Tag: Rico Dowdle

Cowboys’ Rico Dowdle: ‘Definitely can get’ 1,000 yards after 3rd straight triple-digit outing

From @ToddBrock24f7: The undrafted RB didn’t get a starter’s workload until recently, but he’s suddenly within reach of his first 1,000-yard season.

Rico Dowdle had to think for a moment when asked if there’s been a time in his football life when he’s has had better stretch of games than the one he’s currently on.

“Probably not, honestly,” the Cowboys running back said with a smile after compiling a career-high 149 rushing yards in the team’s 30-14 win over the Panthers. “Maybe high school.”

But nothing the 26-year-old ever did at Asheville’s A.C. Reynolds was on the kind of stage he’s on now.

Dowdle is currently sitting on 880 yards rushing yards for the season, 15th-best in the NFL and ahead of some marquee names. His 5.0 yards-per-carry average has him in the top 10. And his success rate- a metric that tracks how often he gains a certain percentage of yards needed to convert, depending on the down- has him ranked second among all running backs leaguewide: better than David Montgomery, better than Bijan Robinson, better than Derrick Henry, better than Saquon Barkley.

So, yeah, you could say Rico’s on a roll.

“This is definitely a great time right now,” told reporters after Sunday’s win. “These past three weeks, those guys have opened it up. It’s been three good weeks in a row.”

Dowdle logged the first 100-yard performance of his five-year career in Week 13’s win over the Giants, ending with 112. He followed that up with 131 last Monday night versus Cincinnati. His 149 versus Carolina- just two hours east of where he played those high school games he talked about- gave him the best three-week string of games by a Cowboys rusher in six years.

That Dowdle wasn’t publicly referred to by his head coach as the team’s definitive starter until Week 11 will forever be one of the great mysteries of the 2024 season. Had the coaching staff not been forcing carries to Ezekiel Elliott for the first two months of the campaign, one can only wonder where his numbers- and the team- would be now.

It certainly crosses Dowdle’s mind.

“It’s all about the rhythm. I’ve been firm on that since the beginning, about the rhythm, getting the attempts,” Dowdle said. “I think we always could have done it, but… it’s working right now for us, so I’m not worried about [what happened] early in the season.”

Mike McCarthy acknowledged that it took some time to get the Cowboys’ ground attack into gear.

“Like any good run game, you need the attempts,” he said from the podium in his postgame press conference Sunday.

“He’s doing a really good job,” he said of Dowdle. “Breaks tackles, he has a violent run style, but his courses and his decision-making has been excellent.”

Even with the late start, Dowdle is within striking distance of his first 1,000-yard season. And his teammates- especially the big linemen blocking up front for him- are locked in to helping Dowdle achieve that goal.

“Rico’s my dog,” guard/center Brock Hoffman said Sunday. “I think he’s a hell of a running back, and I’m just happy that he’s gotten three games in a row over 100 yards. Let’s just keep stacking.”

When informed that Dowdle is just 120 yards away from 1K, Hoffman called his shot.

“That’ll be easy. We’ll get that next game.”

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have something to say about that. The NFC South leaders are giving up just 109 rushing yards per game to opposing teams on the season, but no team has hit triple digits against them since Week 9. In fact, the Bucs have allowed just 70.4 yards on the ground over their last five outings.

Dowdle may have to be patient to hit 1,000 yards.

But then again, he’s had to be patient just to get his opportunity as the Cowboys starter.

“Closing in,” he explained. “Definitely feels good. Definitely want to hit that milestone, with my first year being a starter. Looking for it, definitely can get it.”

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Is Rico Dowdle playing today? Injury news update for Cowboys running back

Here’s the latest status for the Cowboys’ Rico Dowdle for Week 15 against the Carolina Panthers.

The Dallas Cowboys take the field in an early game on Sunday, hoping to avoid another losing streak. After winning two in a row, their Monday night loss to the Cincinnati Bengals has been followed by the continuous 2024 theme of catastrophic injuries. Now set to take on the Carolina Panthers, the club is going to need as many warm bodies as possible as Bryce Young has turned things around for their offense.

