Dallas Cowboys: 3 Ways to fix the offense in 2018
By Joel W. Cade
The Dallas Cowboys lost Dez Bryant. Without him, their offense runs the risk of becoming one-dimensional. Here are three ways to avoid that fate.
The Dallas Cowboys are put themselves in a pickle. They have let their best receiver walk. Compounding the issue is that their best receiver was also the exact type of receiver quarterback Dak Prescott needs to succeed.
The Cowboys offense begins and ends with Prescott. Some may think it is Ezekiel Elliott given the prominent role he plays in the offense. The truth is, the offense is a product of Dak Prescott and his abilities and struggles.
His rookie year, the Cowboys ran the ball as a means of protecting Dak from having to read defenses and carry the team on his shoulders. His second year, the Cowboys added more responsibility. With that responsibility came an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of Prescott’s game.
Dak does a good job of getting the offense into the right play. This may sound petty, but other teams dream of having a quarterback who can accomplish this. His ball placement is questionable making most of his passes contested.
Prescott was a fourth round pick for a reason. His skill set was not as developed as others in the 2016 draft. Plus there were questions (and rightfully so) about his ball placement. The offense he ran in college was primarily a RPO offense with Dak being used as a running threat as a quarterback. The transition to the NFL for him is harder than Cowboys fans may realize.
His second year in the league gave the Cowboys a good picture of what Prescott can and cannot do. The trick this season is to construct an offense designed to work toward his strengths and mitigate against his weaknesses.
The Cowboys can do three things to change the offense to fit his skill set. First, they need to run more RPOs