Cowboys fans who may have been disappointed to not see more bells and whistles from the team’s offense on Sunday night will want to remain patient.
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has confirmed that the team certainly held a few things back during the 40-0 throttling of the Giants to open the season.
Some of that restraint was based on the nasty weather that invaded MetLife Stadium, some was based simply on having a commanding lead, some may have been letting Dak Prescott, Tony Pollard, CeeDee Lamb, and other playmakers settle in and shake off the rust after sitting out the entire preseason.
But just because every play call was working, the Cowboys resisted the urge to call every play they had.
“We were wise about what we wanted to use and what we showed and didn’t show with some of our personnel packages and things like that,” Schottenheimer told reporters at The Star on Monday.
Though Prescott went just 13-of-24 on the night for under 150 yards- one of the lowest totals of his career- the offense was efficient overall, to the tune of 4.8 average yards gained per play. With that kind of pace and a big lead, Dallas simply didn’t need every club that was in their bag.
Some of those unused plays may make the call sheet in Week 2 when the Cowboys host the other New York team in the AT&T Stadium home opener.
“The cool thing is, you’ve practiced those for, really in this case, two weeks,” Schottenheimer said, “because, really, we started this prep two weeks ago. So those carry over nicely into the things that fit based on what the Jets do, so I think that’s definitely a benefit.”
For those who wanted to see Deuce Vaughn used more exotically, those who had hoped for an all-out air assault employing the team’s top speedsters on the field together, those who maybe had a hankering for some smash-mouth fullback action or schoolyard trickeration?
It’s all coming. Eventually.
“We want to be multiple. We want to make it hard for the defense. We want to roll personnel groupings. We want to use all of our pieces,” Schottenheimer explained. “They’re just chess pieces, is all they are. We want to be able to do that, so we’ll slide over the ones that fit this week, and there’ll probably be a number of those that do. The ones that don’t? You don’t remove them; you just put them on hold for another week to where they do fit.”
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The Jets defense should pose a stiffer challenge for the Dallas offense. Against the three-time-defending AFC East champion Bills, they forced four Josh Allen turnovers and recorded five sacks.
And as the Jets enter a short of week of prep, the Cowboys are happy to keep them guessing at what unscouted looks may be waiting for them when they get to Arlington.
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