The Dallas Cowboys are having problems. The defense gets the brunt of the criticism because overall their performance has been worse, but injuries have put them behind the eight ball. The offense, however, has few excuses. Most of their players are healthy, yet they are not living up to expectations.
The issues are plentiful. The ground attack is a blinking red light for the offense’s underwhelming play. The Cowboys rank dead last in rushing yards this season. Advanced stats show that Rico Dowdle is ranked 18th for running backs in EPA/attempt while Ezekiel Elliott is ranked 41st. This paints the picture that the Cowboys have one average running back, but as a group are near the bottom in talent.
The offensive line has been another area of concern. Entering Week 7, the Cowboys’ offensive line has a pass-block win rate of 57% (ranked 19th) and a run-block win rate of 71% (18th), which tells us they are slightly below average in both departments.
The blame can continue with suspect play-calling or ineffective route-running and you would find some good and bad things in both those areas. The offense finds themselves in the worst quadrant for passing and rushing efficiency this season, but it might surprise you that the pass EPA is more below average than the run.
How is it possible that an offense with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb is having issues in the passing game? The Cowboys are third in the league in passing yards so the overall volume is high, but other factors like game script and abandoning the run affect those numbers. From an efficiency standpoint, the passing game hasn’t been good, and you may or may not be surprised to learn that Prescott’s performance has a lot to do with it.
