If you followed anything at all from Tuesday’s joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams, a few things jumped off the screen, one of which was a major issue early and often.
Reporters in attendance repeatedly mentioned the Rams’ run defense during Tuesday’s practice, shutting down the Cowboys’ rushing attack.
There is plenty of video on Twitter to back this up, and trust me, the play of the Dallas Cowboys offensive line was ugly.
Issues Up Front
Nate Thomas, who is filling in for Tyler Guyton, absolutely dominated against everyone he went up against on Tuesday.
Jared Verse is clearly a problem, and sure Thomas won’t match up with guys like him all season, but plenty of other pass rushers are going to take advantage of him time and time again.
Check out the video below.
I honestly have no idea how this offensive line is going to make it through the year. I expected growing pains, but the first joint practice of the season, and they looked like the scout team.
I am all for trying to stay positive, but this offensive line is just not very good. Tyler Smith is a dog, and we know what we are going to get from him.
If you check out any of the videos from the joint practice yesterday, you will see that the Cowboys could, once again, could not run football at all. It was so bad.
I actually thought the defensive line would be worse going into September, but after Tuesday, I have completely flipped sides.
The Cowboys need to have great offensive line play if they want to run the ball with a running back by committee.
They two great WRs outside, but Dak Prescott may be running for his life every single time he drops back to pass. The passing game will be better because they might have the second-best duo, but without an average offensive line, they are going to have some trouble.
Look, after losing Robert Jones with a broken bone in his neck and Tyler Guyton expected to miss 4–6 weeks, the Cowboys had to go out and sign La’el Collins.
Collins played for the Cowboys for seven seasons, but he has not played in the NFL since 2022, when he was with the Bengals. He had a brief practice squad stint with the Cowboys in 2023 and was with the Bills in camp in 2024.
With all that and the way Thomas looked on Tuesday, I just somehow hope this team can work around below-average offensive line play with the two guys out wide.
