‘Move Forward And Smash Somebody’: Klayton Adams Details Cowboys’ Run Plan After 204-Yard Night At Philadelphia

FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys went into Monday night at Philadelphia with a target number of rushing attempts, broken down by quarter, and Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said Thursday he would like the offense to be able to run the ball every week.

Dallas ran 38 times for 204 yards in a 38-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Cowboys entered the night last in the NFL with 20.9 carries per game. Javonte Williams rushed 25 times for a career-high 155 yards and a touchdown. Against the Eagles, Dallas averaged 5.4 yards per carry, up from 3.7 on the season.

The volume was deliberate. Over its first two possessions, Dallas ran nine times in 15 plays for 61 yards and opened the scoring with a 55-yard Brandon Aubrey field goal.

“I think when you have success early, it’s easier to sustain,” Adams said. “I think we went in with a pretty deliberate plan for, this is the amount of rush attempts that we really in a perfect world would like to hit. And then you kind of break that down by quarter and you’re looking for a mix of play types. And so, not necessarily nine runs in a row, but you’re kind of checking boxes.”

“And that was just like kind of a style of game that we wanted to play to see if we could get ourselves back on track and try to be who we want to be offensively,” Adams continued.

Adams does not want to be a run-every-play type of coordinator. Dak Prescott’s first two touchdown passes Monday went 9 yards to CeeDee Lamb in the first quarter and 21 yards to George Pickens in the second.

“The ultimate answer to that question, I think, is you want to be whatever you have to be to have more points than the other team, of course,” Adams explained. “How you get there is going to be a somewhat unique path each week for who you’re playing. But I do think that, just in general, I’ve said this before, when you can run the ball and the other team can’t or you can run it better than them, like, I just think it makes your whole team better.”

“I do. And that doesn’t mean that you’re going to need to have a certain amount of yards or whatever,” Adams continued. “But I think your defense feels it when you’re running the ball well. I think your special teams feels it when you’re running the ball well. I think the receivers appreciate it. It just makes things a little bit easier.”

“I think those first two touchdown passes were, I think they were both man coverage, and when our guys get man coverage, we got a chance to beat man coverage,” Adams added. “So it just gives everything a little bit different perspective and color. So, long story short, would you like to be able to run the ball every week? Yes, because I think it just opens up a lot of other things.”

Offensive linemen rarely celebrate at the end of a pass-protection rep, by Adams’ account. Running the ball is the more aggressive of the two jobs, and crossing the line of scrimmage means going into the other team’s territory.

“I don’t want to speak for every offensive lineman who’s ever lived, but, I mean, pass protection in the NFL, in my opinion, is one of the most difficult things to do in all of professional sports,” Adams said. “So I think guys like that, if you’re a tackle, you like that you get paid for being able to do that.”

“But at the end of the day, would I rather run forward and smash somebody or would I rather move backwards and get smashed?” Adams continued. “I mean, I think I’d rather move forward and smash somebody.”

Head coach Brian Schottenheimer calls the plays. Adams kept track of numbers and set himself reminders to pass along to Schottenheimer on Monday, a role the two discussed going into the week.

“I just tried to kind of set different types of reminders for myself, just for him,” Adams said. “And not necessarily that you have to do that all the time, but those were just discussions that he and I had for how can I help you more, what’s something that I can keep track of and give you numbers on, or what are some helpful reminders. I thought it went good, and we’re going to try to grow on that this week.”

Klayton Adams On Cooper Beebe, Tyler Smith And The Offensive Line

Dallas totaled 416 yards Monday and scored on seven of its nine possessions. Prescott threw for 212 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions.

“I thought they played pretty well. I thought there was a lot of encouraging things,” Adams said. “They didn’t bring as much pressure as some of the teams that we’d played in weeks before, but I thought that they did a nice job of winning some one-on-ones. There were steps forward. There’s still tests out there ahead of us that we’re going to need to pass.”

