Category: Playbook & Scheme

Jake Ferguson injury opens door for out-the-box plan centered around under-the-radar UDFA

Hunter Luepke stands to gain the most in the absence of Cowboys starting TE Jake Ferguson. | From @ReidDHanson

Many feared the worst as tight end Jake Ferguson went down with an apparent knee injury in the third quarter on Sunday. Big things are expected of the third-year Cowboy, and the Dallas offense would have a tough time replacing the production planned from the young Pro Bowler.

Hunter Luekpe, a fullback by trade but Swiss army knife in application, has been named by Mike McCarthy as the man “at the front of the line.”

A bullet was seemingly dodged when Ian Rapoport reported it was not an ACL tear as originally feared but rather an MCL sprain that would likely require a more modest timetable.

Labeled “week to week,” speculation is Ferguson could be out anywhere from 2-6 weeks. One would assume by following next man up mentality Luke Schoonmaker would be the man tasked with picking up the slack. Schoonmaker was a second-round pick from 2023 who has considerable expectations in Year 2. Yet it’s actually an undrafted free agent from 2023 who the Cowboys appear to be turning to in the wake of the injury.

Luekpe was a key contributor in Sunday’s 33-17 win over the Browns and someone who can be deployed a variety of different ways.

Of Luepke’s 45 snaps in Week 1, only eight came out of the backfield acccording to PFF tracking. The bulk of his snaps on offense actually came as an inline TE.

His presence in the huddle offers the offense a decisive advantage over the defense. Since he can play both TE and FB, the Cowboys could be showing either 12 or 21 personnel any time he’s on the field. Where he lines up and where he motions will ultimately label his position, but he gives McCarthy the ability to move him wherever a mismatch can be found.

Luepke isn’t the player Ferguson is as a TE because he’s not really a TE, he’s something else entirely. As such the offense could change with him playing a more prominent role.

None of this means Brevyn Spann-Ford, John Stephens and Schoonmaker won’t get more opportunities because they probably will. It just appears the man to gain the most is the man listed as the FB on the Cowboys depth chart.

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Cowboys trade for intriguing 3-tech stiffens run defense from pass-rush position

Jordan Phillips will improve the Cowboys run defense from a pass rushing position on the interior. | From @ReidDHanson

When the Cowboys acquired Jordan Phillips from the Giants via trade last week, common sentiment was the 6-foot-6, 341-pound defensive tackle would be in the 1-tech rotation with Mazi Smith. Size and stoutness are the primary trait of a good NFL nosetackle and since Phillips qualifies as one of the biggest and strongest humans on the planet, the assumption was understandable.

Recent statements have indicated that is in fact not the destination for the nine-year veteran. Despite the gargantuan size, the vast majority of Phillips’ career snaps have come at the 3-tech position. 3-tech is widely considered the primary pass-rushing position from the defensive interior. It’s where the Cowboys Osa Odighizuwa makes his money in Dallas, and where Phillips is slated to land on the 2024 Cowboys.

As one of the top 3-techs in the NFL, Odighizuwa is the clearcut starter inside for Dallas. His issue hasn’t been his ability on the field but rather his ability to hold up throughout an entire season. It was important for the Cowboys to find someone to take some of the weight off his shoulders. They tried with Chauncey Golston in the past and now they’re trying with the newly added Phillips.

At 280-pounds, Odighizuwa is a somewhat undersized DT in the NFL. The extra 60+ pounds Phillips offers is going to be a huge boost for Dallas run defense. Even though 3-techs are tasked with applying the majority of interior pressure, they have clear run-stopping responsibilities as well.

Mike Zimmer has a history of employing large DTs side by side on his defenses so a combination of Smith and Phillips in the same package isn’t surprising. Zimmer’s ability to dial up blitzes in the A-gaps give him that luxury. It’s an issue discussed in the past and a reason Micah Parsons has been frequently seen playing off-ball inside the box.