Dallas, with their passing game struggling, needs to lean heavily on their run game. After two straight 100-yard performances, it may have been concerning for fans to see that RB Rico Dowdle was listed on this week’s injury report with a knee issue.

Fortunately for Dallas, Dowdle’s inclusion in the daily report seems precautionary. He was a full participant throughout the week, including Friday’s walkthrough, so it seems the ailment will not preclude him from suiting up, as he did not carry an injury designation. He should play as long as the knee doesn’t flare up in pregame warmups.

The fifth-year running back enters Week 15 as one of the hottest RBs in the league. The Cowboys efforts to feed Dowdle has finally taken hold, even though they failed to capitalize on his glorious ways, limited him to just 18 carries last week despite averaging over seven yards a tote.

Dowdle will have to contend with the defensive schemes of Panthers DC and Mike McCarthy replacement candidate Ejiro Evero.

Rico Dowdle was always answer at RB, why didn’t the Cowboys know it sooner?

Dowdle is an underrated NFL running back, likely because his own team hasn’t valued him properly until recently. | From @cdpiglet

The Dallas Cowboys aren’t mathematically eliminated from the NFL playoffs, but they go into their Week 15 game against the Carolina Panthers needing a miracle to get there. Miracles don’t seem to exist in the 2024 season for Dallas, though. They found a way to lose against the Cincinnati Bengals, and the lowly, three-win Panthers are favored for the first time in their last 33 games.

Dallas is in the final stretch of a lousy season that saw their quarterback and many of their young and up and coming stars lost to injuries. They need to keep an eye on the future for these games, even as they refuse to relent on a doomed playoff pursuit. Although not an assured part of the long-term vision originally, Rico Dowdle has recently shown he could be one of those guys.

Many will wonder why it took so long for Dowdle to find himself in the role of lead back. It might have been coach’s belief in a committee, the front office wanting Ezekiel Elliott to get touches, or worrying about Dowdle’s workload because of his injury history.

He was only given more than 12 attempts once in his first nine games, even though he has been a top-10 rusher in success rate and averaged 4.3 yards per attempt. Still, for the first 11 weeks, he couldn’t even get 50% of the carries.

Starting with the game against the Washington Commanders, Dowdle has taken 70% of the carries and produced. He went from averaging 10 attempts and 40 yards per game, to 19 carries for 109 yard averages.

He ran for more than 40 yards over expected (RYOE) against both the New York Giants and Cincinnati.  Comparing him to Detroit Lions first-round pick Jahmyr Gibbs in the last three weeks, Dowdle has more yards rushing, yards after contact, forced missed tackles, and has one less run for 10 or more yards.

Only three running backs on the season have a 54% success rate or better and more than 4.5 yards per carry. Dowdle is one; the others are Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry. If extrapolated over 17 contests, Dowdle would have rushed for 1,853 yards on 323 attempts and scored six times.

With his next matchup is against the Panthers, the team with the worst rushing defense in the NFL, Dowdle has an opportunity to extend his string of superb performances even further.

You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or YouTube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast.

Cowboys stopped gatekeeping this UDFA, now he’s among NFL’s best workhorses

Rico Dowdle started in split backfield but has become the Cowboys true bellcow RB. | From @ReidDHanson

My how far the pendulum swings. The Cowboys, stuck in a running back co-op seemingly forever this season, have now safely navigated into bell cow territory. Ezekiel Elliott’s struggles combined with Rico Dowdle’s maturation have pushed the latter into a lead role that most recently ranked the 26-year-old No. 6 on the latest bell cow report.

Dowdle has long looked like the top dog in Dallas, even before the season started. Those familiar with the South Carolina product knew it was injuries and availability that had been holding him back. What Dowdle lacked in name recognition he made up for in talent and versatility. It’s why local media spent little time discussing the reunion with Elliott while the national media couldn’t get enough of it.

