It takes a rare mix of confidence and strategy to abandon the identify of your offense, but that is exactly how the Dallas Cowboys managed to outsmart the Washington Commanders defense on Sunday. Looking closely at the game, we found some interesting numbers that explain their approach, and it could help prepare us for what’s coming this season. Let’s dive in.
Passing on first down
The Cowboys struggled to run the ball. All efforts were thwarted by the Commanders aggressive play near the line of scrimmage. The offense missed blocks and couldn’t get any push to open any running lanes for running back Javonte Williams. But the offense wasn’t impacted. The Cowboys recognized the Commanders’ intentions and simply deviated from the run, proving that flexibility beats stubbornness every single time.
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The most impressive thing about the offense is how many times the team tried to pass the ball on first down. They had 23 first down plays in the game and they dropped back to pass on 14 of them (61%). That’s a large number considering the team was playing with the lead almost the entire game.
More impressive than that quantity of dropbacks was the quality of plays in those situations. The Cowboys had successful plays on 11 of those 14 plays, a 79% success rate, compared to just 4 of 9 (44%) on designed runs. Whether it was bootlegs, play-action, or even productive scrambles after not finding an open receiver, the offense repeatedly had success on first down when dropping back. They averaged 8.6 yards per play at those moments, compared to 3.0 ypp on running plays.
It was a testament to the offensive coaching staff to recognize what the defense was doing and repeatedly counter. The Cowboys maximized their strength and kept attacking and Washington never had an answer for them.
Touchdown machine
The first down success led to the Cowboys scoring 37 points. The offense scored on seven of their eight possessions, and four of them were touchdowns. The impressive thing about that was that once again, the offense didn’t get a lot of opportunities. Eight possessions are still on the low side when a typical game usually provides double-digit chances.
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In each of the Cowboys’ first two games, they’ve lost the time of possession battle. The good news is they only had the ball three minutes less than the Commanders compared to 13 minutes less than the Giants in the opener. That’s because the defense did a little better, but they’re still having trouble getting off the field, much to the exhaustion of anyone watching.
Over the first two weeks, the offense has only had 14 possessions, which isn’t many opportunities, but thankfully they have scored touchdowns on half of them. This level of efficiency isn’t sustainable, but they should improve the number of possessions as the defense continues to improve, assuming the defense does, in fact, improve.
All hands on deck
The offense is using everyone. If you look at the snap counts over the first two games, there are a couple of things that jump out. First, the team’s WR3, Ryan Flournoy, is seeing a lot of action, playing in over 70% of the snaps in each game. The team is very comfortable in a three wide receiver set and uses it often.
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The other thing is that they are using a good balance arrangement of Brevyn Spann-Ford, Luke Schoonmaker, Hunter Luepke, and Jonathan Mingo. All these guys are playing roughly 20% of the snaps in each game. These guys add extra blocking, or extra deception depending on what happens during the play. None of these guys will fill up a stat sheet, but they have a specific purpose in the offense, and it’s working well.
This also allows players like CeeDee Lamb to get more of a breather as he’s had back-to-back games of less than 50 snaps. For reference, the last time that happened was three years ago. But less can be more. Lamb remains a huge focal point of the offense. He has scored three touchdowns so far, already matching his touchdown total from last year. He looks like a new man (better health will do that) as a more preserved Lamb is a good Lamb.
Ultimately, this efficiency highlights a coaching staff willing to adapt rather than slam forward with a pre-determined mantra of “being a physical offense.” By sharing the load and picking their moments perfectly, the numbers prove that this success is no fluke, especially when they have a good decision maker at quarterback. If the defense can eventually hold up their end of the bargain, this team is going to be hard to slow down.
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