The Landry Hat
Fansided

Two biggest reasons why the Dallas Cowboys’ season died

By Tyrone Starr

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 12: Robert Woods #17 of the Los Angeles Rams runs with the ball against Leighton Vander Esch #55 of the Dallas Cowboys in the second half in the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on January 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 12: Robert Woods #17 of the Los Angeles Rams runs with the ball against Leighton Vander Esch #55 of the Dallas Cowboys in the second half in the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on January 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images /

Reason #1 – Offensive playcalling

This probably comes as no shock at all. There is a valid reason why fans are fed up with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. Saturday night illustrated those reasons once again.

After starting out the game with a seven play, 71 yard drive that ended with a 29-yard touchdown pass to receiver Amari Cooper, the Cowboys ran 27 plays without scoring again.

From the 6:03 mark in the first quarter until the 5:20 mark in quarter three, Dallas went from being up 7-3 to down 23-7. While the defense owns the majority of blame (we’ll get to that in a moment) for the 23 points Los Angeles put up, the offense should have been able to keep up.

The Rams did a great job at containing running back Ezekiel Elliott. The problem is, so did Scott Linehan.

After the first first drive which resulted in a touchdown and their second scoring drive, Elliott was given just six carries. Five of those six came on first down. Only once, did he get back-to-back carries.

If you want to look at the stat sheet and say, “Zeke had a bad game, he only got 47 yards!,” I suppose that’s your prerogative.

The issue here is that it seems like a good idea to allow your best weapon to actually touch the ball more consistently, especially in what was, for the most part, a one score game.

Not only are the number of carries a problem, the obviousness of when they come is troubling. Let me repeat once more, five of those six runs came on first down.

The only one that didn’t occur on first down went for 15 yards. The only back-to-back runs during this stretch went for 15 and six. Who knows what might have happened if Elliott was ever able to get a rhythm going?

Meanwhile, the Rams started out the game with drives of 5:16, 7:23, 4:20 and 2:38, all of which resulted in scores. At the end of half, the Rams had the ball for over two-thirds of the game.

Seems to me that utilizing your best weapon AND giving your gassed defense some extra rest would both be positive ideas.

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