“I don’t care about stats, people look at stats and think you have a great game,” Phillips said. “For me as long as my linebackers are making All-Pro, Pro Bowler, I did my job for the year. They didn’t do that by themselves, I kept people off them and, on the way, I’m getting some sacks and tackles.”

The Cowboys have an explosive young LB corps heading into 2024. If they can be kept clean and allowed to operate, the sky is the limit for this bunch. Having the girth inside at tackle to occupy blockers has to be music to their ears.

Odighizuwa hasn’t been poor at that, he’s just somewhat limited with his size. Saving him for primarily passing downs won’t just put him in the best position to succeed, but it will also keep him fresh throughout the course of a season. It doesn’t mean Phillips will only play rushing downs and Odighizuwa will only play passing downs, just that Zimmer can lean to that direction when dividing snaps.

The addition of Phillips deepens the 3-tech rotation for Dallas. It gives the Cowboys another pass-rusher and pocket-collapser on the interior and also beefs up the run defense from a position typically associated with the pass rush.

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If Trey Lance is struggling with Cowboys system, Cowboys should tweak the system

Trey Lance needs more seasoning than the Cowboys can provide but a tweak to system could improve things immediately. | From @ReidDHanson

By most accounts, Trey Lance is not off to the start he was hoping for in Cowboys training camp. He’s struggled to deliver the ball with anticipation, he’s floated passes on a regular basis, and he’s misread coverage, leading to frustrating interceptions. Perhaps Dallas will look to change their approach with him.

These struggles are by no means a departure from the norm for Lance. The former No. 3 overall pick has struggled to live up to his draft status since joining the NFL four years ago. Acquired in a late summer trade with the 49ers last season, Lance has largely been developing in the background in both San Francisco and Dallas.

Over the past few months, the Cowboys decided to rebuild the 24-year-old from the ground up. After declining his fifth-year option for 2025, they have been dedicated to seeing what they have in the young signal caller before further commitments were made. Lance has already taken a high number of snaps as a back-up in camp, giving fans their first clear view of him since joining the squad almost a year ago. The results aren’t very inspiring.

Lance looks like a player who doesn’t have much experience. With only a handful of games under his belt in the NFL and just one full season of action in college, Lance is far rawer than the average fourth-year veteran. He has a physical skillset that says franchise passer but the kind of experience that makes a back-up job a stretch.

It should be no surprise he’s struggled executing in the Cowboys’ relatively sophisticated offense. While Kyle Shanahan’s attack in San Francisco is based on play design, movement, and misdirection, Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys offense is more about pre-snap reads and progressions. Dak Prescott, one of the NFL’s very best in these two aspects of the game, operates the system flawlessly. Lance, not so much.

But instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, what if the Cowboys try to provide a square hole?

Unless he’s thrown into fire for a season or two, Lance will likely never fully grasp the quarterback position on the Cowboys. He needs seasoning and the Cowboys just don’t have the required seasoning to give. Tweaking the system, on the other hand, could make things easier on the young greenhorn.

By adding more read-options and run-pass options, they can simplify the decision-making process for Lance. It will shrink the field and make things more instinctual for Lance.

At 6-foot-4, 226-pounds, Lance is big enough to handle a more physical role at QB. He’s not a burner but he’s more than capable of being a dual threat as a read-option QB. A traditional RPO system, which asks the QB either to hand off or pass to a specific downfield option, wouldn’t even require him to be a runner. It’s a one-read attack that puts defenses in conflict. These systems are somewhat gimmicky, but they are popular alternatives for a reason.

Since most colleges use a degree of zone-read and RPO in their playbooks, the supportive players on the Cowboys roster wouldn’t have much of a problem adapting to a tweaked playbook for Lance’s snaps. Plenty of NFL teams alter their offense to fit the strengths of their respective passer, so this wouldn’t be any different.

It’s hard to look at Lance practice these days and think he’ll ever be a good option at QB for Dallas. Cooper Rush seems head and shoulders above him at QB2 and unless something changes in the scheme, that’s something that’s likely to continue.

