Through the first four weeks of the regular season, the Dallas Cowboys’ running backs were an easy target for ridicule.
After all, the Cowboys didn’t have Derrick Henry or Saquon Barkley, two backs on Dallas fans’ wish lists this past offseason. Henry was thriving in Baltimore, where he ran for 151 yards in a Week 3 win against Dallas and Barkley was off to a good start with NFC East rival Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, the rushing attack in Dallas was inept. The longest run — a 12-yarder — belonged to the team’s star receiver. The player the Cowboys did sign, Ezekiel Elliott, could hardly get snaps, let alone make impactful plays. Dallas ranked last in the NFL in rushing yards per game and tied for 30th in yards per attempt.
That context is what made the Cowboys’ output on the ground in Pittsburgh so important. Dallas gained 109 yards rushing on 31 attempts for a 3.5 yards per carry average. If the Cowboys averaged 109 yards per game, it would be good enough for 20th in the league and the 3.5 yards per carry — the actual Cowboys’ season average — lands them at 31st in the NFL.
The numbers are pedestrian. So what’s all of the run game positivity about coming out of the Week 5 win?
The answer begins with Rico Dowdle.
The fifth-year back had 20 carries for 87 yards, and added a couple of catches for 27 yards and a crucial touchdown. The Cowboys proudly declared a running back-by-committee approach entering the season but the application of the concept had been a mess. Between Dowdle, Elliott and Deuce Vaughn, running backs would check into the game situationally. None of them was able to really get into a rhythm.
pound the rock @ricodowdle 🪨
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While the running backs are often the first ones to blame for a bad running game, there are other culprits that contributed to the struggles. Half of the Cowboys’ first four games got out of hand in the first quarter, forcing them to abandon the ground game and play catch-up through the air. The offensive line — breaking in a couple of rookies — wasn’t always crisp in run-blocking or in sync with the running backs. The passing game wasn’t scaring defenses enough to lighten the box for the running game.
Sunday was a wire-to-wire close game. The offensive line performed much better. The passing game was effective.
When coaches preach “complementary football,” the reference is usually about the offense and defense. But complementary football exists within one side of the ball, too. On defense, a strong pass rush can help a leaky secondary, and vice versa. Similarly, on offense, a strong running game can set up the pass or a strong passing game can open up the run. The Cowboys have nearly $100 million tied up between starting quarterback Dak Prescott and superstar receiver CeeDee Lamb. Mike McCarthy’s offense is designed to make the quarterback be successful. So, when it comes to setting the tone, especially considering the personnel in the passing game compared to the running back room, the Cowboys need Prescott’s passing game to be front and center.
“Sometimes people think when it’s wet and slick, you want to just run the ball,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “Well, we feel like we kind of have the advantage when it’s wet because we know where we’re going, talking about running routes. The defensive backs don’t (know), they can slip and things like that. It’s a game plan thing.”
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Against the Steelers, the Cowboys rode Prescott’s arm far more than Dowdle’s legs in the first half. Prescott threw 20 passes while Dowdle carried the ball five times. The Cowboys totaled 10 rushing attempts in the first half. Dowdle went into halftime with 20 yards on the ground — 12 on one carry.
The game was never lopsided. In the second half, Prescott was at a similar pace, attempting 22 passes. The passing game replaced two red zone turnovers in the first half and no touchdowns with two touchdown passes — one to Dowdle — and one turnover. The Cowboys fed Dowdle, giving him 15 carries for 67 yards in the second half. He even popped off a 13-yard run, giving a running back the Cowboys’ longest run of the season instead of Lamb.
“What was cool for us was that when we had to run the ball in the second half, we were able to do that,” Schottenheimer said. “That’s a sign that there’s progress. We’re feeling better about the combinations, the running game. Kudos to Rico, he ran really, really hard. Just some big plays throughout.”
Rico Dowdle and Dak Prescott celebrate their 22-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter against the Steelers. (Barry Reeger / Imagn Images)
That’s what the Cowboys need from their running game. It’s not about the gaudy stats; it’s about being able to run the ball when they need to. That could be in short-yardage situations. It could be in the red zone. It could be in the four-minute offense, trying to milk the clock at the end of the game.
The Cowboys’ offense is predicated on the passing game being the main character but the running game has to at least be on stage.
The game against the Steelers showed that Dowdle may be the guy to shoulder that load. Elliott hardly got on the field. When he did, his burst was nonexistent and his chemistry with Prescott has been mysteriously off this season in the passing game. Vaughn was inactive. Hunter Luepke is a solid situational runner but more of a utility player.
Though not perfect, Dowdle showed signs of something that can be built upon — he showed progress.
“Rico has always run hot,” Schottenheimer said. “He sees where he wants to go and he wants to get there in a hurry. The problem with that is when you’re trying tie in the seven or eight other guys involved in the blocking scheme, they’ve got targets and aiming points. … When you get there too fast, the blocks don’t set up.”
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There was a key play at the end of the game that drove home the good and the bad. On second-and-goal late in the fourth quarter, two plays before Prescott threw the game-winner to Jalen Tolbert, Dowdle got a carry from the 1-yard line. When Dowdle received the handoff, Zack Martin was pulling outside and Luepke was leading the way as the lead blocker. If Dowdle follows the play patiently, where it was intended to go, he may get into the end zone and be the game’s ultimate hero.
Instead, he saw a small opening inside and made the impulsive decision to leap into the area that Martin had vacated. Steelers linebacker Elandon Roberts met him there and forced a fumble, which Prescott recovered.
That play, which came so close to being a fatal miscue, may seem like a curious choice to single out in what’s an optimistic narrative about the running game, but it’s an encapsulation of the situation. The Cowboys had set up the blocking. They handed the ball to their most talented running back. The play was there to be made; Dowdle just needs to make it.
So often on Sunday, Dowdle did make the play. The Cowboys need him to make it more consistently.
(Top photo: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)
