New York Giants Week 10: Examining the Dallas Cowboys Offense

How much has the Cowboys' offense changed since they saw the Giants back in Week 1?

Author:
Brandon Olsen
Publish date:
Nov 9, 2023 12:00 PM EST

In this story:

The Dallas Cowboys team is still trying to find itself. The run game hasn’t been there, the passing attack has created explosive plays, but this offense has bullied lesser teams (Giants, Patriots, Rams) and not been able to score nearly as much against strong defenses in recent weeks like the 49ers and Eagles, even the Chargers held them to 20 points.

Personnel

Before the season, Dak Prescott said that he was looking to throw less than ten interceptions, and right now, he’s pacing to throw exactly 10. Three of those have come on short passes where Dak just makes a hurried throw, which we’ll discuss later.

Dak has been a bit quicker to tuck and run this season, where he’s been used significantly less as a designed runner. Despite his injury history, Dak has been much more welcoming to contact as a runner and has been more likely to put it on the line to convert a first down.

The Cowboys haven’t been nearly as good on the ground this year as they’ve been in the past. Given the new-look backfield, some could say that was expected, but you could also argue it should have gone the opposite way with fresher legs.

Tony Pollard is finally the lead back this season, and he’s dominated carries. Unfortunately, he hasn’t exactly been efficient as a ball-carrier. While the Cowboys have struggled with injuries on the offensive line, I think Pollard is to blame for his lack of explosive runs and production.

Throughout his career, Pollard did a great job of bouncing plays outside, making defenders miss in space, and being a problem to bring down consistently. This season, he’s been reluctant to try and cut back and make something out of nothing.

CeeDee Lamb has established himself as a top young receiver in the league and is entering the elite conversation. Most of his damage comes from the slot, which, for some reason, some people view as a negative, but with his inside-out ability, he’s near the top of the league.

Lamb is currently fourth in the NFL in receiving yards and is one explosive game away from hitting the 1,000-yard mark for the third straight season. The big issue for this offense in the passing game has been trying to find a complementary receiver to work with Lamb.

Jalen Tolbert has taken some steps and could be the guy to step up on the outside, but to this point, neither Michael Gallup nor Brandin Cooks have shown up for Prescott. The duo have been underwhelming both efficiency-wise when Prescott targets them and overall production-wise.

Tight end Jake Ferguson has been a reliable target for Prescott as a safety valve, but he’s not much of a consistent deep threat that this offense continues to look for. Rookie fullback Hunter Luepke has found his way into the offensive gameplan here and there with his swiss-army knife skillset, but I wouldn’t expect him to be included outside of the red zone this week.

Scheme

The scheme the Cowboys have been running under Brian Schottenheimer is similar to what we expected. The biggest difference that I’ve noticed from Schottenheimer’s last run as an offensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks was that he’s added more power-running into the game plan.

With how versatile the run game has been, the Giants can’t be as reliant on just having Dexter Lawrence two-gap and stuff any zone runs, but they should still be able to find success slowing down this offense when they look toward their zone game.

There’s also been a strong balance of inside-out running for Dallas, a strength that their offensive line presents as being versatile and reliable.

The Cowboys have allowed Dak Prescott to have one of the highest play-action pass rates at 26.9%, tied for the sixth-highest rate in the league. The deep shot off those play fakes hasn’t been there to this point, but they’ve looked for big plays.

The middle of the field has been a favorite area for the offense to look at, as explained in our Week 1 preview, Schottenheimer was always more likely to get playmakers the ball over the middle of the field than Kellen Moore did.

An area that I expected the Cowboys to look to but haven’t was throwing screens. With weapons like Pollard, Cooks, and speed demon KaVontae Turpin, this time, they should probably look to creatively get the ball in their hands and allow them to make plays as runners in space.

What This Means for the Giants

Dak has thrown three of his interceptions when he’s been blitzed, and they’ve mostly come on short routes there. That’s mostly due to him recognizing the blitz early and trying to get rid of the ball quickly.

Get back to what you know, Wink. Send a fifth rusher, or at least make it look like you’re going to, but be sure to clog passing lanes and try to make a play on the ball.

I’m generally against being incredibly aggressive, but the defense needs to create chaos to help this Giants offense. Expect to see various coverages from the Giants with added pressure packages.

Dexter Lawrence can’t dominate this run game completely by himself, but the surrounding talent should be able to come up and make some plays that give Pollard fits on the ground. With his lack of explosive plays created so far, the Giants should be able to come up and keep him from erupting.

Final Thoughts

The Cowboys' defense is expected to shut down the Giants' offense. The Giants' defense, however, has been red hot in recent weeks and could make this a close game by creating issues for Dallas’ offense.