The Dallas Cowboys suffered a disheartening loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 14, falling below .500 for the first time this season (6-7). They still remain ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East, by a full game if Eli Manning can earn his first victory of the season on MNF, by virtue of a tiebreaker if he can’t.
Like the previous week against the Buffalo Bills, Dallas offensive coordinator Kellen Moore called a balanced game for the first half. The Cowboys were successful on the ground as running back Ezekiel Elliott had 72 yards on 13 carries.
On the first possession of the second half, the Bears scored to take a 17-point lead. After that touchdown, Kellen Moore became one dimensional, once again calling more than 20 straight pass attempts from the shotgun.
The Context
This weekly look at the play calling began as a simple question: would the new “offensive mind” hired by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones be less predictable than the previous coordinator, Scott Linehan.
Linehan was predictable in the most basic of ways. He called running plays more than 80% of the time that quarterback Dak Prescott took the snap from under center, and he called passing plays on more than 80% of the snaps that Prescott was in the shotgun.
This is an ongoing attempt to assess whether Moore is less predictable than Linehan in terms of the above mentioned concepts. You can read the stats and analysis from previous games here.
The Raw Data from Week 14 versus the Chicago Bears
Dallas ran 72 offensive plays against the Bears with Prescott taking a mere 14 snaps from under center (58 in the shotgun). Moore called 19 running plays, 47 pass attempts, four passes off play-action, and two designed option runs for the quarterback Prescott.
First half snaps from under center
Dallas ran just 29 plays in the first half (43 in the first half last week). Prescott was under center for 13 of those plays. Of the 13 snaps from under center in the first half:
- 10 were runs
- one was a pass attempts after a straight drop back
- two were pass attempts off play-action
First half snaps from shotgun:
Prescott was in the shotgun for 16 plays in the first half. Of the 16 snaps from the shotgun:
- three were runs
- nine were passes
- two were pass attempts off play-action
- two were designed option runs for Prescott
Moore called 13 runs, two option runs for the quarterback, 10 pass attempts, and four pass attempts off play-action.
The first half of Cowboys games manifest the type of balanced offense that Moore wants to have. Again this week, there was a very balanced shotgun/under center ratio (16/13), and run/pass distribution (15 runs/14 passes).
But whether it is turnovers, penalties, missed field goals, or a porous defense, Moore has resorted to throwing the ball from the shotgun in the second half.
A few things stand out about the first half. The Cowboys actually ran the ball for more yards (73) than they amassed through the air (60).
Although it may have seemed that Moore did not call play-action passes as much as previous games (just four attempts), the percentage of play-action passes to total passes was still relatively high.
Four play-action passes out of 14 pass attempts is 28%; that is higher than the 24% (seven of 29) the previous week against the Bills.
Moore did finally call two option plays for Prescott. Designed runs for the quarterback have been missing in recent weeks. Moore hasn’t called a designed run for Prescott since against Minnesota in Week 10. Moore hasn’t called more than one designed for the quarterback in a game since he called four against Philadelphia in Week 7.
Second half: snaps from under center
Dallas ran 43 offensive plays in the second half.
Prescott was under center for just one of those snaps.
Of the one snap taken from under center:
- one was a run
Snaps from the shotgun in the second half
Of the 42 snaps taken in the shotgun in the second half:
- five were rushing attempts
- 37 were pass attempts
Dallas was the opposite of balanced in the second half.
When Dallas took possession of the ball for the first time in the second half, they were trailing 24-7. Facing that kind of deficit, Moore doesn’t appear to be opposed to going to the shotgun and throwing the ball on almost every play.
Moore only had Prescott take the snap under center once in the entire second half, and that was on a 4th-and-1 attempt. Including that rushing touchdown, Moore called six runs in the second half.
That is a bit better than last week when Moore called just two rushes in the second half and threw the ball 28 times in a row from the shotgun; this week he called 24 consecutive pass attempts from the shotgun.
There were no play-action attempts in the second half.
Totals for the game
Moore called 72 offensive plays in Week 14. Prescott was under center for 14 plays and in the shotgun for 58.
Moore called 21 running plays:
- 11 when the quarterback took the snap from under center
- eight when the quarterback was in the shotgun
- two off the read option by the quarterback (both from shotgun)
Moore called 51 pass attempts:
- one after the quarterback dropped back from under center
- two off play-action from under center
- 46 from the shotgun
- two off play-action from the shotgun
Conclusions
- The Cowboys threw the ball on 71% of the plays. But in the second half, Moore called a passing attempt on 86% of the plays, and they were all from the shotgun.
- It is hard to see the Cowboys as anything other than what they are: a club that is fighting to stay at .500.
- Kellen Moore has not turned out to be the offensive guru that many had hoped.
- One has to wonder whether Dallas head coach Jason Garrett will get blamed for the poor tackling that plagued the Cowboys defense.
- Losing is certainly a team effort in Dallas. From the offensive line to the linebackers to the wide receivers, there are not many units, or even players, that shouldn’t be considered “under performing”.
- The call for coaching changes in Dallas won’t get any quieter this week.
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