‘Dominate The Blocks’: Tyler Smith, Dallas Cowboys Search For Answers After Run Game Stalls Against Arizona Cardinals
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys ran 39 times for 93 yards Sunday in a 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals at AT&T Stadium, an average of 2.4 yards per carry. Tyler Smith said the offensive line has to dominate the blocks it is supposed to dominate.
Javonte Williams carried 24 times for 56 yards, with a long of 6. Tyler Goodson ran 7 times for 14 yards, and Dak Prescott ran 7 times for 20 yards and a touchdown. Arizona recorded 4 tackles for loss, and Arizona ran for 202 yards on the other side.
Dallas averaged 2.7 yards per carry in the first half and 2.2 on 24 second-half attempts.
“I just felt like execution had to be better, obviously,” Smith said. “I felt like they did well moving things around in the run game, blitzing in certain areas and things and whatnot, but execution just has to be better. We just have to dominate the blocks that we’re supposed to dominate. We have to communicate better. Period.”
Smith wanted to execute better personally down the stretch. He said there were blocks he did not do well enough on.
“My teammates trust me. My teammates depend on me. So I feel like I have to own my 1/11th to the maximum,” Smith explained. “We played good. We had a 6-point lead going into one minute left in the game, whatever. But we had a chance to put the game away. I didn’t play well enough down the stretch.”
Dak Prescott Calls Cowboys’ Run-Game Struggles Surprising
Dallas was coming off a 38-21 win at Philadelphia on Monday Night Football, and Williams’ longest run Sunday went for 6 yards.
“I still got to go watch it. Yeah, it’s surprising,” Prescott said. “Especially knowing the guys that we got up front, how nasty and how prideful they are in the run game and being who they are and asking to just run the ball. It is, but I’ve got to go back and see what the looks, see what entailed in that.”
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said getting the ball to playmakers is a combination of things.
“You’ve got to get the ball, it’s a two-edged sword. You got to get the ball going that way,” Jones said. “I’m not criticizing at all, but we certainly felt that with the way the offensive line played last week, the way we were running the ball, we thought we were in good shape, especially when we got the ball the second time in the overtime.”
Brian Schottenheimer Wants To Watch Film Before Explaining Run Game
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer calls the offensive plays. Dallas ran 24 times and threw 17 passes in the second half.
“I want to watch it before I really answer that question,” Schottenheimer said. “Each week in this league is different. Same thing. You look at the second half for them. I think their run game caught fire. I mean, they gave up too many explosive plays, and Allgeier went crazy. But I want to look at the film before I speak to that.”
Arizona’s Tyler Allgeier ran for 147 yards on 11 carries. Dallas wanted to get its own running game going, Schottenheimer said.
“I want to look at that. I don’t necessarily think so,” Schottenheimer explained. “We wanted to try to get the running game going, and I thought they did some nice things. But I want to look at that. I didn’t feel that way out there, no.”
The Cowboys fell to 3-5. Dallas visits the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 8 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon CT on FOX.