Coming off his best yardage total and highest attempt total of the season, things aren’t likely to slow down for Dowdle any time soon. The 6-foot, 220-pound do-it-all back is primed for a run against some of the NFL’s worst defenses. With the exception of Philadelphia in Week 17, Dowdle has a favorable schedule ahead of him.

Working further in his favor is the growth of the Cowboys offensive line. Though left tackle remains a mess, Terence Steele at right tackle is back to his dominant self as a run-blocker, reserve guards T.J. Bass and Brock Hoffman are making the case to be 2025 starters, and center Cooper Beebe is even starting to flash.

Prior to Week 13 Dowdle was lacking explosive runs from his game. He fixed that against the Giants popping off multiple explosive runs he earned breaking and avoiding tackles at the second level. It moved his explosive run rate up from 6.3 percent to 8.2 percent on the season (per Sumer Sports) and has Dowdle positioned in that category ahead of players like Bijan Robinson and Aaron Jones.

For as good as this is for Dowdle, the Cowboys overall running game still leaves something to be desired. Even with Dowdle the clear bell cow over the past three weeks, Dallas ranks 29th in team EPA/rush and 25th in team success rate running the ball in that time span. The film is getting better, the individual runner is getting better, the only thing that’s left is more positive output. Based on trends, that too is likely to be on the way.

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Two Reasons: Cowboys only have selves to blame for disappointing 2024

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t met expectations in 2024, and the team only has themselves to blame for their issues. | From @cdpiglet

Coming off of their third 12-5 season in a row and a second seed in the playoffs, the Dallas Cowboys have fallen far from contention in 2024. That began well before the loss of starting quarterback Dak Prescott to a season-ending injury. If the team is upset by these results, it has only itself to blame.

The issues began with inactivity. The decision not to extend Prescott or star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb earlier in the offseason instead of right before September  was a two-fold error. Not only did it put them behind on the field, as it caused Lamb to miss training camp, but those extensions would’ve freed up cap space for Dallas to sign free agents to replace the nine players who signed elsewhere.

The only outside free agent the Cowboys signed before training camp began was Eric Kendricks, who was a direct replacement for a cut/retired player, Leighton Vander Esch.

That doesn’t negate the poor performance of the head coach and play-caller, Mike McCarthy.

Only recently did he make Rico Dowdle the primary running back, instead choosing a committee approach instead of featuring one of the top 10 running backs (success rate) on the season. In games Dowdle had at least 20 touches the Cowboys are 3-0, but only 2-6 in games when he gets under 20. After rushing 20 times for 87 yards against the Steelers’ top-three rush defense, Dowdle should’ve been the clear top back on the team.

McCarthy instead fed Ezekiel Elliott as the back with the most attempts the next game.

Beyond that, McCarthy hasn’t done a good job opening up the offense, failing to get the team’s playmakers the ball in spots where they can make plays. Speedster Kavontae Turpin has never had more than four receptions in a game all season and had more than five targets only once.

Against the Houston Texans, Turpin caught all three of his targets for 86 yards and a touchdown but had only one target the next game. In their last contest, the team targeted Turpin four straight plays on the opening drive and had him wide open on a slot corner route Cooper Rush missed in the end zone. Fans will have to wait and see if there were any lessons learned.

Dallas was due to regress, but the drop didn’t have to be this drastic if the front office and head coach had done their jobs more effectively. Now, they are trying to make a surge towards an unlikely playoff berth while many fans are already doing 2025 mock drafts, but the projections could’ve been much more positive if the people in charge had done their jobs earlier.

You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or YouTube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast.

Blocking improving but Cowboys RBs must take things to another level

The Cowboys offensive line is doing their part it’s now up the RB group to push the running game over the top, finds @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys are starting to see some return on their investment. Over the offseason they invested heavily in their offensive line, dedicating their first-round and a third-round pick to the unit. After some significant growing pains melding the new pieces into the machine, the unit is starting to show some signs of life in the run game.

Even with the constant shuffling of personnel along the line, Dallas ranks eighth in run block win rate. While Zack Martin is the only individual high performer of the group, the unit as a whole has been producing solid results.

