Cowboys mailbag: Questions on Flournoy, McClay and the home record

Our latest mailbag features plenty of questions about the Dallas Cowboys

Every week, we take questions on X (Twitter) and Facebook about Dallas Cowboys players and other issues surrounding the team. So let’s get right into it.

“I would like a complete analysis of Ryan Flournoy’s performance”.

(@EquipTheNations on Twitter)

Mike: Starting for the first time last week meant the world to Flournoy and he was very vocal about the fact. The sad part is he only managed two receptions for 19 yards, and that was on a day Cooper Rush threw the ball 55 times. Flournoy is a physical player with tremendous explosiveness that best fits as a downfield player. The issue here is that just doesn’t fit what the team is asking Cooper Rush to do. You can see the potential as a playmaker who can rack up YAC yards when given the chance, it just may be the case we have to wait till next season to truly see that on the field.

Dana: Unfortunately, the sample size for Flournoy is pretty small when it comes to the NFL. Throughout the six games that he has been active, he has only seen four receptions on six attempts. Last week he saw the most snaps in a game by far with 54 snaps but he only came away with two catches for 19 yards. Right now, he looks like a rookie WR that is trying to get more playing time. He has done some good things like his 15-yarder last Monday, but the big blemish is the fumble against the Lions. He is a rookie and he is learning. Hopefully, we will see more of what he is capable of during the remainder of this season.

“For a team that doesn’t get involved with free agency and therefore needs to hit on a higher % of draft picks, should McClay get fired?”

(@Androvian70 on Twitter)

Mike: Personally I think McClay does a very good job. I’ve spoken with him a number of times and he’s a very smart and articulate football guy. It’s true there have been some misses in the draft in recent times but that isn’t solely down to McClay. The best way to describe what McClay does is he’s the intermediary guy between the coaches, the front office and the scouting department. They all tell him what they want and McClay goes to work finding those best fits. No matter what he says or what he suggests, there’s only one man that makes the final decision when it’s the Cowboys turn to make that draft pick, and that’s the guy the question should be pointed at.

Dana: The Cowboys are pretty well known to be good a drafting players and when you look at the stars on this team, that is mostly true. However, when drafting players to support those stars, there definitely needs to be improvement. The Cowboys are actually towards the bottom of the list when looking at the percent of draft picks that never play in the NFL.

When the team’s strategy is to rely on drafted players as opposed to free-agency, that percentage needs to be a lot smaller.

Now, when evaluating the person responsible, it gets a little more muddy than just placing the blame on Will McClay. There are a lot of people inside of the Dallas Cowboys’ war room that influence which players get drafted. Coaches have their favorites and the owner/GM has his. The decision may not always fall on the shoulders of one person. Like Mike mentioned above, there are others that should be questioned as well.

“In their history, have the Cowboys ever had a winless home record in any season? Better yet, what season yielded the worst home record?”

(@MrEd315 on Twitter)

Mike: The last time this Cowboys team went an entire season without winning at home was 1989, their only win that season came on the road. But since the team has played in AT&T stadium, this has never occurred. Over the years the team was slowly building a reputation at home and went two seasons recently with only one loss. This year one stat that is particularly depressing is that the Cowboys have led at home this season for a total of two minutes and 15 seconds, we are now heading into Thanksgiving. This is a seriously depressing home team record at the moment.

Dana: Just to add some color here, there are many factors that go into why a team loses any one game. When looking at causation vs correlation, it is unlikely that simply playing at home is the main reason for any of these losses this year. But whether it is the strength of opponents for home games, traveling fans of opposing teams coming to experience AT&T Stadium, the sun peeking through the windows at the perfect angle, or simply the fact that this 2024 Cowboys team is not very good, the idea of having a home field advantage is completely lost in Dallas.