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The Dallas Cowboys had one of the best offenses in the NFL in 2025, but problems on the defensive side of the ball kept them out of the playoffs. However, despite their success with the ball, the Cowboys’ attack didn’t come without its flaws.
The Cowboys struggled in the red zone compared to in other areas of the field. Despite having one of the most explosive offenses in the league and scoring more points than all but four teams, Brian Schottenheimer and company finished just 16th in the league in red zone touchdown rate, finding the paint on just under 57% of their trips inside the 20.
As this unit looks to improve in 2026, the red zone is an obvious area to target. On Tuesday at mandatory minicamp, offensive coordinator Klayton Adams spoke about why he thinks his unit struggled when it got close to scoring, via Abby Jones of DLLS Sports.
“I don’t know if it’s just maybe being young or performance anxiety, but like we had more self-inflicted wounds in the red zone than we did in some other areas,” Adams said. “If you have a negative yardage run on the 1-yard line, that’s a lot different than a negative yard on the 50.”
Dallas also fielded more of a passing offense a year ago, so things got a bit tougher for Dak Prescott and company when the field got condensed and defenses didn’t have to worry about getting beat deep. Still, there’s no excuse for an offense this talented to not be finding the end zone on a more regular basis.
The Cowboys have one of the top wide receiver duos in the NFL, and both George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb have skillsets that should work down by the end zone. Pickens is a physical specimen who is a beast in contested catch situations, which should allow him to win in the red zone. Lamb is as shifty as it gets when it comes to route-running, which should give him the same ability.
Those two with Prescott throwing the ball should be much improved at finding the end zone in 2026.
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