Tyler Smith is back in the lineup after missing the start of the season. Cooper Beebe, a 2024 third-round pick out of Kansas State, is in his third season at center.

“When you get a player like him back, it’s always going to help everything. He’s an outstanding player,” Adams said. “I think on top of that, one thing that I think is noticeable, just seeing it every day and being around the guy for a year and a half or whatever now, is Cooper Beebe’s playing good football right now.”

“Physically, he’s in a very good place,” Adams continued. “But he’s kind of reached that part of, I believe it’s year three now, where all of a sudden his hands are inside all the time and his eyes are under the chin on the defender and he’s doing some of those things naturally. I’m excited about where he’s at.”

Williams broke a 34-yard run in the fourth quarter on a drive that ended in Aubrey’s 24-yard field goal. Walkthroughs are where Adams listens for how a line group communicates.

“One thing that I usually look for with that group, just having some experience with those groups, is in walkthroughs,” Adams said. “One of the things that you’re usually kind of getting on those guys about all the time is you need to hear them communicate, you need to hear them communicate. And that’s like a very fundamental thing for a coach, is like you’re forcing guys to communicate. And it’s the right thing to do, by the way.”

“But when groups really develop synergy, you hear a little bit less talking, which is interesting,” Adams continued. “It’s like they know, they kind of know what’s happening. They can look at each other. There’s sometimes different, like, dummy calls that start coming out. I get excited when I see that type of thing start to happen with a group, and you see it happening more and more with these guys, is just taking over ownership of what’s happening just because they’re just very comfortable playing next to each other.”

Dallas has used a sixth offensive lineman in spots this season, and anyone with access to the All-22 film can count those snaps. Adams is not trying to hide the personnel.

“I just think you gotta mix your play types when guys are in there,” Adams said. “And then the other part of it is, a tendency’s not a problem unless you don’t know about it. And then the other part of it that I kinda go into my mind with is, fine, we’re gonna put them out there and there’s gonna be plays where you put those guys out there and run the ball and you’re not trying to hide it. So just, I guess, the mix of those three things.”

Adams has talked in recent weeks about the Cowboys finding an offensive identity. Dallas was 2-4 going into Monday.

“I think at the end of the day, like, just having those conversations going into that game, just being able to say to yourself, like, I think I said this before the season started, but you go into every season and you say, this is who we’re going to be,” Adams said. “And that’s not always who you are. And sometimes you go into a season and you think you’re going to be a certain way and that works for a few weeks. And then you got to pivot.”

“I feel like there was like panic because I said that, but I don’t believe that at all,” Adams continued. “I mean, I think that we’re going to have to re-identify ourselves two or three times before the season’s over because of injuries. Or, when you’re talking about a collective group of people, you don’t just get to say this is who we are and then that’s true.”

“I mean, I think it’s as people move in and out of that group, as you get played certain ways, I think that part of the art of being a team that can play well late in the season is being able to adapt what your identity is,” Adams added.

Adams still describes the group as a work in progress. Before Monday, Dallas had averaged 76 rushing yards per game, which ranked 30th in the league.

“I think that we’re learning. I think that we’re learning,” Adams said. “There’s going to be a game at some point here where we’ve got to throw it a million times to win it because you’re not able to run it. We certainly have the ability to do that. And I think when we have the ability to do both, we’re at our best.”

Adams On George Pickens, CeeDee Lamb And Nick Rallis’ Defense

Pickens put Dallas ahead 17-14 in the second quarter Monday with a fingertip catch in the corner of the end zone. Adams wants Pickens in one-on-one situations more often.

“When the ball was in the air, the only thing I thought of was, he’s going to catch that. And you don’t always feel that way about guys,” Adams said. “He’s just got a different gear. People always say the difference between NFL practice speed and NFL game speed is jarring when you see it kind of live for the first time.”

“And then there’s these other 3% of guys who have even almost a different type of speed, like when the ball’s in the air, or maybe a pass rusher that’s on the edge when you’ve been around some of those great guys,” Adams continued. “I guess that’s how I would describe it with him, is there’s just something extra that he has in his ability to fight for the football and bring it down.”

