Dallas Cowboys double down on offense in 2020 NFL Draft

The 2020 NFL Draft for the Dallas Cowboys sets up a season where their offense has to carry the team to victories, the talent and confidence is high.

The Dallas Cowboys are not blind to the trends of current-day NFL football, neither is their head coach Mike McCarthy who spent a year away from football to study the analytical trends of the modern NFL season. The point being, the Cowboys are seeing the way the NFL is going, high powered offenses overcome shortcomings in defense, eventually leading to greater success than having a well-balanced roster with less firepower.

Just look at the Kansas City Chiefs and the New Orleans Saints the past season. One team won the Super Bowl and the other being a franchise that won 13 games, despite having the 13th ranked scoring defense in the NFL. The Chiefs were 17th in the NFL for total yards allowed, they still went on to win the Super Bowl with their firepower.

You can have an average defense, who’s stats are boosted by the efficiency of its offense, win a lot more games than having a good defense and an average offense. So, using this model of success in the modern-day NFL, the Cowboys decided to double down on their number one offense by total yards from last season.

One that was so good, that it took unimaginable bad performances against six separate teams just to keep the offense out of the playoffs by one game. Even after those six duds, the franchise was still fighting for the playoffs on Week 17, hoping for a Philadelphia Eagles loss. Offense gives a team more margin for error, the Cowboys just used up all that error with six bad performances.

Most teams aren’t allowed that many mess-ups and still have a chance to make the playoffs, a great offense covers that up though. So, with the first-round selection of wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, instead of a safer defensive selection, the Cowboys sided with the Chiefs model of success. More points, fewer problems.

That being said, the Cowboys now need to take this extra offensive weapon, who was slotted at number six on the Cowboys draft board and be able to get results. How do you take the number one ranked offense by total yards and make it better? Simple, you try to be the number one scoring offense instead.

The Cowboys need to improve their 16th ranked red zone offense, which scored touchdowns on 56 percent of trips. The addition of Lamb, a big body receiver and hopefully increased smart decision making by quarterback Dak Prescott, could get that percentage north of 60. Where eight of the twelve playoff teams from 2019 resided.

This also ramps up the pressure on Prescott to put up great numbers and wins during the 2020 campaign. Anything less and the noise around him will increase tenfold. If he can’t get it done with this offense, I don’t think there is an offense which he could.

The pressure is also on McCarthy and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to be able to get victories with this talented offense. Again, if they can’t do it with this offense, which offense could they do it with?

This draft ramped up the pressure and expectations for an offense that topped the charts for the 2019 season. The philosophy is clear and is the correct one. For the 9,000 time seemingly, I end an article with these words, the results must follow. Great draft by the Dallas Cowboys.