With pieces falling together slowly, Cowboys find a different dynamic to follow on offense

FRISCO — One of the team’s top receivers was traded eight months ago and another was injured to start the season.

The Pro Bowl left tackle went down before the opener, the quarterback went down on opening night and the running back missed the first games of his career due to injury.

Circumstances didn’t align for the Cowboys to get off to a fast offensive start. But as key players have returned, as Dak Prescott prepares for his fifth consecutive start since returning from a fractured thumb, this group is making significant strides.

Dallas is averaging 35.2 points, 412.7 yards and has converted 55.7% of its third down opportunities in the four games heading into the Thanksgiving Day matchup with the New York Giants.

“We’ve done some good things over the last few weeks or so,” Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin said. “I think there is another level we can get to and unlike maybe in previous years, I think we’re primed to be peaking at the perfect time.

“Still a lot to work on, but I am hopeful that the offense can continue to take steps."

Throw out that first game against Tampa Bay, and Cooper Rush has started five games at quarterback. Prescott has started four.

The Cowboys are averaging nearly 14 points and 100 yards a game more under Prescott. This isn’t a knock on Rush.

Not at all. He exceeded expectations. While the offense didn’t score as many points under his leadership, it scored at critical times and didn’t turn the ball over.

Recent numbers simply confirm the offensive ceiling is higher with Prescott at quarterback. It also speaks to the emergence of running back Tony Pollard, the return of receiver Michael Gallup and the current health of Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott and others.

“I feel really good about the direction we’re going," Elliott said. “You know, I missed some time, Dak missed some time, MG missed some time. But I slowly see our pieces falling together.

“You see MG going out there making some tough catches that he hasn’t had the opportunity to make since he’s been back from his ACL. I think just seeing stuff like that, getting reps like that is kinda getting us used to making those tough plays and preparing us for down the road."

In past years the offense has often gotten off to blazing starts. The emphasis was to maintain over the course of the season.

The dynamic is different now. This offense is building and improving.

“Really, it’s a credit to our defense, right?" Martin said of the team’s 7-3 record. “They kept us in some games early when we weren’t able to score very many points. The defense carried us.

“That’s the complementary football we always talk about."

Someone else at The Star is constantly talking about complementary football.

Oh yeah, that’s right.

“Our focus is complementary football, and I think the mechanics of how you get that are playing to one another," head coach Mike McCarthy said.

“You want to be balanced, but you’ve got to be situational strong because there are going to be times where you’ve got to run it to win. There are definitely points in every season, half of your games come down to two minutes, two-minute drill.

“That’s what this league is about."

The baseline here is the run game. McCarthy and the offensive staff emphasized an improvement in this area during the offseason. The idea was to control the clock to keep a fierce, aggressive defense fresh, utilize the skills of Elliott and Pollard and minimize the absence of Amari Cooper, who was traded to Cleveland.

Dallas didn’t deviate when it lost left tackle Tyron Smith to injury. It just plugged in rookie Tyler Smith and kept going.

The result: the Cowboys have run the ball on 47.5% of their offensive snaps this season, up from the 41% it ran in 2021.

“You’re asking an offensive lineman, so I’m biased in the fact I think we should run it all the time," Martin said. “I think it just helps our entire football team, the run game.

“It’s no secret if you run the football better, everything seems to fall into place. The defense gets more time to rest and get ready to go out there. It takes pressure off our quarterback and our perimeter guys, where they may be seeing shell coverage. When you run, they have to drop an extra guy in the box and things start to open up on the perimeter.

“It helps our whole football team."

Pollard has no problem with that reasoning.

“I feel like we’ve done a good job of being consistent in the run game, sticking with it even when it’s tough at times, grinding it out, just trying to let the offense flow through that," the running back said.

“I’m feeling pretty good about where we are as a team. The ceiling is pretty high for us with guys getting back, getting the chemistry back going, getting their feet back under them and just getting the timing together."

Catch David Moore and Robert Wilonsky as they co-host Intentional Grounding on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) every Wednesday at 7 p.m. during the Cowboys season.

Twitter: @DavidMooreDMN

Upward trend

A look at the offense in the five games Cooper Rush started vs. what this group has done in the last four starts with Dak Prescott.

Cooper Rush (5 games)

Dak Prescott (4 games)

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