Things finally started going right for the Cowboys in Week 12. Even ravaged by injury, the Dallas offensive line was a surprisingly solid unit. They paved the way for Rico Dowdle’s 45 percent success rate rushing and kept quarterback Cooper Rush relatively clean, only allowing one sack and four pressures.
Not surprisingly their success helped pave the way for the first Cowboys win in six weeks. Receivers played efficiently, play callers schemed wisely and role players played their roles effectively. It wasn’t pretty but it was solid and that’s something the Cowboys haven’t even sniffed in over a month.
But can the Cowboys keep things rolling on offense and would that mean good things for the future?
To answer that simply, a little bit of “yes” and a little bit of “no.” The Cowboys beat a good Washington team, but a bad Washington defense. The Commanders defense ranked 26th heading in Dallas Week and looked every bit of the struggling defense they were billed to be. A case could be made their cupcake schedule has only masked their concerns and they’re actually far worse.
Looking ahead at the Cowboys’ upcoming schedule, they face the Giants, Bengals, Panthers, Buccaneers, Eagles, and Commanders. Defenses on those teams currently rank 27th, 29th, 31st, 26th, sixth and 25th, respectively. Only one defense left has an EPA ranking above 25th.
Based on this it’s perfectly reasonable to expect the good times to keep rolling down the stretch. Every opponent but the Eagles rank at the very bottom of the NFL so success isn’t just possible, it’s probably likely.
That’s not to say the Cowboys are about to go on a 5-1 run down the stretch, just that the Dallas offense may finally show some life in it based on low quality defenses they are scheduled to face.
No one should read into upcoming weeks too much because the quality of opponent has dropped considerably. But a winning streak wouldn’t be an unreasonable dream provided the other parts of the team can hold their own as well.
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