Dallas Cowboys Rushing Attack vs. Buccaneers (21 Carries, 42 Yards)

Run #18

Situation: 1st and 10 DAL 7
Description: Q4-(13:57) D. McFadden Right End to DAL 10 for 3 Yards (C. Conte, T. McDaniel)

Free (#68) had to adjust his rules if this play was going to be more successful. Free’s job is to read Melton (#90) and seal him to the inside. Melton slants to the inside and is going to run into Martin (#70) who is trying to block Alexander (#58). Free should of let Melton slant into Martin and pick up Alexander once Martin gets slammed into by Melton. Instead, Free seals Melton to the inside and in doing so pins Martin to the inside. This allows Alexander to get to the outside and forces McFadden to run laterally to get around him. This gives time for Conte (#23) to run the alley and make the tackle for a short gain.

Run #19

Situation: 1st and 10 DAL 35
Description: Q4-(12:32) D. McFadden Right Tackle to DAL 35 for No Gain (B. McDougald)

There are two things that gone wrong on this play. The first is Martin’s (#70) pull block. Martin has a one on one matchup against McDougald (#30) in the open field and Martin should blow up McDougald. Instead, McDougald is able to stand his ground and Martin bounces right off of him. I don’t even know how McDougald does this, but it sets him up perfectly to make the tackle on McFadden (#20). The second thing that goes wrong is Smith (#77) and Hanna’s (#84) decisions of blocks on the backside of the play. The Buccaneers have an extra man in the box so the Cowboys have to decide who they are not going to block. I would say that Lansanah (#51) should be the unblocked defender as Smith should work up to the second level and block Alexander (#58) and Hanna should cut block Jones (#95). Instead Smith and Hanna block back on Jones and Lansanah respectively, leaving Alexander unblocked and able to pursue McFadden from the backside. Even if McDougald is blocked by Martin, this play is not going to go for a big gain thanks to Alexander being unblocked.

Run #20

Situation: 1st and 10 DAL 9
Description: Q4-(5:42) D. McFadden Right Guard to DAL 2 for -7 Yards (C. Conte)

What block doesn’t fail on this play? Let’s start from the right and work to the left. The first thing that goes wrong is the pull block of Witten (#82). This is a designed cutback run and Witten is responsible for kicking out Gholston (#92). Witten instead looks like is is rolling into the fetal position and tries to take Gholston out at the legs. Gholston easily fends this off and is the first one to make contact with McFadden (#20). The next block that fails is the combo block of Frederick (#72) and Martin (#70) on Spence (#97). The combo block gets some movement, but Spence ends up being pushed onto Martin. This is a bad thing as David (#54) shoots the gap to the right of Martin and is unblocked in his pursuit of McFadden. After that, the combo block of Smith (#77) and Collins (#71) is a disaster. Alexander (#58) shoots the gap between Collins and Frederick, forcing Collins to move quickly off the block of McCoy (#93) to block Alexander. Smith doesn’t adjust to this and McCoy splits the combo block. All these mishaps delay McFadden and force him to the outside where the unblocked Conte (#23) is able to chase him down for a huge loss on the play.

Overall Impressions

The Dallas Cowboys struggled to get anything going on the ground against the Buccaneers and the first thing I noticed is the guards and tight ends struggled the most. La’el Collins struggled in the early part of the game with his assignments and responsibilities but to give him credit he did grow into the game. Zach Martin, on the other hand, regressed throughout the game. He was physically dominated by the Buccaneers DTs and struggled to get blocks at the second level. By the end of the game, even the safeties were able to get off Martin’s block as he had lost all confidence. Both Jason Witten and Hanna struggled with the bigger Buccaneer DEs and they could not match their physicality. The struggles of Martin and the TEs affected Doug Free the most as he started to try to do too much to make up for them. This prevented him from doing his assignment correctly and allowed free defenders to make the play. In general, the Cowboys combo blocks were mediocre to poor throughout the game (especially at the point of transitioning from the double team) and they need to work on it at practice. The Buccaneers didn’t make it easy with a lot of extra man in the box looks and having their LBs be very aggressive against the run, but the blocking was still poor. Saying all this, I don’t think it’s time for the Cowboys to hit the panic button. The Buccaneers front seven is one of the best that the Cowboys are going to see all year. Gerald McCoy is a top five DT, Lavonte David may be the best 4-3 OLB in the game, Kwon Alexander is maybe the best rookie LB in the NFL with Hicks being out for the rest of the season, and the rest of the Buccaneers front seven is big and deep. The Buccaneers kept throwing bodies at the Cowboys all game and with all their depth, they wore down the Cowboy’s offensive line. Not many teams are going to have the size and depth the Buccaneers have so I don’t expect the Cowboys offensive line to wear down again. Tony Romo is coming back as well so this should get defenses to put an extra man in the box less frequently. The Cowboys need to improve their combo blocks and need to find a complement for Darren McFadden out of Rod Smith, Robert Turbin, and Trey Williams if the rushing attack is going to be nearly as good as it was last year down the home stretch.