You probably thought Sunday’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Jacksonville Jaguars would be a low-scoring affair, especially for the Cowboys.
How the Cowboys offense finally came alive against one of the NFL’s best defenses
The Cowboys offense finally found its groove, and all it took was playing a fast and ferocious Jaguars defense that dominated the NFL last season.
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Dallas came into Sunday averaging just 16.6 points per game. The Jaguars, who had allowed the third-fewest points in the league, were giving up just 17.2. The most points Jacksonville allowed this season had been 30 to a mighty Kansas City Chiefs offense. Entering Week 6, the Cowboys had been anything but mighty.
But against what was seemingly a bad matchup, the Cowboys offense finally came alive for a 40-7 win in which they gained 378 total yards against one of the NFL’s best young defenses.
So how did Dallas finally put together by far its best offensive game of the season?
The Cowboys leaned on their running game for success
Dallas got back to what they do best: running the ball. Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott, and the offensive line all had fantastic games as part of an effort that generated 206 yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries. The Jaguars hadn’t been a bad run defense — they ranked 14th in the NFL allowing 4.0 yards per carry — but the Cowboys created an advantage and rode it to victory.
When the run game is cooking like it was, life gets easier for Prescott. Jacksonville had to load up the box to stop the run, which meant that the play-action game was effective. The Jaguars’ focus on Elliott also opened up running lanes for Prescott. Just look at defenders biting on Elliott during Prescott’s 17-yard touchdown run.
The ground game’s success also allowed head coach Jason Garrett to be a bit more aggressive this week. After refusing to go for a fourth-and-1 in an overtime loss last week against the Texans — and facing the wrath of Jerry Jones — Garrett decided to go for it on fourth down during a Cowboys touchdown drive.
Dallas was finally able to score touchdowns in the red zone
Scoring touchdowns in the red zone is crucial for NFL offenses, and part of the reason why Dallas has struggled so much this year. Coming into the game, Dallas was only able to score touchdowns on 41.7 percent of their red zone opportunities, ranking 29th in the NFL.
On Sunday, the Cowboys scored touchdowns on all four of their red zone trips (that’s 100 percent for you math guys). Cole Beasley did a great job of finding open space in the end zone to catch touchdown passes of 17 and nine yards, Prescott ran in a score on the read option keeper above, and Elliott had a 15-yard scamper.
It was a nice bounce-back week for offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who took criticism from wide receiver Allen Hurns last week for a poor play call that ended with an interception. Linehan committed to Dallas’ bread and butter and it worked against Jacksonville’s defense.
Granted, Prescott had just 183 passing yards and Dallas didn’t get much from receivers not named Cole Beasley. That said, Beasley was great, catching nine passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns. Beasley’s scores were his first since Week 9 last season when he had two touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs. No other wide receiver for Dallas had more than one catch, while tight end Geoff Swaim had two catches for 21 yards.
Was Dallas’ outburst an anomaly or something that can be replicated?
If the Cowboys can somehow continue to play with the offensive precision they did against Jacksonville, they might be able to make a bit of a run as we approach the halfway point of the season.
Even with Travis Frederick out, they still have the talent on the offensive line and in the backfield to be dominant on the ground like this every week. Running the ball isn’t the most effective way to score points in the NFL today, but sometimes teams just have to do what works for them. The Cowboys have already proven they can win like this, riding the run game hard to 12- and 13-win seasons in 2014 and 2016, respectively. They ranked second in the league in rushing in both seasons.
Meanwhile the Cowboys’ defense has been playing well all season. They were giving up 5.3 yards per play entering the game, sixth in the NFL, and that continued Sunday when they held Jacksonville to 4.3 yards per play and just 139 net passing yards.
The Jaguars are a struggling team at the moment, particularly on defense where a loaded depth chart is playing much more conservatively than it should. But the Cowboys are now in second place in the NFC East behind Washington at 3-3, just half a game back, and a huge win over a team that had the best defense in the NFL a year ago has to be a good feeling.
Offense hasn’t been easy at all for Dallas — the Cowboys hadn’t scored more than 26 points in a game this season. Against the Jaguars, however, they showed how scary they can be when they accomplish what they want.
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