An RPO-heavy scheme with read-option mixed in could be just what the doctor ordered for Lance. It wouldn’t take major effort to incorporate in a simple form and would better play to Lance’s strengths while masking his weaknesses.

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‘Parsons Effect’ is something Cowboys must capitalize on in 2024

The Cowboys have to get more from their other pass rushers with Micah Parsons demanding so much attention from offenses. | From @ReidDHanson

Micah Parsons demands attention. Posting 13 or more sacks in each of his first three seasons in Dallas, Parsons is on a historic pace. Only 14 players have posted more 13-plus sack seasons than him in a career, and just three of them have eclipsed five.

Very few players, if any, bring the level of gravity Parsons brings to the field. Offenses scheme for him on nearly every play. They identify and often roll protection into his direction, chip blocking him, double teaming him and sometimes even triple teaming him into neutralization. They seemingly do it all and it still doesn’t stop the Cowboys All-Pro edge rusher.

According to ESPN’s pass rush win rate (PRWR) Parsons was the No. 1 edge in the NFL in 2023, a full five percent higher than second place Myles Garrett. He was also double-teamed at the highest rate, a full six percent more often than second place Garrett.

His mere presence on the field opens up near countless opportunities for his teammates, yet no returning teammate managed to post more than four sacks alongside Parsons in 2023. It’s tragedy that must be fixed in 2024.

The Cowboys aren’t exactly devoid of talent alongside Parsons. DeMarcus Lawrence and Osa Odighizuwa are both well regarded defensive linemen in Dallas, with the former coming off his fourth Pro Bowl season. Given the number of opportunities Parsons is creating, it’s difficult to explain how the two only combined for seven sacks.

The interior specifically is somewhere where Parsons opens opportunities. Playing wide on the EDGE, Parsons will often take wide angles as he rounds the pocket and reaches for the passer. The quarterback’s only way of survival in instances such as this is to step up in the pocket. It’s these situations where someone from the defensive interior has to step up and make a play.

There’s a reason teams like the Ravens repeatedly rank near the top of the league in sacks – it’s because there’s seemingly always a second rusher in position to clean up after the initial pressure player flushes the pocket.

Mike Zimmer, the Cowboys new defensive coordinator, might pay off enormously in this facet of the game. Zimmer doesn’t shy away from the blitz and is fairly well known for his blitzes up the middle. Using formations like a BEAR front and using second level players as pass rushers, Zimmer likes to send static into the heart of the pocket.

Since many opportunities are created after Parsons applies primary pressure, it isn’t necessary for these other pass rushers to win with their first moves. Try-hard players who pass rush with a plan can win with secondary and tertiary moves. Considering this, it’s easy to see why Dallas drafted players who were cited to have a “relentless motor” or “high effort.” They deliver the clean-up sacks Parsons creates.

Keeping Parsons on the move will help keep teams from so easily scheming against him. A deeper pass rush arsenal with fewer rip moves, that never produce holding calls, is also a great way to get more from the All-Pro Parsons. But at some point, others have to step up.

Defensive linemen across the NFL would love to have someone like Parsons on their team. His gravity pulls the attention of the offense and opens opportunities for everyone else on defense.

Can players like DeMarcus Lawrence take advantage of it? Can players like Sam Williams and Odighizuwa take the next step in their development and feast on it? Can Zimmer scheme pressure up the middle to take full advantage of it?

These are all questions that need to be answered in 2024 and with any luck, the answer to all is a firm “yes.”

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Kickoff rules threaten Cowboys, C.J. Goodwin’s long relationship

C.J. Goodwin’s job may be in jeopardy under the NFL’s new kicking format, says @ReidDHanson.

For six years, C.J. Goodwin has been a fixture on the Cowboys. Surviving multiple coaching administrations and numerous roster crunches, Goodwin has repeatedly defied many annual roster predictions, making his way to the active roster for Week 1.

