Dak's Sacks: Dallas Cowboys O-Line Fails To Protect Prescott; How to Fix Recent Struggles?
The Dallas Cowboys found a lump of coal in their stocking this year, with said coal coming in a 22-20 heartbreaking loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
In this loss, some of Dallas' biggest flaws were on full display. Some of those flaws, like the Cowboys' struggles away from home and issues in the red zone, have been highly-publicized. However, others haven't gotten quite the same attention, and chief among them is the recent subpar play of the offensive line.
Over the past four games, the Cowboys have allowed an alarming 14 sacks on quarterback Dak Prescott. They were able to overcome those sacks against the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles, but not in their last two games against the Buffalo Bills and the Dolphins.
Dak Prescott
In the three games before this streak, though, the Cowboys allowed just single sack and that came against backup QB Cooper Rush in garbage time. Of course, that comes with the asterisk of those games being against teams in the top seven of the current draft order, but still, a good performance deserves credit.
This recent cold streak isn't entirely unprecedented, though. Going back even further, Dallas allowed 19 sacks during a five-game span from Week 4 to Week 9. With the sheer difference in performance between long stretches, it would seem to indicate that inconsistency is the main issue, but knowing a problem isn't the same as solving it.
Granted, injuries definitely played a part in Sunday's performance. Left tackle Tyron Smith missed the game with a back injury, while All-Pro guard Zack Martin played through a lingering thigh injury he suffered last week in Buffalo.
Still, the Cowboys can't afford to let these issues carry into the postseason. With the monster pass rushes that the San Francisco 49ers, who had five sacks against the Cowboys in Week 5, and the Philadelphia Eagles, who had nine sacks in two games against Dallas, have, the offensive line will need to play much better than it has recently.
