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The Dallas Cowboys lost to the Chicago Bears in a relatively uncompetitive contest in Week 3. The defense was terrible again as Chicago QB Caleb Williams went through his first NFL game without a sack and notched yet another play of over 50 yards. Even the offense disappointed, scoring only 14 points.
The bad news continued after the game with long-term injury diagnoses on CeeDee Lamb and Tyler Booker. All those negatives can’t be ignored, but there were positives from the game as well. Dallas must find a way to sift through the poor play and identify the things they did well to take into their Week 4 matchup with the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.
Continue the quick start offense
While a turnover is never a positive outcome, the truth is that Dallas was near the red zone in two plays on their first drive and then went on to score back-to-back double-digit play drives to start the game. This has been inconsistent for the Cowboys. They scored on their first four possessions against the Philadelphia Eagles and then started the game against the New York Giants with two three-and-out drives. Scoring early could settle the team down and allow them to keep pace against the Packers.
Get younger players more snaps
As players gain trust with the coaching staff and show productivity, they should earn snaps. Brevyn Spann-Ford has been the Cowboys’ best blocker outside of the offensive linemen on the team, and his snaps got up to 15 against the Bears. Luke Schoonmaker is still nearly doubling him in snaps, but that should change if Spann-Ford continues to do his job so well.
Other young players, like Ryan Flournoy and Juanyeh Thomas, are starting to get snaps as veterans fail to meet expectations. Dante Fowler Jr. has underperformed, and he ended the last game with fewer snaps than Sam Williams, Donovan Ezeiruaku, and Marshawn Kneeland. With Lamb out, it might be time to see what rookie running back Jaydon Blue can bring as a playmaker.
Use play-action passing
Dak Prescott has been excellent so far this season, but with how well Dallas has run the ball, it’s not surprising his play-action passing numbers have been spectacular. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer made play-action passing a key component of his offense, increasing the usage by over 10% from the previous season.
Prescott has a passer rating over 40 points higher when using play-action. His completion percentage is more than 25% higher, his per-attempt average is 3.5 yards higher, and his big-time throw percentage goes up 7.5%. It’s undeniable the impact play-action has on the Dallas passing game, and the team will need it to slow down a monstrous Green Bay pass rush.
You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or on YouTube at Across the Cowboys podcast
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