Cowboys roar, Lions don’t score (enough): The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
By Richard Ball
The Bad Continued …
Running back Tony Pollard has been given the kick return duties. He had a nice return against the Lions with 5:49 left in the fourth quarter.
The problem though is that he let the ball bounce at the four-yard line. This wasn’t the only time that Dallas let the kickoff bounce deep in their territory hoping that it would roll into the end zone.
On this kick, the ball bounced backward forcing Pollard to field it at the seven-yard line. He evaded a Lion tackler at the nine-yard line and another one at the twelve-yard line. He squeezed through two Lions at the fifteen-yard line before he was caught from behind and pushed to the 31-yard line.
The Cowboys special teams seem content to gamble that the bouncing football will find the endzone. Everything works when it does but letting the ball hit the ground has multiple issues.
First, if Pollard has to field the football if it does not go into the end zone, he will have significantly less room to evade the kickoff team tacklers. On this play, Pollard’s shifty play bailed the Cowboys out of a hole inside their ten-yard line.
The second problem with a bouncing football is that a football does not bounce predictably. What if the ball bounces sideways and chaos ensues with the kickoff team having a chance to recover the ball.
The risk of losing the ball in this situation far outweighs the benefit of the few extra yards the touchback would give. Dallas needs to reconsider this strategy before they lose possession and give their opponent a free short field.
On the season, Dallas has a -1 turnover differential. The bend but don’t break defense strategy works when you can stop the opponent from reaching the end zone.
The Lions scored four touchdowns. Last week, the Vikings scored three touchdowns, a two-point conversion, and two field goals. Lately, the Cowboys are breaking more.
Fortunately, the Cowboys have the number one offense in the NFL so they are able to drive long fields to counter these touchdowns. But sometimes, the offense falls short and when they do the Cowboys lose.
At some point, if it hasn’t already, the Cowboys will lose a game because the defense does not create a short field. The Eagles game was practically over after the first quarter when the Cowboys stole the momentum with two turnovers that the offense converted to touchdowns.
Turnovers are strongly correlated to winning in the NFL. Dallas needs to find a way to get on the plus side.