It has been a season to forget so far for the Dallas Cowboys. Injuries have ravaged this team up and down the roster. On defense especially, their top players, including Micah Parsons, have missed significant time. Offensively, the team is one-dimensional and relies heavily on CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott having huge games. The team hasn’t just lost some games. They have lost them in an embarrassing fashion. Here are three numbers to know for the Cowboys at the midseason mark.
1: Number of teams who averaged less rushing yards per game
The Dallas Cowboys average 82.0 rushing yards per game. Thanks to the Las Vegas Raiders (76.9), they are not last but pretty close. When the Cowboys were dominating the league, the run game was a huge part of it. Prime Ezekiel Elliott, Demarco Murray, and Tony Pollard helped Dallas to winning records. This year, the individual stats are abysmal. Here are the stats for the first half of the season for the main running backs. I’m not counting players like Dalvin Cook, who have only been in a handful of games.
- Rico Dowdle: 71 carries, 321 yards, 4.5 yards per rush, 45.9 yards per game
- Ezekiel Elliott: 48 carries, 149 yards, 3.1 yards per rush, 21.3 yards per game
Prescott has the longest rush of the season, 22 yards. Dowdle leads the running backs in that category with a long of 15 yards. Teams don’t have to worry about the team running the ball. Some of this is the lack of talent in the running back position. Some of it is when the team finds itself down 28 at halftime and has to abandon the run. If the Dallas Cowboys want to turn things around, it has to start with establishing at least a league-average running game.
1: Number of teams who give up more points per game
I know it’s the same number, but it highlights how poorly the Dallas Cowboys have played this season. Dallas has given up 28.1 points per game this season. Only the Carolina Panthers have given up more (32.6). Being next to the Panthers in any rankings is not a recipe for success. Mike Zimmer was brought in after Dan Campbell left to coach the Washington Commanders. Injuries obviously haven’t helped, but even with a healthy defense, the unit was hemorrhaging points.
What is frustrating for most fans about this defense is they have elite talent. Trevon Diggs is a ball-hawking corner who can neutralize an elite wideout. Micah Parsons is constantly in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year. However, when the opening kickoff happens in the biggest moments, the talent doesn’t match up. Getting some players back will be helpful, but the issues with this defense go beyond just one player.
-40: Dallas Cowboys First Half Point Differential
The Dallas Cowboys love to dig themselves a hole in the first half. Their -40 point differential in the first half puts them behind the eight-ball right out of the gate. In certain cases, the team looks ill-prepared to begin the game. It takes them a quarter and a half to find their footing. At that point, the other team has taken control of the game. Good teams can play from behind and win. However, good teams make sure they only have to do that every so often, not every week.
Once this season, fans would like to see the offense come out humming. Lamb has shown he can take over games, and it would be great to see that on the first drive of the game. It would be interesting to see what this team would look like with a lead. Is the poor rushing performance a side-effect of the team being down big? It would be interesting to see if they could get Dowdle going if they were able to give him more than one carry per drive.
Final Thoughts
The Dallas Cowboys are in trouble. Prescott might be done for the season with his hamstring injury. Parsons is still working his way back. This has the makings of a lost season written all over it. That brings about some other interesting storylines for the offseason. However, we’ve seen teams make a run in the second half of the season before. If Cooper Rush or Trey Lance finds a rhythm, this team could string together some wins.
