Cowboys only average 3.9 yards per rush and only avg about 110 yards a game. By having a weak running game, it forces Dak to have to do more which does not help this team. Pollard doesn’t look like a “bell cow” type back when receiving the majority of touches.
• Penalties. Dallas is tied w/ four other teams for most penalties with 60, and have THE most pre-snap penalties with 22. If they don’t fix the pre-snap penalty problems, they will have a short stint in the playoffs.
• OLine has been inconsistent. They have surrendered 23 sacks (11th most in the league so far) and the running game has been anemic. Tyron Smith has actually played well…when he‘s not hurt. This group needed help in the off-season and IMO the FO didn’t do enough to address it.
• Not enough Receivers getting involved. Cedee Lamb has been great and TE Jake Ferguson has emerged but Cooks, Gallup and other TEs have not been getting enough targets for whatever reason.
• Lack of depth at some key positions. RB, OL, LB are probably an injury away from trouble. This is true for most NFL teams but not the ones at the very top. We could all see a need at RB depth this off-season as well as OL but the FO has been reluctant to address it.

NEEDS GOING FORWARD TO COMPETE IN THE PLAYOFFS

• Address the pre-snap penalties! Leading the league in pre-snap penalties will spell doom in the playoffs. We have 11 penalties for lining up off-sides! Just sloppy and lack of attention to detail.
• Get more receivers involved to take pressure off Lamb. Cooks and Gallup have underperformed but occasionally they’ve been open and Dak hasn’t thrown to them. These guys must get more involved or DCs are going to shut down just Cedee to beat us.
• Get Rico Dowdle more involved in the run game. I love Tony Pollard but he’s more effective in the 15-20 touches per game rather than 20-25. Dowdle has more power- we must use him more!
• Faster starts for the offense. We cannot afford to continue with the opening 3 and out, especially against good teams. Poor offensive starts spell disaster in the playoffs.
• Need someone to make a play in clutch moments. Thats often the difference between good and great. Great teams make clutch plays when the game is on the line.

BOTTOM LINE AT MID-SEASON
Bill Parcells’ old quote “You are what your record says you are” has never been more true with this team. This is a good, not great team so far this season and the record reflects that. If we want to at least reach a conference championship game for the first time in nearly 3 decades, the team must improve. Good but not great is a repeat of too many recent seasons. Let’s hope they can up their game.

Your thoughts?

you left one truly glaring thing out that needs to go forward, you sit and ride the offense for slow starts?? every single game this year the defense has allowed points on the first drive , & a glaring trend also the first drive and sometimes the 2ndcoming out of halftime ends in points..

in my opinion, that's a far worse problem than a slow start by the offense..... seriously you can't give up 28 points to these teams and expect the offense to score 30 a game and win?? ..thats bad defense IMHO.. they were flat out terrible against az, 9ers, and eagles. ironic those were all losses. ohh also take it a step further they are giving up these long time consuming drives that end in scores. that takes away from time the offense doesn't get the ball back also penalty's so many of the d in those games. this is starting to remind me of Rods teams the bend don't break except they're breaking!!!
this is not championship style playoff defense , this is boomer bust get it turnovers or give up points...

 

[MoistMayonnaise]

WE ARE WHO WE THOUGHT WE WERE!!

~dennis green?

 

[blueblood70]

We definitely need to get more receivers involved because if CeeDee goes down we’re screwed.

i don't think we are screwed lol i believe that cooks can be a good target if he got the same targets as 1 vs a 2-3 ..dont forget that..if they used him the same way as lamb i believe hes be good, history supports that when hes the guy even with average qb play he gets 1k yards,. maybe not great but not many teams have 2 that can't be a replacement for Their 1.

i don't see this as any different than our 90s teams... how many targets and production came from any other starer then MI and Novacek. Not many. simply not enough balls to go around to support cooks is underperforming simply not being targeted ie small sample size.

so can we layoff the overreactions and the drama?

 

[jterrell]

Very good recap.

Folks are big mad but reality is Dallas lost road games to both NFC Championship game participants.
Arizona was a bad let down loss with 3 players injured mid-week and we played flat and just awful.

Next two games feel like gimmes, and life could look very different at 7-3.
But this team has a lot of work to do to beat elite teams, especially on the road.
OL has to settle and we need some health and continuity but may be forced to shuffle or rotate at RT.
Got a couple weeks but the BYE is over and you will face a buzzsaw of a schedule again later in the year.

TE/WR is pretty simple. We have 2 studs and then just hope behind them.
Hope Cooks gets going in this offense with his speed and hope Schoon learns to catch the ball and chew food at the same time.

CB was great through the 3 deep and now we are on that marginal/JAG 4th guy.

 

[plasticman]

I look at the injury situation. Any contribution by Tyron Smith is a coin toss every week. Terrence Steele is not the Terence Steele of 2022.The LB depth is razor thin. The RB depth has been non-existent,

The loss of Diggs, a genuine play maker in this league, was devastating. It transformed the defense from elite to very good, on par with a half dozen other defenses around the league since the start of the season. Very good isn't good enough to be the difference maker when the Cowboys offense stalls.

