NFL Film Room: The Dallas Cowboys have a formidable offensive line

The Dallas Cowboys always seem to have a potent offense. Tony Romo, Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray are all household names and regularly put up prolific numbers. But this season, it is the names that are mostly unknown that are having the biggest influence on the Cowboys’ offensive success. I’m referring, of course, to the offensive line.

This April, the Cowboys drafted starting right guard Zach Martin in the first round. Last year it was starting center Travis Fredrick, also in the first round. The year before that, they added starting left guard Ronald Leary. After years of struggling to open running lanes and protect their quarterbacks, Dallas began investing heavily in their offensive line three years ago, and it has paid off.

Looking at the coaches tape, it is clear that none of their linemen are true maulers, though Martin appears to have to potential to develop into one. Instead, Dallas’ offensive line is made up of technicians who use skill and technique to complete their blocks as opposed to raw strength and power.

On top of solid pass protections, the film also consistently shows Dallas linemen getting defenders turned and orientated in a way that prohibits them from being able to make a play. This can be seen consistently on both inside and outside running plays, and goes a long way toward explaining why running back DeMarco Murray is off to such a great start this season.

Outside Runs

The technical quality of Dallas’ offensive line show up most on out runs. These are the plays where positioning and blocking angles can have the biggest effect, since the play designs can more-easily create the space needed for running lanes. Here is an example of how this often works for the Cowboys:

Dallas lines up with two tight ends and with Murray in a single-back set. This is a stretch play to the left, with Murray reading the left tackle and guard to determine which gap to run through.

When Murray gets the ball, all of the blocking angles are already set up. The running lane isn’t large, but it is well sealed on both sides. Because the blocking angles are set up this early, the blocks are easy to read for Murray, and there is little chance of a defender shedding a block and making a tackle.

Murray just need to get down the line and the cut up through the hole.

By the time Murray makes his cut, it looks like linebacker Curtis Lofton (50) is going to be in position to make a play in the hole. Instead, center Travis Fredrick has passed off the nose tackle to Martin and is moving up to block Lofton. Fredick is able to push Lofton past the hole, giving Murray a clean path into the secondary.

Once Murray gets through the hole, things open up for him and he’s off to the races.

These types of runs can be found in each of Dallas’ games this season. The offensive lineman routinely win their blocks by establishing proper blocking angles. As long as the Cowboys are able to continue to do so, there is no reason to believe that they wont continue to have success running the football.

Inside Running

Inside runs can be more difficult for offensive line that are full of technicians because of the lack of space to work with. Inside runs are where maulers can really make a difference, and Dallas’ current lack of those types of blocker would hint that they should struggle to run the ball inside.

That isn’t the case though. Dallas is able to have success running the ball inside because of their linemen’s ability to sustain blocks longer than is typical in the NFL. This slows pursuit, and allows Murray to use his ability to burst through the smallest of running lanes.

In this example, safety Jarius Byrd sneaks down into the box just before the snap, giving the Saints and extra player to defend the run.

By the time Murray gets the ball, the running lane is already established. Both center Travis Fredrick and right guard Zach Martin are able to get up onto linebackers. The only player that has a shot to make a play on Murray is Byrd, and he has to get through traffic just to get into position to make a tackle.

Byrd is in the hole and set up to make the stop after a short gain. Unfortunately for the Saints, he doesn’t wrap up, and Murray bounces off the hit before sprinting down field for a huge gain.

While the extra man in the box had a chance to make the play here, the near-perfect execution of the blocking by the rest of the offense is what turned this into a big play. When Murray broke the tackle, there was no one else in position to make a play for the defense.

Pass Protection

While it is the quality of the run blocking that jumps off the tape, the pass protection has also been great. Perhaps none-so-much as on Romo’s touchdown pass to Dez Bryant last Sunday.

In this extreme example, the Saints go cover-zero and bring eight pass rushers. Dallas is in a three-wide set and thus has only seven blockers in to try and keep Romo from getting sacked.

Right tackle Doug Free is left with two defenders. He blocks the defensive end initially, then releases him and picks up the blitzing linebacker. The result is that neither player get in freely on Romo, and the pass gets out on time.

Despite the numbers advantage for the defense on this play, Romo is given a clean pocket from which to throw from. He is able to step into his throw and deliver an accurate pass. The all-22 angle shows it best. That’s a perfect pocket despite the eight pass rushers.

Romo made the correct pre-snap read as to where the ball should go, and wisely gets the pass off very quickly before the unblocked defender can ruin the play.

The throw and catch were great, but the blocking on this play was even better. The play ended in a well-deserved touchdown for the Cowboys.

Putting it all together

After years of sub-par offensive line play in Dallas, the Cowboys now have the players up front that are required to be able to have sustained success. Their days of high variance offensive output should be over, replaced with consistent offensive results.

The Cowboy’s offense still has untapped potential as well. The success of the running game has opened things up for the passing attack, but they’ve yet to fully take advantage of this. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required) Dallas only throws off play action on 16.6 percent of their pass attempts, which is among the lowest in the NFL. With a small tweak in their play-calling, Dallas’ offense could be even better than it has been in recent weeks.

Overall, this is a very solid unit, and will be a major key for the Dallas Cowboys this season as they look to be more consistent on offense than they have been in the past.