Listed as a defensive back, it’s Goodwin’s special teams play that has been his ticket to a roster spot. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound dynamo has been the leader of Dallas’ kick and punt coverage teams. Like kicker, punter and long-snapper, Goodwin offers next to nothing on defense, yet his impact and value in any given game has been significant. This all stands to change with the NFL’s new kickoff format in place.

The NFL’s new kickoff policy calls for placekickers to kick from their own 35-yard line, with up to two returners set up to receive inside their own 20. Everyone is else situated in the middle. The kicking team with one foot on the return team’s 40 and the return team between their 30 and 35. The idea is to reduce the speed of impact and make returns safer.

The inevitable consequence is the play looks more like a regular football play than a special teams return. This means personnel will likely adjust, with size becoming a priority and traditional gunners potentially becoming an endangered species. Suddenly Goodwin’s meal ticket has fallen into jeopardy.

Teams can only speculate as to what combination of players will make the most optimal unit under the new special teams rules. The strategy the Cowboys deploy early will likely adapt as the nuances of new format are put into action. Until it’s actually seen at full speed, it’s unknown exactly how someone like Goodwin will fit.

In the past, linebackers and safeties populated the ranks somewhat disproportionately in kicking situations. Many project a special teams unit will now made up of more traditional players under the new format because kick returns will better resemble a typical football play. If traditional defensive players start playing bigger roles on kicks, specialists like Goodwin stand to lose value. With roster spots always at a premium, the Cowboys could favor more versatile players who can also play in a defensive rotation.

For years people have been trying to write Goodwin off the roster and for years Goodwin has been making fools of them for it. It’s always dangerous betting against Goodwin. But at age 34 and under a new kicking format that will likely favor his competition, this might finally be it for Goodwin on the Cowboys.

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Damone Clark may find better opportunity in new role on Cowboys

Damone Clark may be onto his third position in as many years with the Cowboys in 2024. | From @ReidDHanson

It hasn’t been an easy road for Damone Clark over the last three years. The former LSU standout linebacker was supposed to be a top pick in the 2022 draft before a failed medical evaluation, resulting in pre-draft spinal fusion surgery, that dropped him all the way to the Cowboys in the fifth round.

Many thought his rookie season would be a red-shirt year lost to recovery and rehab. What it proved to be was a medical marvel with Clark cruising through recovery and breaking into the Cowboys starting lineup for five games. In all, Clark would play a total of 414 snaps over the course of 10 games that season. Playing predominantly weakside LB (WILL), Clark flashed decent potential and looked every bit the steal Dallas hoped he’d be when they selected him 176th overall.

Things seemed to be back on track for Clark, until, of course, they weren’t. The Cowboys entered the 2023 season thin in their linebacker ranks. When they lost Leighton Vander Esch to what would be a career-ending injury, they were forced to move Clark into the middle (MIKE) to replace him. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Clark wasn’t a clean fit, but he had the length the Cowboys wanted at MIKE, so they forced the transition.

For as hard as he worked, Clark never took to the MIKE role. His instincts didn’t fit cleanly, and his run fits weren’t filled consistently. It was clear they miscast him in the middle but without other options available, the Cowboys had to roll with it. In just a matter of months Clark went from bright young star to weakness of the defense.

It’s understandable the Cowboys made it a point to address the MIKE spot over the offseason. In what was arguably their only notable signing, Dallas brought in Eric Kendricks to man the middle of Mike Zimmer’s defense. Behind him will likely be Cowboys rookie, Marist Liufau, a promising third round pick out of Notre Dame.

While the additions of Liufau and Kendricks free Clark to move back to his natural position of WILL, another player may ultimately block his opportunities. Coming back from an ACL injury is second-year player DeMarvion Overshown.

Overshown dropped jaws prior to his injury and is penciled in as the favorite to land the starting spot at WILL. Clark could certainly compete with Overshown, and snaps could be split between them in some way, but it’s unlikely Clark can steal a majority portion from Overshown.

