Brian Schottenheimer’s prime goal because the Cowboys new head coach ought to be to repair the operating recreation

An extended, very long time in the past in a galaxy not so distant, the Dallas Cowboys had been good at operating the soccer. Whether or not it was DeMarco Murray or Ezekiel Elliott, the offense featured a fierce dashing assault as “establishing the run” grew to become one among Jason Garrett’s greatest mantras. From 2013 to 2021, the Cowboys completed within the prime eight in dashing yards per try seven occasions.

However someplace alongside the road, the Cowboys run recreation misplaced its means. They’ve progressively gotten worse in three straight seasons, ending within the backside half all three years. Final 12 months, the Cowboys completed thirtieth within the league in yards per try. Working the ball nicely is now not their factor. Right here is how the workforce has ranked during the last 10 years.

On the floor, this doesn’t bode nicely for Brian Schottenheimer. As a lot as Mike McCarthy complained concerning the offense missing stability below Kellen Moore’s play-calling, he and Schottenheimer made issues even worse within the floor assault. In the meantime, Moore is a part of the Philadelphia Eagles top-rushing offense.

Whereas that’s a snapshot view of what’s been occurring, there’s much more to unpack. For starters, McCarthy has been the workforce’s play-caller these previous two seasons. It’s unclear how a lot management of the Cowboys dashing assault Schottenheimer had throughout this time. It’s additionally unclear how a lot of the workforce’s run struggles needed to do with teaching or different components.

Let’s lay out some numbers. As we said, the McCarthenheimer run recreation was yucky, culminating in one of many worst outputs we’ve seen from this workforce in a very long time. However each McCarthy and Schottenheimer weren’t dangerous at this earlier than arriving in Dallas. Do you know that McCarthy’s Inexperienced Bay Packers completed within the prime seven in dashing yards per try throughout his final three seasons as their head coach? And Schottenheimer’s Seattle Seahawks completed within the prime 10 in dashing yards per try his final three seasons the place he was calling performs.

There’s proof to indicate that each coaches will be environment friendly operating the ball, so why did they wrestle so immensely with the Cowboys? An enormous a part of it’s the Cowboys didn’t have sufficient sources to maintain a robust floor assault.

Since displaying up in Dallas, McCarthy has consistently needed to take care of an offensive line that has step by step fallen aside. All three of the workforce’s All-Professional offensive linemen took turns fading. Travis Frederick retired the 12 months McCarthy took over so instantly they needed to discover a new heart. Tyron Smith struggled to remain wholesome and each snap he performed felt like he was taking part in on borrowed time. And even the nice Zack Martin has proven that Father Time is undefeated as his play ultimately wilted.

Whereas this sluggish rework was vital, it hasn’t been fairly. Don’t even take a look at all of the gamers who logged snaps alongside the offensive line in 2020 as a result of it’s depraved nasty. That season, the offensive line was manned by three rookies and a few low-cost free brokers. Over time, sources have been added however getting them on top of things got here with a value, and that value has been the workforce’s floor assault. This season alone featured a heavy dose of Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe, Brock Hoffman, T.J. Bass, and Asim Richards. All of those guys are 25 years or youthful and have restricted taking part in expertise. That’s going to be a problem.

But it surely’s not simply the offensive line that’s been the problem. The Cowboys solely had one viable operating again on the roster, Rico Dowdle. For no matter cause, the entrance workplace thought they may get by utilizing Dowdle with a worn-out Ezekiel Elliott and an undersized Deuce Vaughn. The offensive line confirmed enchancment and this group will get higher with extra continuity from their youthful gamers, however the Cowboys should handle their operating again state of affairs this offseason in the event that they count on to proper this ship.

It doesn’t imply they need to use their first-round decide on Ashton Jeanty. McCarthy had success operating the ball with Aaron Jones (fifth spherical) and Schottenheimer had success with Chris Carson (seventh spherical). But it surely does imply they should make some sort of effort to get a few good choices within the backfield or else they’ll proceed to have issues.

The Cowboys’ current run-game struggles paint a reasonably good image of what to not do. And to be clear, McCarthenheimer deserves blame too. Why it took so lengthy to make use of Dowdle extra will probably be a thriller we would by no means totally perceive. However the entrance workplace must do a greater job serving to their coaches. Hopefully, the workforce can have a greater plan to assist their new head coach get again to operating the ball successfully and create higher alternatives for Dak Prescott and this offense.