I’m not sure about you, but I’m tired of hearing about what this Cowboys’ offense should be able to do. Dak Prescott himself wants a fast start against Washington in week 2, but Dallas has to give Javonte Williams somewhere to run to get that start.
We can’t spend another Sunday wondering when the offense is going to start playing at the level they are capable of.
Looking through the Giants game and the Cowboys blocking grades, I found reasons to be encouraged by Tyler Guyton and Tyler Booker. I also found problems that won’t get fixed by handing the ball off to Javonte Williams more often either.
Javonte Williams Needs Room to Run
Dallas had 69 yards on 18 rushing attempts, with Javonte Williams getting 25 yards on nine first-half carries. Brian Schottenheimer described his running back by saying: “Javonte was running into a freaking wall in the beginning of the game.”
I could use several plays from the first half, but the one that sticks out to me is the play on second and two; Abdul Carter pushed Jake Ferguson into the running lane. Williams had to work around his own blocker, and the play gained nothing.
If you go back and look at the tape from all game, Dallas had a chance to pick up a first down on several plays. You can see Williams trying to find space where the blocking was supposed to create the lane, but the lane never materialized.
There was also some good work happening up front. Tyler Guyton had an 84.8 run-blocking grade, and Tyler Booker finished at 79.5, where both players had 17 run-blocking snaps.
These were the only two guys worth having in the game in run situations last Sunday.
Pass Protection Scares Me
Here’s where we see major problems. Tyler Guyton’s pass-blocking grade was 49.2 with two pressures and Terence Steele’s was 45.2 with one pressure. The pressures look so much better than the grades. Because the grades show our bookends can’t block a rusher.
I’m not comfortable calling either of those performances good based on pressures alone. The grades raise questions that the low totals don’t answer, especially when Dallas needs both tackles to hold up whenever the defense is expecting a pass.
Cooper Beebe had a 74.1 pass-blocking grade with no pressures, while Booker finished with a 68.4. Those two guys gave Dallas something to build around, but the tackles have to give us more protection before this offense can overcome its lackluster week 1 game.
The Blocking Problems Go Beyond the Line
Just in case anyone was wondering, T.J. Bass isn’t ever going to be Tyler Smith. Bass graded out in the run game at 54.1 and had a 53.2 in pass protection. He also gave up three pressures, which was the most by a Dallas lineman.
I found out no one on this team blocked particularly well. Jake Ferguson’s run-blocking grade was 57.6 on 11 snaps. Ryan Flournoy was at 48.4 over 13 snaps, while Luke Schoonmaker graded at 39.5 on five. Not a ton of snaps, but they have to do better on limited snaps.
We can’t expect Javonte Williams to turn every broken play into a gain. We need to see Dallas land those supporting blocks, and Schottenheimer has to adjust when the approach isn’t working. More carries won’t fix missed blocks.
Dak Prescott Owes Dallas a Cleaner Game
When we watched Dak Prescott attempt to throw away the ball, it was intercepted with the score of the game tied at 7-7, it led to a 14–7 Giants lead going into halftime. To make matters worse, New York scored again after halftime to double the lead.
That one belongs on the quarterback, but the blockers have mistakes to correct. More time and maybe Dak gets that ball to a receiver, but Dak has to get that football out of bounds.
Against Washington, I want an offense that makes those ordinary plays consistently. Give Javonte Williams a lane, finish the blocks away from the ball, and protect the ball.
I’d like to spend Sunday watching a team produce something on offense instead of hearing after the game why it didn’t.
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