It leaves Clark in an uncomfortable position. He can compete for a role alongside Overshown at WILL, or he can turn his attention to a different linebacker position without much competition. Strong side linebacker (SAM) could be that opportunity Clark is looking for.

Zimmer’s defense, like all NFL defenses, leans more on nickel looks which feature a third cornerback, than standard base looks that feature a third LB. Since NFL offenses typically employ heavy 11 personnel (three receiver sets) it’s the obvious rebuttal for a defense. This means the odd man out in nickel situations is often the SAM.

But just because the third LB role is part time, doesn’t mean it’s unimportant. The SAM is an important position because it adds size and run-stopping ability to the defensive unit on critical downs. Given their lack of LB depth last season, the Cowboys were unable to make this personnel shift in 2023. In Zimmer’s newly restocked pond, that shouldn’t be an issue in 2024.

A handful of the Cowboys’ fiercest opponents in the NFC are dominant running teams. Having a defense that match with those run-heavy packages is critical to Dallas’ survival. Clark would allow them to do that.

Clark’s best position is likely at WILL but with the bulk of those snaps expected to be going to Overshown, Clark may find his best opportunity comes at SAM. It would mark the third different position in as many years, but it would allow the Cowboys to get their best three LBs on the field at the same time, which always seems to be a goal of the front office.

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Cowboys run-pass splits under center show disturbing predictability

The Cowboys need to be less transparent when Dak Prescott is under center. | From @ReidDHanson

“Line up and beat the guy in front of you,” was an old coaching saying from yesteryear. In the days prior to free agency, simply being better than the other guy was often good enough. It was a time when the haves dominated the have-nots and parity was almost nonexistent.

Today’s NFL is as much a game of strategy and deception as it is about talent. The margins are slimmer than ever before and often times coaching makes all the difference. It’s an area the Cowboys could stand to improve in 2024 as they look to get over the playoff hump in what could be Mike McCarthy’s last season as head coach.

McCarthy’s Cowboys are in the image of a previous era. They don’t rely heavily on screen passes, play-action, motion at-the-snap, or horizontal play-fakes like jet or orbital sweeps. They usually give what they show the defense. If they trot out 21, 22 or 13 personnel (multiple running back or tight end packages), they run the ball at an inordinate rate. It’s an act of transparency the defense can feast on. It swings the advantage to the defense and marks a major missed opportunity for McCarthy.

Playing in a West Coast, Air Coryell-hybrid offense, the Cowboys play a mix of shotgun and under center plays. Shotgun is the predominant attack but plays in which Prescott moves up under center represent a significant portion of the snaps.

Per PFF tracking, the Cowboys run the ball 62.89% of the time when under center. That pass rate was 12.16% below expected.

Defenses naturally think run when quarterbacks line up under center. It’s why play-action under center has consistently been fruitful across the NFL. But the Cowboys are just giving them what they are expecting. Rather than play fake for a pass, they run right into the defense that’s ready and waiting. It’s probably a contributing factor in their 28th ranked explosive play rate under center.

In all fairness, the Cowboys aren’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard passing from under center either.

An EPA/pass of -0.05 is far below their average EPA passing out of shotgun or empty situations. It’s even worse than their EPA/rush under center, which is -0.02. But it’s the transparency that’s the real problem here. The Cowboys are posting a negative EPA regardless of the play call and that’s likely because they are fairly obvious with their intentions.

Based on the numbers and trends, the Cowboys may want to dial down their under-center frequency in 2024. And when they do run those plays, mixing in play action and other play fakes would serve them well in their quest to be less transparent.

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Raise the Rook: Cowboys must adjust to Tyler Guyton’s possible weaknesses

Since Tyler Guyton has struggled in true pass sets, the Cowboys must adapt when building their 2024 offfensive attack. | From @ReidDHanson

There are many ways for a smart coach to make things easier on his passing offense and the Cowboys may need to consider changes with a rookie left tackle in tow. Motion at the snap, rub routes, RPOs, screen passes, and play-action are just a few of the ways to get the ball out quickly, accurately, and to the first read. Teams with young or limited quarterbacks will lean on these tricks often. It puts them in position to succeed because it makes things quick and easy.

Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys haven’t seen a need for tricks such as this. Dak Prescott is one of the smarter QBs in the league, well known for his accurate pre-snap reads. His ability to stand in the pocket, move through progressions and deliver timely passes is some of the best in the NFL. Prescott’s 480 attempts in non-play-action dropbacks ranked sixth in the NFL in 2023. His passing grade of 87.5 in these situations ranked second league-wide, trailing only Patrick Mahomes.

What does any of this have to do with Tyler Guyton?

Everything.

Standard pass sets in a gimmick-free offense means maximum exposure for pass-protecting linemen. Play-action buys time with the run fake and first-read schemed passes keep the TTT down, but pass protecting in true pass sets ups the difficulty level for passers and pass protectors alike.

Guyton comes to Dallas as an abnormally inexperienced first-round draft pick. He’s raw in his development and untested in many responsibilities. Per Pro Football Focus, he only has 111 true pass set snaps which make up only 20 percent of his overall workload (lowest in his class).

Assuming he wins the starting LT job, the Cowboys will try to protect Guyton as much as possible, but since they can’t protect him all the time, he’ll have his work cut out for him in 2024.

Guyton’s pressure rate allowed at Oklahoma was a trusty 3.3%. It wasn’t as good as class leaders Joe Alt or Olu Fashanu, but it put him in elite company. That number slips, however, when just looking at true pass sets. His pressure rate in true pass sets balloons to 6.2% making for a significant swing from one type of blocking assignment to the next.

Recent draft picks with a college pressure rate of over 6.2% in true pass sets are players like Charles Cross, Christian Darrisaw, Andrew Thomas and Mechi Becton. It’s a concern but based on the names listed, it’s hardly a death sentence.

Given Guyton’s extremely limited experience in true pass sets, McCarthy may want to meet him halfway in his blocking assignments. Engineering more first-read plays on the back of motion and play-action is a great way to simplify things for Guyton as a rookie.  A steady dose of screen passes is another previously prescribed solution.

At the end of the day, playing on an island in true pass sets is going to be an unavoidable reality for the rookie LT. It’s something to monitor in training camp because if he’s not up the task the offense may have to fundamentally change.

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Diversity Fire: DaRon Bland’s inside, outside excellence gives Cowboys big edge

Unlike most elite CBs, DaRon Bland can play both inside and outside, allowing the Cowboys to move him where needed. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys stumbled into fortune when cornerback DaRon Bland was forced to switch roles in 2023. An ACL injury to Trevon Diggs in the lead-up to Week 3 forced Dallas to move Bland, their promising young nickel corner, outside to cover the absence.

With Stephon Gillmore on the opposite boundary and Jourdan Lewis taking over in the nickel, the Cowboys felt Bland would be up to the task of playing outside. They just had no idea how up to the task he’d be.

Bland went on to post an All-Pro season at outside CB for Dallas. Along the way he pulled in nine interceptions and returned five of them for touchdown, setting an NFL record. He established himself as one of the next great playmakers in the NFL and solidified his place on the boundary for the foreseeable future.

While many respected analysts still believe Bland’s best fit remains inside, his value is best maximized playing primarily outside. That’s because the stakes are higher outside. Routes are run deeper and consequences are more severe. It’s why the best CBs in the league typically play outside and it’s why the pay discrepancy between the two spots across the NFL is so apparent.

What it doesn’t mean is Bland should now be permanently entrenched outside. Doing so would remove one of his best qualities and rob the Cowboys of one of their biggest advantages.

Bland’s ability to effectively play inside and outside is a major advantage schematically. It allows the Cowboys to move him around and follow advantageous matchups while avoiding the more disadvantageous matchups. Most CBs can’t, or won’t, do that.

