There’s plenty of blame to toss around for the Dallas Cowboys slow start, but their offensive struggles have been arguably the most disappointing thing to come out of the first six games.
The past few seasons Dallas was built upon an explosive offense that could consistently score 25+ points a game. This year, the Cowboys have scored more than 25 points in a game just once, coming in their first game of the year against the now 1-5 Cleveland Browns,
It’s clear what the Cowboys are currently doing isn’t working, so if they want to come out of the bye week with more offensive success they’ll need to change things up. With that in mind, today we take a look at two offensive changes the Cowboys should make next week.
1) Cut ties with Ezekiel Elliott and promote Dalvin Cook to the active roster
There’s no denying Ezekiel Elliott will go down as one of the Cowboys’ best running backs of all time. During his prime, Elliott was one of the most dominant backs in the league. That being said, Elliott’s return to Dallas this season has been unproductive.
Every week it becomes clearer that Elliott has no juice left in the tank. The veteran running back has the third-worst success rate (21.1%) among qualifying running backs and ranks dead last in the league with a shocking 0% explosive rush rate. You can’t have success running the football in 2024 when you have absolutely zero explosiveness, and unfortunately, Elliott is at that point.
Dalvin Cook is not going to come in and instantly erase all of Dallas’ struggles in the run game. In fact, he may go down the same path as Elliott and prove he just does not have it anymore. But with how much Elliott and Dallas’ run game as a whole have struggled, there’s zero reason not to make this move.
Cook will at least provide some relatively fresh legs and could potentially give the Cowboys a decent second back to pair with Rico Dowdle.
2) Make a concerted effort to get Jake Ferguson more consistently involved in the passing game
Third-year tight end Jake Ferguson has turned into one heck of a player. The former Wisconsin Badger had a career year last season, catching 71 passes for 761 yards and five touchdowns. Ferguson followed in the footsteps of Dallas’ past tight ends and became a great security blanket for Dak Prescott.
In his brief Cowboys career, the Cowboys as a team have performed well when the tight end has had individual success. Dallas is 8-3 when Ferguson has 47 or more receiving yards in a game, 5-2 when he scores a touchdown, and an impressive 8-0 when his Y/T is 10 yards or greater.
The last stat in particular shows how important it is to get Ferguson involved in the offense and utilize his ability to make plays down the field. When you get the ball in Ferguson’s hands good things tend to happen, and the Cowboys just haven’t done that enough when it’s mattered so far this year.
Next week against the 49ers and moving forward the Cowboys need to make an effort to get their second-best offensive weapon consistent targets and opportunities.