This is the time of the season when new stars must emerge. It is important to see increased contributions from guys like Jalen Tolbert, Sam Williams, Mazi Smith, Damone Clark and any RB not named Tony Pollard.

 

[Motorola]

Sunday’s game vs the giants will signify passing the mid-point of the 2023 season and it‘s a good time to evaluate this team’s strengths, weaknesses and needs going forward.

STRENGTHS (Not necessarily in order of importance)

• The Cowboys have been good at home as evidenced by an 11 game home winning streak. During the Garrett years, the Cowboys were barely above .500 so this team has gained a home field advantage for a change.
• The Cowboys beat the teams they are supposed to (other than Ariz). The Cowboys usually destroy lower rungs teams on their schedule.
• Pass rush. When this team has a two score lead, the pass rush led by Parsons is brutal on opponents.
• Dak has protected the ball well with 5 INTs so far. Only Joe Burrow (4) has less among starting QBs. Whatever anyone thinks about Dak, he’s been good, just not top 5 great. I still think he’s good enough to win playoff games with the right team around him.
• Cedee Lamb. Has emerged into a top 10 NFL receiver and completely reliable weapon for the offense. In fact the MOST reliable weapon.
• Pass defense. Despite the loss of Travon Diggs, the Cowboys secondary has held up well overall. They have 9 INTs, two for TDs and are ranked 3rd against the pass in yardage surrendered.
• The defense has generated 12 TOs in 8 games which is outstanding.
• STs have been excellent. Brandon Aubrey is probably THE most reliable player on the team, and the Cowboys have blocked 2 punts and a FG, creating 2 TDs and a safety.

WEAKNESSES

• Running game. The Cowboys only average 3.9 yards per rush and only avg about 110 yards a game. By having a weak running game, it forces Dak to have to do more which does not help this team. Pollard doesn’t look like a “bell cow” type back when receiving the majority of touches.
• Penalties. Dallas is tied w/ four other teams for most penalties with 60, and have THE most pre-snap penalties with 22. If they don’t fix the pre-snap penalty problems, they will have a short stint in the playoffs.
• OLine has been inconsistent. They have surrendered 23 sacks (11th most in the league so far) and the running game has been anemic. Tyron Smith has actually played well…when he‘s not hurt. This group needed help in the off-season and IMO the FO didn’t do enough to address it.
• Not enough Receivers getting involved. Cedee Lamb has been great and TE Jake Ferguson has emerged but Cooks, Gallup and other TEs have not been getting enough targets for whatever reason.
• Lack of depth at some key positions. RB, OL, LB are probably an injury away from trouble. This is true for most NFL teams but not the ones at the very top. We could all see a need at RB depth this off-season as well as OL but the FO has been reluctant to address it.

NEEDS GOING FORWARD TO COMPETE IN THE PLAYOFFS

• Address the pre-snap penalties! Leading the league in pre-snap penalties will spell doom in the playoffs. We have 11 penalties for lining up off-sides! Just sloppy and lack of attention to detail.
• Get more receivers involved to take pressure off Lamb. Cooks and Gallup have underperformed but occasionally they’ve been open and Dak hasn’t thrown to them. These guys must get more involved or DCs are going to shut down just Cedee to beat us.
• Get Rico Dowdle more involved in the run game. I love Tony Pollard but he’s more effective in the 15-20 touches per game rather than 20-25. Dowdle has more power- we must use him more!
• Faster starts for the offense. We cannot afford to continue with the opening 3 and out, especially against good teams. Poor offensive starts spell disaster in the playoffs.
• Need someone to make a play in clutch moments. Thats often the difference between good and great. Great teams make clutch plays when the game is on the line.

BOTTOM LINE AT MID-SEASON
Bill Parcells’ old quote “You are what your record says you are” has never been more true with this team. This is a good, not great team so far this season and the record reflects that. If we want to at least reach a conference championship game for the first time in nearly 3 decades, the team must improve. Good but not great is a repeat of too many recent seasons. Let’s hope they can up their game.

Your thoughts?

You covered it all - and in details...every CZer cut and paste that post.

Cowboys were lauded by the sports media nationwide for obtaining Cooks as the No. 2 WR - but he's being used like a No.4/5.
HC, OC, and QB - get together and figure it out ASAP.
Pollard has over 50% of the team's rushes attempts - and if you remove the 37 QB mostly pocket scrambles + Hendershot's fumble-recovery run - it shoots up to over 60%.
Starting Sunday, get Dowdle 12-15 carries a game, top off Pollard at 15, and sprinkle in the runs by the WR group.

 

[Diehardblues]

Our home record is somewhat skewed as most of our tougher opponents have been on the road so far.

I argued the other side a few years ago when our schedule had our tougher opponents at home .

In our brutal 5 game stretch coming up after Thanksgiving we have 3 of those 5 games against stronger opponents at home which should provide a more balanced analysis.