Decoding McCarthy - Total Offensive Failure
We found it pretty difficult to find a single component of the offense that is working.
Tuesdays – since about 2008 – have been my day to evaluate the offense in this space. We have called it “Decoding” over those years and then the name behind the decoding is the man with the play-sheet calling the plays and hopefully putting them in an order to attack that week’s opponent. This is where the football nerd in me gets to figure out the tactical and strategic plot-lines of the game and get a feel for how well it worked out for that side of the ball. For those of you new here, two things: 1) ask questions of anything you don’t quite understand and 2) be aware that we do defense on Wednesdays.
Our Decoding objectives today:
The Offensive Overview from the debacle vs Detroit
Dak Prescott’s poor performance.
Zack Martin and entire OL struggles
First Down Run Game Woes
Analyzing the Sacks Allowed
Let’s get busy:
When you lose that thoroughly, these Tuesday and Wednesday pieces are not as much fun, but then again, losing by 38 is not fun either.
What we need to ask ourselves is: What is going wrong, and can it be fixed? The Cowboys sit right now at the intersection of wondering if all is lost, crossing paths with “but we are only one game out in our own division.”
While yesterday in my piece, optimism was low, perhaps today we should figure out where and what needs to be addressed with the bye week and with many more battles left to fight. They are not making drastic leadership changes, so it remains up to Mike McCarthy and Brian Schottenheimer to get this offense to a spot where it can score touchdowns on a regular basis. The last thing you want to find out when you get to your bye week is that the Carolina Panthers have scored more offensive touchdowns (11) than the Cowboys (10) in the same number of games. When a team like Tampa Bay is sitting on 20, we can see this offense is just not going to cut it.
As if you need a reminder, the data against the Lions was probably about as bad as we have seen this season:
Nine points was a season-low, as was just 251 yards. On the other hand, five giveaways is a season-high and after the first four games only had three giveaways, the last two weeks have had the Cowboys coughing up the football eight times! Eleven giveaways is losing football at its highest point. They are 31st in the league in offensive turnovers and since the defense is not getting the ball - just two takeaways in the last four games – the turnover differential shows only two teams in the league below them.