Dallas Cowboys: 3 Ways to fix the offense in 2018
By Joel W. Cade
Expanding the offensive scheme creates new opportunities
When a team loses a valuable member like Dez Bryant, the natural reaction is to scale back what the offense does to compensate. For the Cowboys, this would mean a further commitment to running the football. This would be a major mistake.
The Cowboys offense already is built on the 1990s style zone run offense. The offense works because the Cowboys have an athletic and uber talented offensive line who can block at the first and second level. This line was given an uber talented running back in Ezekiel Elliott and it has taken off.
But this is the NFL, everyone has talented players and coaches who can adapt. If the Cowboys decide to put their eggs in the one basket of superior talent at offensive line and running back, then they may find themselves out schemed on Sundays.
The best move for the Cowboys would be to resist the move to “get back to basics”. Instead they should begin to expand their offense by creating multiple option plays. Using a scheme that will prevent defenses from focusing solely on the run game will actually make the run game better.
This can be done in multiple ways. The easiest way would be to build options off the zone run scheme already in place. The Cowboys could add more high low reads and simple crossing patterns based off zone run play action. They could also roll Prescott out more creating more opportunities for big plays.
By expanding the zone run scheme already in place the Cowboys could avoid the trap of getting more conservative on offense to compensate for a weak receiving corps.
Third, add running back depth.