In a single point failure area like run blocking, team success is paramount. It only takes one error for the entire play to be blown up. A study conducted by Pro Football Focus concluded a running play in which all blockers received positive grades produces a 60.2 percent success rate while a block with one or more negative grades offers just a 25.7 percent success rate. It carries over in EPA as well, with a positively graded blocking effort producing a +0.27 EPA compared to -0.27 EPA for a run block with one or more negative scores.

Shockingly, the Cowboys are currently in the NFL’s top tier in perfect run block rates in 2024. Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle have both been given solid opportunities for positive gains even if the results of the run haven’t shown it. While running games are largely a byproduct of the blocking, at some point it falls on the running back himself to really push it over the goal line (so to speak).

Explosive plays in particular are an area in which the Cowboys RBs are struggling. Creating holes and delivering positive gains often falls on the offensive line, but it’s the RB himself who’s largely responsible for making players miss at the second level.

Per Sumer Sports, Dowdle’s explosive run rate is 6.3 percent while Elliott’s is just 1.7 percent. For reference, Saquon Barkley is at 11.7 percent and Derrick Henry is at 11.8 percent. It’s a significant difference but Cowboys fans can take solace in the fact the difference between Dowdle and Elliott is far greater than the distance between Barkey/Henry and Dowdle.

Based on a side-by-side statistical comparison it’s clear the Cowboys made the right move giving Dowdle the top spot and pushing Elliott into a supporting role. Dowdle hasn’t just shown he’s the best of the bunch in Dallas but that he’s a legit NFL starter. When Dowdle is getting the ball, the Cowboys are producing at a top 10 success rate (filtered for those with 70+ carries).

Nontraditional ball carriers in Dallas are also producing at high clip. Hunter Luepke (66.7%), KaVontae Turpin (40.0%) and CeeDee Lamb (38.5) are posting decent success rates behind this Cowboys offensive line as well.

The Cowboys haven’t fixed their issues with run blocking, but they are clearly moving in the right direction and better than what some want to credit them for. What this offense needs now is some extra juice from the ball carriers themselves and some more assistance from downfield blockers like receivers and tight ends.

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Fantasy Football: Potential bargains, must-plays from Giants-Cowboys game

Here’s a look at some potential bargains for daily fantasy from the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys Week 13 game on Thanksgiving Day.

The New York Giants (2-9) will face off against the Dallas Cowboys (4-7) at AT&T Stadium on Thanksgiving Day in a race to the bottom of the NFC East.

Fantasy enthusiasts will be looking to dumpster-dive in this game. DraftKings is including it in their three-game Thanksgiving “Milly Maker” tourney, so they’ll be some interest.

Most DK players will likely be picking from the other two games — Chicago at Detroit and Miami at Green Bay — so the newly-minted millionaire who wins this week will probably win it with a pick (or picks) from this game.

Here are three possibles to consider:

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Dallas defense/special teams

The Cowboys ran back two kickoffs for touchdowns last week against Washington and the Giants have been average in kickoff coverage (15th). So, there’s that. The Giants’ offense is pathetic, scoring in single-digits again last week, and quarterback Tommy DeVito still hangs onto the ball too long. That will lead to sacks and hurries. The Cowboys’ defense is finally getting their footing, sacking Jayden Daniels four times last week.

Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Giants RB Tyrone Tracy Jr.

Tyrone Tracy Jr. has fumbled three times over the past two games (losing two) but when he’s managed to hang onto the ball, he’s been extremely productive. Dallas is 31st against the run this season, allowing over 150 yards per game on the ground. The Giants need to get Tracy right. This game means absolutely nothing’s why not take advantage of this plus matchup?

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Cowboys RB Rico Dowdle

The Giants have not been able to stop the run the past month or so. They are allowing 24.5 FPS on DK this year (same as Dallas) and 185.5 yards per game over their last five. With quarterback Cooper Rush (knee) questionable, the Cowboys could simply try to pound the football on this sieve of a Giants’ defense on Thursday.

John Fennelly is a fantasy football pioneer, having played in leagues since the early 1980s. He was instrumental in the development of the industry over the years and has won many championships and DFS tournaments, including DraftKings’ “Milly Maker” in 2019.