Pickens does not have to score for a play to be exciting to Adams. Dallas acquired Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers in May 2025.

“I won’t repeat exactly what I said, is please don’t get hurt and put the ball away, please,” Adams said. “He’s an exciting football player, and regardless of whether he ends up scoring when he’s got the ball or doesn’t score or whatever, it’s always exciting when the thing goes near him.”

“And I think part of the purpose and what we want to do offensively is we need to try to get him in situations where he’s one-on-one more often,” Adams continued. “Because when he does, he’s scary and fun to watch.”

Lamb caught two of Prescott’s three touchdown passes Monday. His second, in the third quarter, set up a Prescott quarterback sneak on the two-point conversion that put Dallas ahead 28-21.

“The guy has an incredibly high football IQ. He’s a very smart guy in general,” Adams said. “He’s got a unique brain. He understands things from a way that really only a player can totally understand him. I think that there’s several different ways to kind of see football, but I feel like when you have a player that understands what your vision is of what you’re asking him to do, and then kind of has a sentience about them to be able to take it to another level and figure out a way to make it even better, I mean, that’s what the great players in this league do.”

“We can put them in position and you can tell them you want them to do this or that, but the great players, they figure out a way to be successful within their own skill set and within what you’re asking them to do,” Adams continued. “I don’t know. I feel like I didn’t explain that well. But, yeah, there’s something about, like, the really great players. They figure out a way to get it done.”

Adams coached the Arizona Cardinals’ offensive line in 2023 and 2024 under then-coach Jonathan Gannon. Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis ran the defense in both of those seasons, and Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur kept Rallis when he took over in February after three seasons as the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive coordinator.

“I remember both games. The first one was at home and we won big. And I think we played really well on both sides of the ball,” Adams said of Arizona’s two meetings with the Rams in 2024. “The second one came down to the very last play, Trey McBride. Ball went off of his face mask and they intercepted it in the end zone. It was a relatively low-scoring game. Both of them were very tight football games. I think our defense played good, really, in both of them. Nick’s done a really good job on defense there.”

“They always, for whatever reason, seem to battle the injury bug, and they’ve drafted some good young players,” Adams continued. “And I can tell you just firsthand, it’s definitely difficult to prepare for. And he calls the game a little bit differently than some coordinators do. He’s heavy into numbers, heavy into who’s on the field, not necessarily what is the formation. And JG does some similar things too.”

“So I just think you’ve got to know that going into it,” Adams added. “To me, it’s always less about the opponent and more about us. And so the more we can focus on who we are, what we want to do, and then go out and do it regardless of who’s there, I think the better off we’ll be.”

Gannon is now the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, who beat Dallas 23-13 on Oct. 18. Rallis builds his calls around which receivers are in the game, by Adams’ account, and substitution patterns do not always cooperate.

“I know that Nick does a study on which receivers are in the game and what he’s going to call based on who’s in the game, and he’s always done a good job that way,” Adams said. “The truth of the matter is that you can’t always control it, because sometimes somebody runs a route 60 yards downfield and they’re coming out on the next play that they’re actually supposed to be in on.”

“So seeing it from my perspective, I appreciate that you’re going to get certain calls based on who’s in the game, but you just can’t always control it,” Adams continued. “So sometimes I think it’s overdone.”

Arizona moves safety Budda Baker around its defense in search of the football.

“He’s definitely always trying to find his way around the ball. And I think always kind of asking schematically, all right, how can I be around the ball more?” Adams said. “And so that’s one thing that you know for sure, is wherever they think the ball is going to be, that’s where Budda is going to be. So whether they think it’s a pass or a run or whatever, they’re trying to get him around the ball because he does good things when he’s around it.”

Dallas (3-4) hosts Arizona at noon CT Sunday at AT&T Stadium. The Cardinals (2-5) lost 30-16 at home to the Denver Broncos on Sunday.