Decoding Schotty Wk5 - Scheming So Well
The Cowboys coaching staff had the Jets in a pretzel all day as everything was working in easy win.
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 we try 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.
Here we go. Our objectives for today:
How the offense rolls on, despite the injuries.
Javonte Williams and That One Play.
Demonstrating the running game’s growth.
Dak Prescott’s 127th Career Start.
Look at plenty of All-22 film and see what we can see.
OVERALL OFFENSIVE EVALUATION
The Cowboys had a rare easy win in New York. The score probably flattered the Jets a bit, because at 30-3, the Cowboys could have named their final number. Instead, they relaxed a bit in the second half and prepared for the second half of this crucial road trip and enjoyed some sun.
No worries at all, because the damage had been done and the win was secured.
Let’s not lose sight of what is being accomplished so far in 2025. Despite numerous absences of significant importance, the offense is getting better and better by the week. This is the No. 1 production offense in the NFL so far – who had that in their predictions – and they are in the Top 10 in every single category of offensive significance. Knowing how poor they have been at running the football over the last several years – 27th in 2024, in particular – to see them 8th right now in rushing in the league is pretty incredible.
Here is the game-by-game production numbers and I have taken the liberty to notate the five metrics that really jump out at me:
This is all remarkable. The WORST rushing game of the year 117 yards and 4.5 a carry against Green Bay? 117 and 4.5 are both about the 12th and 13th best spots in the league for the season, so if your worst performance is still well above league average, we can say you have things fixed pretty well.
Now, job is far from finished, but when you add in the number of players that have been missing:
Cooper Beebe, C - Injured Week 2
CeeDee Lamb, WR, and Tyler Booker, RG - Injured Week 3
Tyler Guyton, LT, Tyler Smith, LG, and Kavontae Turpin, WR - Injured Week 4
Then, we begin to see that this team is offering us a large helping of “this seems different than what we have become accustomed to around here,” and we love it. This current Cowboys team seems to be able to function at less than perfect conditions and we aren’t sure if we have seen that much around here with Cowboys football recently.
The beat goes on and if you are wearing a helmet, we expect you to get your job done and to the full credit of all involved, the job is getting done. Even from Skyler’s rendering in the game preview, we still thought Tyler Smith could go.
Instead, Hakeem Adeniji played his first NFL snaps since the 2022 season (technically he had one snap vs Packers last week) and you know what? He held up just fine.
We expressed our surprise and amazement in yesterday’s piece, but it is very much worth a toast to Brian Schottenheimer, Klayton Adams, and Conor Riley because this group is getting it done and with plenty of help from their QB, they are actually flourishing right now.