Three Dallas Cowboys storylines to watch in 2020
By Mitch Larson
3. An unleashed Cowboys offense
When the Dallas offense clicked last season and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore was able to call his game, the Cowboys were electric. They ended 2019 ranked first in total offensive yards, third in first downs, sixth in points per game, and sixth in plays run. As impressive as those numbers are, there’s a strong sense that the offense could be even better this season.
Many of the problems on offense last year came when the Cowboys went away from the motion heavy and aggressive play-calling that led them to success and instead reverted to being extremely conservative. Games like last November’s 13-9 loss to the New England Patriots had this on full display.
Earlier this offseason wide receiver Amari Cooper said the goal for this year was for the Cowboys to have three 1,000 yard wide receivers. Last season they had two when both Cooper and Michael Gallup crossed that mark.
They also drafted CeeDee Lamb in the first round of this year’s draft. Lamb was hyped as being arguably the best receiver prospect in the draft and he appears ready to have a big role in this offense.
The mere thought that this is a possibility is exciting enough, but can it actually happen? Well, history isn’t exactly on the Cowboys side with this one. A trio of teammates reaching 1,000 yards is something that happened just five times in NFL history.
In fact, no team has accomplished this feat in this previous decade and the last time it did happen was 2008 when the Arizona Cardinals had Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston hit quadruple digits in the receiving yard column.
As a franchise, the Cowboys have never had a trio of receivers hit 1,000 yards. Although they did come close in 2012 when Jason Witten (1,039), Dez Bryant (1,382), and Miles Austin (943) all topped 900.
Even if this roster is loaded with playmakers, there is only one football. In addition to Gallup, Cooper, and Lamb, the Cowboys will still need to find ways to create touches for star running back Ezekiel Elliott and get the ball to tight end Blake Jarwin. Quarterback Dak Prescott is going to have no shortage of weapons to work with this season.
Plus, will it even matter? If Dallas has three 1,000 yard receivers it would be nice and surely a sign that things are going well for the offense, but as long as they are winning it isn’t going to matter.
In his last three seasons in Green Bay, McCarthy threw the ball a lot. From 2016-2018 his teams ranked 5th, 14th, 3rd in passing attempts. In the same time frame, they also ranked 29th, 27th, and 32nd in rushing attempts.
McCarthy has never had a running back to give the ball to like Ezekiel Elliott before and given his year away from football as noted earlier, his offensive trends are likely to change. Still, it’s worth noting that McCarthy loves to throw the ball and his teams traditionally don’t pound the rock very often. This could bode well for Cowboys receivers, but create an interesting offensive dynamic.
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The Cowboys are loaded with offensive weapons. They have a top-three running back in football, two proven 1,000-yard receivers, arguably the top wide receiver prospect from last year’s draft, and a great quarterback.
This team is built to score points in a lot of different ways. It’s going to be a lot of fun to see Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy finally unleash the full power of the Dallas Cowboys offense, and even more fun to see what that looks like.