The Dallas Cowboys have a lot of kinks to work out in their game plan during the bye week. A lot of attention has been thrown on Tony Romo and his inopportune interceptions late in important games. However, this is only part of the reason Dallas is struggling. Head coach Jason Garrett seems to love throwing the ball all over the field, even when his team is up, and much of that has to do with questions at running back.
Dallas has to find a way to make their play calling more balanced and that comes with working on their running back corps.
Heading into the 2011 season, Felix Jones told ESPN that he wanted to be the best running back in the NFL. That hasn't happened. Jones was injured early in the season and is playing through shoulder pain. With Marion Barber out of Dallas, it was expected for Jones to get every chance to take over the lead role in the backfield but his yards-per-carry average has dropped every year of his career, as his touches increased. While a 4.3 average is not horrible, his 14 touches a game does someone of his size (5-10, 217) no favors. He needs numerous touches every game to get his big runs and his body is not built to take that punishment.
In 2010, Tashard Choice started to come on strong as a change of pace back to Barber and Jones. The problem is he is almost a duplicate of Jones in size (5-10, 218) and, with two duplicate backs rotating in and out of the game, the defenses never have to adjust. With Barber, they needed to take into account his power running. With Choice and Jones, they simply play the same schemes. Yes, Jones is quicker, but that makes Choice even more negligible in this offense. Choice is averaging 2.5 yards per carry this year, meaning it is time to look to the rookie.
DeMarco Murray came to the Dallas Cowboys as the Oklahoma Sooners all-time touchdown leader. Looking at what Adrian Peterson, another Oklahoma Sooners star back, has done in the NFL has to have Jerry Jones excited to see what Murray can do for Dallas. He is bigger (6-0, 227) than Jones and Choice and can give Dallas more power in the running game but has not received the chance yet. Jones has raved about Murray but the youngster has only 14 carries in the first four games. He is only averaging 2.8 yards per carry but, thanks to his lack of touches, that number is hard to judge.
It doesn't matter who they put on the field, Dallas has to start to run the ball more. Look back at the classic Dallas Cowboys teams. Don Meredith had Don Perkins. Roger Staubach had Calvin Hill and Tony Dorsett. Troy Aikman had Emmitt Smith. Tony Romo does not have a solid star in his backfield and never has. Dallas has to hope one of these guys steps up their game this year or find someone who can. If they don't start to run the ball more, they will never take that next step.
Author Shawn S. Lealos has followed the Dallas Cowboys since he was a child, his favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s. Through the great years of the '90s and the hard times of the '80s, Shawn never turned his back on America's Team.
Source: Dallas Cowboys official website
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