FRISCO, Texas — Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said Thursday that defenses spent the offseason studying the Dallas Cowboys offense and opened the season attacking it with sub-pressures and soft coverage, forcing the staff to rebuild its run plan from a blank slate.
Dallas ran for 98 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries from Javonte Williams in Sunday’s 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Williams had 30 yards on 12 carries in the Week 2 win over the Washington Commanders.
Adams said the adjustment has been the same every season, only more extreme this year because of the quarterback and receivers defenses are trying to take away.
“I think, and I said this earlier, and it’s kind of the, I really do think it’s the case every year. It’s been more extreme this year because of the quarterback and the playmakers that we have outside, but you’re going to find out early in the season what people have been thinking about all offseason,” Adams said. “And so when you have 17 games on tape and there are people that are just sitting and looking at it all year, it’s, okay, well, how do you defend this team? And we kind of got a wake-up call on that early, week one, and it’s kind of been the exact same thing ever since then.”
“And we just had to put kind of a blank slate of things together to attack what people were trying to attack us with,” Adams continued. “So I’m sure it’ll adjust again, but I feel good about the direction we’re headed there.”
Klayton Adams Explains The Sub-Pressures Facing The Cowboys
The pressures come from the nickel or a linebacker, with the shell staying soft behind them. Adams said that leaves space in the middle of the field if the offense can identify the rusher.
“Yeah, I mean, really what people are doing is just trying to attack the line of scrimmage with sub-pressures and then just play really soft shell coverage behind it, which, as you’ve seen, creates a ton of space in the middle of the field,” Adams said. “And if you can get through it and handle those movements and those pressures, and make sure that the guy who’s doing it, whether it’s the nickel or one of the backers, is part of your ID, you’ve got a chance of getting through and running one of those DBs.”
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Wednesday that Dallas got a little cute in the run game early and went back to runs it does well. He credited Adams, offensive line coach Connor Riley, and tight ends coach Lunda Wells.
Klayton Adams Says Tyler Goodson Gave Cowboys A Different Gear
Running back Tyler Goodson was active over Emari Demercado against Baltimore and got his first carries of the season. Adams said the staff wants its second back to bring a different flavor than Williams and told both players this week that the job is still open.
“I thought he did a nice job. I thought he gave us a little different gear. I mean, that’s one of the things that you’re searching for when you’re trying to figure out who your second back is: we want something that’s a little bit different flavor than what you have. And it felt like we saw that,” Adams said. “Now, we also told those guys this week, you’re still competing for that job. And so I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Emari Demercado, but I really liked what Goodson gave us in the game, and I look forward to hopefully seeing more of it.”
Schottenheimer said Tuesday that Dallas is carrying three running backs because of needs at other positions and could carry four once healthier.
On the final drive in Rio, Adams said he was not involved in the third-down conversation between Schottenheimer and quarterback Dak Prescott. He said the worst thing an assistant can do in game management is become an extra voice.
“No, because when you get into game-management situations, the worst thing you can do is be an extra voice. It really needs to be the play caller, the game-management person, and really the play caller is the only one talking to the quarterback,” Adams said. “And so if there’s something that’s really important, I’ll try to get his attention. But outside of that, those situations, as we all know, are extremely critical and high tension. So it’s really just a lot of listening.”
Schottenheimer took full accountability for the final sequence Tuesday, and Adams said not everyone in that position would.
“He knows that there’s going to be some mistakes. Everybody’s going to make them. But he’s pretty amazing just in the amount of accountability that he has toward the decisions that he makes. And it’s one of the reasons I think he’s built to do this: yeah, I screwed that up, and it’s not going to happen again,” Adams said. “And not everybody’s able to do that. There’s probably a lot of people in his situation that would have tried to make excuses or tried to paint the picture different than what it was. We didn’t get it done as a staff, and I’ll take whatever my blame in that is as well.”
Houston’s defense is next. Adams compared it to the 49ers-style front he faced twice a year while coaching in Arizona, the system Texans coach DeMeco Ryans brought from San Francisco.
“Just the attack-style front, just being in Arizona and going against the 49ers twice a year, you have to be violent. You’ve got to hit with the top of your shoulder pads. You’ve got to match violence at the line of scrimmage,” Adams said. “They’re coming forward at the snap, similar style to what our defensive line last year was trying to play. So you have to know that going into it.”
Dallas plays at the Houston Texans on Sunday at noon CT on Fox.
