After weeks of struggles, the Cowboys offensive line seems to finally be putting things together. The beaten and bruised, mismatched and mangled unit appears to be playing their best ball of the season and it’s no coincidence it’s resulted a fair degree of team success along the way.
Through weeks 1-11, the Dallas rushing attack ranked in 17th success rate (39 percent) and 25th in EPA/play (-0.136). In the four weeks that followed they have been fourth in success rate (46.3 percent) and 13th in EPA/play (-0.069). It marks a significant improvement and explains why the Cowboys have gone 3-1 behind a quarterback who ranks just 25th in EPA/dropback + CPOE composite score (measures impact and accuracy).
The question at hand is has the Cowboys offensive line finally worked things out with their run blocking or is this just a result of playing poorer competition?
Over the past four weeks the Cowboys have played the Commanders, Giants, Bengals and Panthers with the combined record of 20-36, likely explaining Dallas’ 3-1 record during that stretch. The run defense rankings of these teams were similarly poor, ranking 25th, 24th, 30th, and 31st respectively in EPA/rush and 21st, 28th, 30th and 32nd respectively in rushing success rate against.
It’s also worth considering the number of adjustments the Cowboys have made to their line throughout the season. Tyler Guyton has been in and out of the lineup. Before landing on IR, Asim Richards and Zack Martin were in and out as well. Brock Hoffman has split time between guard and center. T.J. Bass has bounced from left guard to right guard and Chuma Edoga has made some spot starts along the way.
Overall, there have been 11 different combinations of linemen in Dallas. Of the five that started on Sunday, only two were starters in Week 1 and there’s a good chance only one, Tyler Smith at LG, will be at his same starting position in 2025*. So, it isn’t like the Cowboys suddenly found the perfect combination.
*Note: this assumes the possibility Martin moves on, Terence Steele is cut, Cooper Beebe starts at center, Guyton starts at LT and Hoffman replaces Martin at RG in 2025.
For as much fun as it’s been seeing the Cowboys thrive running the ball these last four weeks, it’s no coincidence it has lined up perfectly with the decline in quality of opponents faced. The Cowboys offensive line and Rico Dowdle still deserve credit, but the credit comes with an asterisk at this point.
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