Frisco, Texas — It's one thing to enjoy a home-cooked meal, and the Dallas Cowboys are doing it better than any team in the entire NFL these days, but the problem is that when you're trying to eat at someone's It means that they are being sprinkled with rat poison. someone else's table.
No team in the league is as dominant at home as the Cowboys, currently on a 15-game winning streak, the longest in 42 years, and boasting an extraordinary goal difference of 279-108 (+171). There is. However, on the road, the difference in points significantly reversed to 152 to 156 (-4), and the home record reversed from 7 wins to 0 losses on the season to 3 wins and 4 losses.
Dr. Jekyll, meet Mr. Hyde.
Is there a reason for this dual personality for the Cowboys this season? Of course there is. And with Miami hosting the turbocharged Dolphins next, now is the time to identify and fix the problem.
“The difference is too big in our road games.” — Mike McCarthy
This is a huge problem, folks.
If you didn't watch the embarrassing loss to the Buffalo Bills and just skimmed the stat line and box score, you would hardly know that penalties were the reason the Cowboys lost by 21 points at Orchard Park. In the end, Mike McCarthy's team only allowed five penalties in the game, one of Dallas' lowest points of the season.
However, you need to understand that when it comes to penalties, I always follow the rule of “kind and timing.”
In other words, what is the penalty and at what point in the game did it occur? Was it a false start while enjoying a 20-point lead late in the fourth quarter, or was it a false start on a potentially game-deciding drive, a first-and-goal from the opponent's 6-yard line? ?? One of them is pretty harmless, but the other one helped damage the Cowboys' game.
Of course, it's as laughable as it is impossible when analyzing the film that the Bills only received one penalty (for various gratuitous infractions, such as holding, illegal downfield, etc.). contact, etc.). However, the quality of refereeing at this point is unlikely to be that way. Control what you can to improve.
So let's go back to Sunday night in Buffalo, before halftime, when four of the Cowboys' five penalties decided the game. The Bills scored 18 total points with three personal fouls, making the first half 21, but a holding penalty on Dallas' first drive resulted in a high-quality drive (despite an overthrow to Brandin Cooks). ) ended up being just a punt.
Speaking of which, Brian Unger went from one punt to five in his last two games in Buffalo. But I'll explain why that is in a moment.
But for now, please bear with me about the penalty, thank you.
The type and timing of Buffalo's flags buried the Cowboys. That included an unnecessary roughness penalty on Zach Martin after Dak Prescott's 13-yard scramble on 3rd-and-6, and on that first drive, the aforementioned hit to Tyler. There was also a holding call. Smith removed an unnecessary 15-yard roughness call against Taylor Rapp for a hit on Prescott. This offsets the two penalties.
Combined with the penalty on Smith, the Cowboys were hit with a 25-yard bullet.
And, let me be clear, I love (even worship) offensive linemen who protect quarterbacks, but they do so in the realm of understanding the situation and environment at hand; It leads to controlling what can be controlled.
At this point, you're probably wondering how the Cowboys will fare overall with penalties, right? Of course it should be.
“We can't be two different teams.” — Dak Prescott
There's a lot of laundry in Dallas this time of year, so bring your bloomers.
Through 14 games this season, the Cowboys are the NFL's most penalized team, gaining 102 yards heading into Week 16 against the Dolphins for a total of 872 yards (the equivalent of about nine football fields). gained penalty yards). In contrast, the San Francisco 49ers have been penalized just 83 times this year, and the Philadelphia Eagles have even fewer, with just 80 penalties allowed.
If you look further into how this is affecting performance on the road, it's clear as a chandelier that someone needs to empty the basket.
- victory: 57.4 penalty yards per game
- loss: 74.5 penalty yards per game
- House: 47 penalties (409 penalty yards)
- away: 55 penalties (463 penalty yards)
This reveals an issue not only with type and timing, but also with the amount of yards the Cowboys are allowed to give opposing teams on the road overall. That's over 17 extra yards per game. . If you don't think that's a big deal, consider the difference between trying to score from the 18-yard line and him trying to score from the 1-yard line.
“This is certainly a season of opportunity, but not when it comes to football.
Drink, drink, drink some more.
The Cowboys' performance and points at home mask many of the shortcomings in this metric, adding context that penalties are more “forgivable” at home, but on the road, especially against the top. The margin of error is very thin. The team believes masks are much more difficult to make.
This brings us to the next question: Dallas will have to decide whether to turn it on when they're not in the comfort of AT&T Stadium.
“Honestly, it's unacceptable at this point. There's no excuse.” — Micah Parsons
Through the first five weeks of the 2023 season, the Cowboys' offense has been unforgettable as it tries to find its groove to match Saab, one of the league's best defenses.
The pivot point came in Week 5's loss to the 49ers. That's because there is clear evidence that tweaks (e.g., pre-snap motion) were made that facilitated the outburst of offensive production. That's true, but it's also true that most of the explosions occurred in Arlington, not on the road, and the fork in the home road reveals everything in this area.
- House – 279 points, 3,022 total yards, 6.1 yards per play
- away – 152 points, 2132 total yards, 4.9 yards per play
Too bad, Charlie Brown.
