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, the offensive line was manned by three rookies and a couple of low-cost free agents. Over time, resources have been added but getting them up to speed came with a price, and that price has been the team’s ground attack. This season alone featured a heavy dose of Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe, Brock Hoffman, T.J. Bass, and Asim Richards. All of these guys are 25 years or younger and have limited playing experience. That’s going to be a challenge.
But it’s not just the offensive line that’s been the issue. The Cowboys only had one viable running back on the roster, Rico Dowdle. For whatever reason, the front office thought they could get by using Dowdle with a worn-out Ezekiel Elliott and an undersized Deuce Vaughn. The offensive line showed improvement and this group will get better with more continuity from their younger players, but the Cowboys must address their running back situation this offseason if they expect to right this ship.
It doesn’t mean they should use their first-round pick on Ashton Jeanty. McCarthy had success running the ball with Aaron Jones (fifth round) and Schottenheimer had success with Chris Carson (seventh round). But it does mean they need to make some type of effort to get a couple of good options in the backfield or else they’ll continue to have problems.
The Cowboys’ recent run-game struggles paint a pretty good picture of what not to do. And to be clear, McCarthenheimer deserves blame too. Why it took so long to use Dowdle more will be a mystery we might never fully understand. But the front office needs to do a better job helping their coaches. Hopefully, the team will have a better plan to help their new head coach get back to running the ball effectively and create better opportunities for Dak Prescott and this offense.