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Rico Dowdle value now clear after Cowboys abandon RBBC approach

The Cowboys committee approach at RB has shown them what value Dowdle really brings. | From @ReidDHanson

For as maddening as it’s been stealing carries from Rico Dowdle in 2024, the side-by-side comparison of Ezekiel Elliott and Dowdle has given the Cowboys a nice picture of what each player adds to the running game.

Running backs are a difficult position to evaluate in the NFL. Average yards per carry, cumulative totals and yards after contact have been common ways to grade RB efficiency in the past but they can be dated and often misleading in nature. Expected points added (EPA) has properly valuated the impact of each run better than yards/carry could ever dream of, but much like the others it has a hard time differentiating between RB impact and offensive line ability.

As advanced stats pick up steam in mainstream sports analysis, fans have searched tirelessly to find something that shows the value of a running back beyond what is directly given to him by his offensive line. Many have recently latched onto success rate as great barometer of RB skill, but even that speaks to the team’s execution of the play and says nothing about the quality of the runner himself.

That’s where Elliott and the Cowboys early use of RB-by-committee comes into play.

Under Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys have been resistant to plug specific runners into specific roles. He will hand off drives and call running plays regardless of whether it’s Elliott or Dowdle in the backfield. To the unintended benefit of this analysis, he matches play calls and circumstances as evenly as can be hoped for. From this we compare yards/carry, yards after contact, elusive rating (PFF signature stat measuring value added by RB) and success rate between the two backs. Predictably, all factors point to Dowdle as the superior RB.

Running behind the same Cowboys offensive line, Dowdle is averaging 4.5 yards/carry, compared to Elliott who just averages 3.2. Dowdle produces an EPA average of 0.04 while Elliott produces -0.27. Dowdle scores a 50.7 elusive rating compared to Elliott who averages a team low 17.2. Dowdle averages 2.41 yards after contact while Elliott averages 2.25.

Dowdle is tackled for loss at a lower rate, he gains first downs at a higher rate, and his explosive run rate is roughly five times that of Elliott. In matters of success rate (SR) Dowdle sits at 48.2 percent while Elliott is light years behind at 31.5 percent. Again, this is all behind the same offensive line with average number of defenders in the box greater for Dowdle than Elliott.

It’s important to point out SR differs from site to site with Pro Football Reference following a generic 40/60/100 format while Sumer Sports bases theirs on actual EPA on the given play (Sumer Sports for the win). But in either method of calculating SR, Dowdle has proven to be one of the best RBs in the NFL, all behind this Cowboys offensive line.

A successful running game typically comes from a well-executed running scheme. Offensive lines have proven over the years they are often more instrumental in ground game success than the man running the ball. Such a sentiment has caused many to declare “running backs don’t matter” since many backups produce at or near the same level of output as the man they replace.

In Dallas that is clearly not the situation. Running backs matter in a very big way because virtually every metric points to Dowdle as the superior runner. The Cowboys running game goes from bottom tier when Elliott has been carrying the ball to top tier when Dowdle is carrying the ball.

For as frustrating as the committee approach has been in 2024 it’s given the team a good look at what Dowdle really adds to the formula. It hasn’t just made a case for Dowdle to be the top dog in 2024 but it’s a making a good argument to re-sign the 26-year-old RB for next year and beyond.

This past week Dowdle has been declared the RB1 for the Cowboys going forward. That’s a wide move because based on the comparison between Dallas’ top two rushers, RBs really do matter sometimes.

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It’s Week 11, and Cowboys’ McCarthy just named his lead RB

From @ToddBrock24f7: Rico Dowdle has quietly surpassed two RBs with 7 Pro Bowl nods between them to land in the top-20 in a couple key rushing stats.

The Cowboys’ rushing attack has been a debilitating weakness all season, with the team ranking 31st out of 32 teams in rushing attempts per game, rushing yards per game, and rushing yards per carry with the season now more than half over.

