Inside The Star
Going into the Detroit game, I still had questions about Tyler Guyton’s talent in his second season.
Was he developing quickly enough? Was he reliable week to week? But the moment he wasn’t out there on the left side, every bit of doubt disappeared.
When Guyton wasn’t out there, the Cowboys’ didn’t just struggle, it seemed like everything fell apart.
This game didn’t expose Guyton. Detroit exposed how badly this offensive line needs him.
I know Nathan Thomas was thrown into a tough assignment, but the performance he had was more than a rough outing.
We watched Thomas allow one sack, two hits, five hurries, and eight total pressures. The team as a whole gave up 22 pressures; Thomas alone accounted for 36.36% of them.
His 16.3 PFF pass-blocking grade matched the tape, he had late feet, delayed recovery, and he allowed the edge to collapse before plays could develop.
The biggest issue with Nathan Thomas is that this type of play is not out of character.
Across 182 snaps this season, Thomas has allowed 19 pressures and owns a 10.44% pressure rate, the highest among Cowboys tackles.
On the other side of the line, Terence Steele allowed one sack, two hits, three hurries, and six pressures, which was 27.27% of the team’s total pressures.
Steele’s 33.1 pass-blocking grade mirrors what happened on the field against Detroit.
We all know his season hasn’t been much better. Through 567 snaps, Steele has allowed 41 pressures and has a 7.23% pressure rate with a sack rate nearly double Guyton’s.
This pressure kept Dak under constant duress.
We saw by the end of the night, the numbers told the story of an offense that could never get comfortable:
The tackles combined for 63.64% of those pressures and two of the five sacks. Even the sack given up by Javonte Williams happened because the pocket collapsed from both edges.
This wasn’t a scheme issue or a quarterback issue, this was a tackle issue.
Watching the game, I could feel the offense shrinking the second Guyton wasn’t out there. Without Guyton, Dak Prescott lost the time and space he needed to run this system at full power.
Plays that normally happened with rhythm and timing were rushed. Deep passes seemed to disappear because the edges simply couldn’t hold up.
The pressure made the offense more reactive, instead of dictating the game.
The offense seemed to be in survival mode because it was always playing matchup, but survival didn’t work.
Across 418 snaps, Guyton has allowed just 31 pressures, which is a 7.42% pressure rate and a 0.48% sack rate. His pressures mostly came from hurries, not hits or sacks, giving Dak chances to adjust.
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