Blogging The Boys
Brian Schottenheimer is going to need to seriously fix the Dallas Cowboys run game.
A long, long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, the Dallas Cowboys were good at running the football. Whether it was DeMarco Murray or Ezekiel Elliott, the offense featured a fierce rushing attack as “establishing the run” became one of Jason Garrett’s biggest mantras. From 2013 to 2021, the Cowboys finished in the top eight in rushing yards per attempt seven times.
But somewhere along the line, the Cowboys run game lost its way. They have progressively gotten worse in three straight seasons, finishing in the bottom half all three years. Last year, the Cowboys finished 30th in the league in yards per attempt. Running the ball well is no longer their thing. Here is how the team has ranked over the last 10 years.
On the surface, this doesn’t bode well for Brian Schottenheimer. As much as Mike McCarthy complained about the offense lacking balance under Kellen Moore’s play-calling, he and Schottenheimer made things even worse in the ground attack. Meanwhile, Moore is part of the Philadelphia Eagles top-rushing offense.
While that’s a snapshot view of what’s been going on, there’s a lot more to unpack. For starters, McCarthy has been the team’s play-caller these past two seasons. It’s unclear how much control of the Cowboys rushing attack Schottenheimer had during this time. It’s also unclear how much of the team’s run struggles had to do with coaching or other factors.
Let’s lay out some numbers. As we stated, the McCarthenheimer run game was yucky, culminating in one of the worst outputs we’ve seen from this team in a long time. But both McCarthy and Schottenheimer weren’t bad at this before arriving in Dallas. Did you know that McCarthy’s Green Bay Packers finished in the top seven in rushing yards per attempt during his last three seasons as their head coach? And Schottenheimer’s Seattle Seahawks finished in the top 10 in rushing yards per attempt his last three seasons where he was calling plays.
There’s evidence to show that both coaches can be efficient running the ball, so why did they struggle so immensely with the Cowboys? A big part of it is the Cowboys didn’t have adequate resources to sustain a strong ground attack.
Since showing up in Dallas, McCarthy has constantly had to deal with an offensive line that has gradually fallen apart. All three of the team’s All-Pro offensive linemen took turns fading. Travis Frederick retired the year McCarthy took over so immediately they had to find a new center. Tyron Smith struggled to stay healthy and every snap he played felt like he was playing on borrowed time. And even the great Zack Martin has shown that Father Time is undefeated as his play eventually wilted.
While this slow remodel was necessary, it hasn’t been pretty. Don’t even look at all the players who logged snaps along the offensive line in 2020 because it’s wicked nasty. That season,...