The team’s running-back-by-committee approach has been the primary contributing factor in the eyes of most observers. The Cowboys split carries among Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle to start the season, finally called up Dalvin Cook only to have him turn in very pedestrian numbers, and they feed Deuce Vaughn and Hunter Luepke so sparingly it’s easy to forget they’re still on the team.

Of the five, only the fullback Luepke has taken offensive snaps in every game of the 2024 campaign, with the Dallas coaching staff unwilling to further commit to any of their other backfield options.

Except, maybe, now.

When asked Thursday about Dowdle, head coach Mike McCarthy- in Week 11 but for the first time this season- said out loud what most of Cowboys Nation has been thinking for months.

“He’s the lead back,” McCarthy said during a pre-practice press conference, “I thought he had a really good first half [versus Philadelphia], and I think that’s really illustrated by the attempts. Rico needs to touch the ball.”

Dowdle’s 10 carries for 50 yards in the first and second quarters of Sunday’s 34-6 loss to the Eagles represented his busiest and most productive first half of the season. And while the game getting away from the Cowboys in the third stanza slowed down the 26-year-old’s stats, Dowdle has quietly managed to climb his way up the rankings of several key categories among the league’s rushers.

At an average of 4.5 yards per carry, Dowdle currently stands 19th across the NFL, ahead of flashier names like Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, David Montgomery, Najee Harris, Breece Hall, and even ex-Cowboy Tony Pollard.

Filter running backs by success rate, and it gets even better. That metric calculates how often a ballcarrier gains at least 40% of the yards required on first down, 60% on second down, and 100% on third or fourth down.

Dowdle’s success rate of 55.4% puts him 10th in the league. That kind of clip makes his limited usage- just 83 rushing attempts (36th place) and only 374 rushing yards (35th place)- seem like outright negligence on the part of the Dallas coaching staff.

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Many have blamed that reluctance to let Rico run on some assumed mandate from the front office to lean on Elliott, the two-time rushing rushing champ, fan favorite, and prodigal son who returned to the team in 2024 after an obvious decline led to his release in early 2023. Elliott is having a career-worst season production-wise and has reportedly been enough of a distraction that he was made inactive and left in Dallas for a Week 9 away game.

Cook was signed late in the preseason but stashed on the practice squad until Week 8. While the hope was that Cook would be some sort of savior by providing fresh legs midway through the schedule, his performance has only emphasized why the Cowboys should have made a bid during free agency for Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, or the aforementioned Mixon (all top-10 rushers currently).

Vaughn simply doesn’t look like a legitimate NFL running back (and that’s not a cheap shot at his height), and Luepke was never meant to be a volume rusher.

Dowdle is the lead back in Dallas… but not only because the team has no other choice (save for the practice squad’s Malik Davis, who hasn’t logged a carry since the finale of the 2022 regular season). Though he’s had to claw for every snap and even stand by during an unexpected inactive declaration in San Francisco due to a mystery illness, Dowdle, the undrafted free agent out of South Carolina, now leads the Cowboys- and by a lot- in rushing attempts and rushing yards. And he’s top-five on the team in receptions and receiving yards, too.

It’s shaping up to be a lost season for the Cowboys, but with eight games still left to play, it’s become clear that Rico Dowdle will be one of the keys to whatever glimmers of success the team is able to eke out.

And now, it seems, that’s finally clear enough for McCarthy to say out loud.

“Got to get him the ball,” the coach said Thursday. “That’s my focus, just continue to give him opportunities.”

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Dak Prescott, Rico Dowdle with dazzling three-yard touchdown connection

Dak Prescott throws a TD pass for Dallas

If there is such a thing as a spectacular three-yard touchdown pass, the Dallas Cowboys executed it on Sunday.

Trailing the Atlanta Falcons, 14-3, in the second quarter, Dak Prescott went into scramble mode.

The Cowboys’ QB had dodge his own offensive lineman before finding Rico Dowdle in the end zone.

As has been the case this season, nothing is easy for Dallas.

Dowdle puts on a juggling act before coming down with the football in the end zone.

After the PAT, the Cowboys trailed, 14-10.