Five things the Cowboys' offense needs to fix
http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas-cowb...terrell-mcclain-can-be-valuable-cowboys-piece (second article)
...Creativity rules
The problem: Any time you ask Garrett about the Cowboys’ offense, he’ll talk about its ability to attack a defense in a lot of different ways. The Cowboys do that by having the quarterback read the defense and attack the mismatch.
The issue, of course, is when no mismatch exists. When
Dez Bryant missed five games with a broken toe, the Cowboys simply couldn’t take advantage of perceived mismatches with
Terrance Williams and
Cole Beasley. And when Bryant returned, he caught only 31 of 72 passes thrown his way, so he didn’t take advantage of mismatches, either.
How to fix it: Instead of relying so much on their players to win one-on-one battles, Garrett and the coaching staff need to do a better job of using rub routes -- pick plays -- and bunch sets to get their receivers open if they can’t do it by themselves. The Cowboys scored 259 points -- their lowest total since 2002 -- and finished 29th in the NFL.
Touchdowns instead of field goals in the red zone
The problem: The Cowboys scored only 20 touchdowns in 45 trips inside their opponents’ 20-yard line, which tied them for 29th in the NFL. Kicking field goals instead of scoring touchdowns meant the Cowboys rarely built leads that forced their opponents to panic. The field goals also kept the Cowboys from separating from their opponents, which is among the reasons they lost seven games where they were leading or tied in the fourth quarter.
How to fix it: Romo throwing a fade to Bryant against man-to-man coverage is a great play when they’re each healthy. When injuries robbed the Cowboys of that play, Garrett and Linehan did a poor job of coming up with a different approach. They should use more play-action passes on first down since they’re such a run-heavy team. Or they should use more motion to create matchups they want to exploit. There are a lot of ways to scheme players open in the red zone but Dallas rarely, if ever, did it...