Cornerbacks are like homebodies. They see the big wide world out there, but if given the choice, most prefer to stay where they’re most comfortable.

Of the NFL’s top-10 graded CBs last season, only two, Trent McDuffie and Devon Witherspoon, regularly split snaps between the inside and outside. The problem with inflexibility is these great CBs now become avoidable. If they are unwilling to travel inside and/or outside, opposing offenses get to dictate coverage. If the opposition has someone like CeeDee Lamb who can play the X role, Z role and in the slot, they can avoid the CB in question all day. Bland isn’t so avoidable.

With Bland, Mike Zimmer can chase matchups. If the ideal matchup for Bland slides inside, so can Bland. It would force someone else outside to cover for him but the expected nickel CB in 2024, Lewis, has experience outside and can presumably slide outside in order to facilitate Bland’s nomadic ways.

Getting Diggs back into the fold is going to be huge for the Cowboys secondary in 2024, but no one should sleep on Bland’s recently discovered ability to travel because that has the potential to be a gamechanger for this defense.

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Unlocking screen is how Cowboys’ 2024 offense kicks the doors down

The Cowboys may have issues in the pass protection department in 2024 and a more prominent screen game could be their salvation. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys just don’t know what to expect from their offensive line in 2024. On one hand, they have a perennial Pro Bowler Zack Martin at right guard and second team All-Pro Tyler Smith at left guard. On the other hand, they have two completely unproven rookies, Tyler Smith and Cooper Beebe, presumably slated to start at left tackle and center, respectively. Things look even more unpredictable when looking at Terence Steele at right tackle since he’s posted rather bipolar performances over the past two years.

Since at least two-fifths of the starting lineup is guaranteed to be new in 2024, hiccups aren’t just possible, they’re expected. As such the Cowboys will be tasked with making things as easy as possible for their volatile offensive line, and that means mixing in a generous amount of screen passes.

The screen pass is a staple in nearly every playbook from college to the pros. It’s a passing play that uses misdirection and deception in a way that delivers a shallow ball quickly, with space to run and blockers to lead.

In its most basic construction, the screen pass is a play where the quarterback fakes a handoff or a downfield pass and then quickly dumps the ball off to a running back in the flat.

The play is made possible by the sales job of the entire offense. Linemen are asked to show effort in their blocks and then purposely allow defenders to slip passed them in pursuit of the passer.

As the excited pass-rushers pursue, the seemingly defeated offensive linemen get into position to block downfield. Typically, the guards will roll play side to lead block while the center slides up field to cut off backside pursuit. A halfhearted blocking attempt by the RB is followed by a move to the flat and with the hard-charging, pass-rush pursuit closing in on the QB, a lop is sent over the defenders into the waiting arms of the RB.

With multiple defenders (the pass-rushers who over pursued) now effectively out of the play, and the blockers set up in front of the screen pass recipient, a big run after the catch develops as the numbers now favor the offense.

Receivers and tight ends can also be the recipient of screen passes, and different blocking combinations can be used, but more often than not it’s a standard dink-and-dunk to a RB in the flat.

Screens are an effective way for offenses with suspect pass protection to survive because it punishes pass rushers for their aggressiveness and creates future hesitation in opposing defenses. Instead of charging the pocket with reckless abandon, pass-rushers are checking their six, making sure a screen isn’t developing behind them.

The threat of the screen is a great way to buy time for an otherwise struggling offensive line. It’s also something the Cowboys are quite good at ranking at the top of the leader boards in EPA/attempt in 2023. Oddly, it’s also something the Cowboys did quite infrequently ranking at the bottom of the boards in overall attempts.

The Cowboys may not love to call screen passes but the situation make dictate a sudden reversal on policy. Unless the newly contracted offensive line defies odds and hits the ground running in 2024, they’re going to struggled in areas of pass protection. A heavy dose of screen passes looks like their best way to survival.

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