Ladies and gentlemen, your eyes are not deceiving you. Yes, the Cowboys have scored 127 fewer points and gained 890 fewer yards on the road than at home, and he averages over a yard less per play. This also applies to defense. The defense has been a great scorer this season, though not consistently. Everything is reflected on the same scoreboard, which puts pressure on the opposing team to try and get out of a bad position. – Feed into the hands of the most dominant pass.
Without a big lead, or no lead at all, you can't get a pass rush and the Cowboys will often try to protect the run (and time) (see Buffalo as an example).
- Home (defense) – 158 attempts, 606 rushing yards allowed, 3.8 yards per game.
- Away (defense) – 227 attempts, 1,038 rushing yards allowed, 4.6 yards per attempt.
If you consider the points I made about point spread in the first few paragraphs, you can see why the rushing yardage allowance is so skewed.
There's a reason why James Cook gained 179 rushing yards (221 from scrimmage, the most against the Cowboys since Todd Gurley in Week 4 of 2017), and it's because the Bills had the most rushing yards in a game against the Cowboys. He scored 18 of his 21 points. Stall and stop if you've heard this before. But both were facilitated by hefty penalties.
Oh, and 12 missed tackles won't get the job done for anyone.
The formula Dallas uses to beat opponents at home is also used on the road. That is, get a big lead, force the opposing team to throw without haste, slowly shrinking more and more like a boa until time runs out to zero.
Ah, now that we've gone full circle, let's color it.
From an offensive production standpoint, Prescott and the Cowboys have to find ways to communicate more efficiently after clearing penalties (which also means I will help (to clean up penalties) and can also be on the same page in the passing attack.
It's been kept quiet, but Tony Pollard and Rico Doodle have been doing all of this consistently for a while now, serving as the only parts of the offense that don't buckle down the stretch. And that's at least promising.
- Home (Offense): 902 rushing yards, 4.2 yards per attempt
- Away (Offense): 729 rushing yards, 4.1 yards per attempt
One of the things that works in the playoffs is a solid rushing attack, and the Cowboys at least have that, even though there have been a lot of questions about Pollard, Dowdle, and the offensive line for most of the season. , they are silently but loudly responding at the same time.
By the way, what about the passing attack? There aren't that many.
- Home (Offense) – 2,216 passing yards, 8.4 yards per pass, 14 sacks allowed
- Away (Offense) – 1,537 passing yards, 6.4 yards per pass. Up to 19 sacks allowed
Despite his struggles with the Bills, Prescott is rightly the frontrunner for MVP, but that can't hide the reality of the problem that passing attacks can't always find the knob to turn up the volume on the road. . This also applies to the fact that Prescott was pressured more often on the road (14 sacks for a total loss of 96 yards) than at home (14 sacks for a loss of 96 yards), and only sent in six blitzes. Nevertheless, it also applies to the fact that they were under siege against the Bills. To him.
When it comes to pass protection on the road, there has always been, and always will be, a difference in the communication ability between offensive linemen, more than their compatibility on the field, but that's why it's important not to allow the opponent to attack. becomes more important. As mentioned earlier, if pass protection is more difficult than carving lanes for a rushing attack, the other team will force you to be one-dimensional.
Pollard and Dowdle's abilities are necessary for defenses to keep playing honestly in the trenches and second-guessing, which makes everything easier. Even though you know you can run as fast as you can with your ears pinned back in Prescott, the crowd noise and potential weather conditions mean long days are common.
By the way, that communication issue can extend to the defensive side of the ball as well.
“This stretch is advantageous for us. We have three tough road games.” — Mike McCarthy
We've been hearing the term “complementary football” a lot lately, and it's no surprise.
Wash both feet with one hand and the other hand. The sooner the cowboys discover where someone hid Old Spice body wash on a road trip, the sooner they can cleanse themselves of the odors picked up on the trip.
The final seeding for the playoffs is still up in the air, considering the Eagles' three-game losing streak opens the door for them to potentially take the No. 2 spot and the No. 1 spot in the NFC East. Seats are still in play. However, in any case, if the Cowboys qualify for the playoffs and enter the tournament as the 5th seed, they will need to go on the road first and then hope that things turn around and they get a chance. means. while playing at home.
On a related side note, I wonder if they will still show the resilience they showed after being cleverly slowed down by the 49ers and winning seven of their next eight games (including five in a row). Mathematically speaking, if they make the playoffs as a non-top seed, they only need five more wins to qualify for the NFC Championship Game.
And if they enter as the top seed, they will be in the Super Bowl.
Hmm, don't worry, I'm just thinking out loud.
“That's a big difference, and that's really what the next few weeks are going to be about understanding that difference and trying to close that gap.” – Dak Prescott
However, I would like to offer one final point.
Even if the Cowboys somehow pulled off the impossible and earned the No. 1 seed with help from their 49ers and Lions opponents (one of which was the Cowboys), sure, it would give them a home run. You'll get the field advantage and have it all the way to the finals. Given their dominance and tenacity in the Super Bowl and at AT&T Stadium, their odds of making it to the big game are even better.
But what do you think? No, it's not “chicken butt”. If the Cowboys reach the Super Bowl, it's… tell me… on the road.
If you don't fix the problem now, later the problem will either not exist or it won't exist.
Scary. Please run away from there. Destiny comes the same way.
