FRISCO, Texas — Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said Thursday that left tackle Tyler Guyton needs consistency and confidence more than anything, and that keeping him on the field is where the biggest gains will come.
Guyton is in his third season after the Dallas Cowboys drafted him 29th overall out of Oklahoma in 2024. Adams said he has made a habit of not answering questions about Guyton, and he leaned into it again.
“I think that we’ve seen consistency. I’m just going to keep doing the same thing I do when you guys ask me that question and just not answer it and pretend like he’s not there. I really do. I just really do just want to see another solid game,” Adams said. “Consistency is what we want, and confidence is what we want, and keeping him out there as long as possible is what we want because that’s where you’re going to make the biggest gains.”
“Just by playing in NFL games is so important, and I think that’s what we’re seeing right now: a guy who’s on the journey,” Adams continued. “And so there’s never a finished product, but we just need to keep him out there. You keep him out there, he’s going to keep learning.”
Guyton faces a Texans front on Sunday that includes defensive ends Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter. Adams compared the Houston Texans to the 49ers-style defenses he saw twice a year while coaching in Arizona.
Klayton Adams Breaks Down The Cowboys Third-Down Windows
Wide receiver George Pickens led Dallas with 11 targets in Sunday’s 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens and caught seven passes for 82 yards, season highs in all three categories. Adams said the staff goes into every game looking for ways to get Pickens one-on-one, and that quarterback Dak Prescott probably saw early that Pickens would be hard to cover.
Adams said third down was uneven in Rio. Dallas was usually good from 4 to 6 yards and on third-and-1, and neither window worked against Baltimore.
“There’s also, when you have a player that’s as unique as George Pickens, you go into every game trying to say, how do we create opportunities where he’s one-one in this situation? That was the unique thing about last game for us on third down: the four-to-six window that we’re usually so good in was not very good. The third-and-one window that we’re usually so good in was not very good,” Adams said. “Seven-to-ten, we were four-for-four, and we had the one that was called back. So we were pretty good around the sticks, and I think he probably saw early that three was going to have a really good game and was going to be really hard to cover.”
“I think, long story short, we certainly tried to design things where we can get the ball to three and 88 in those critical downs,” Adams added.
Pickens wears No. 3. CeeDee Lamb wears No. 88.
Klayton Adams On The Hold Against Terence Steele
The completion that was called back was an in-route to Pickens, wiped out by a holding penalty on right tackle Terence Steele. Adams said offensive linemen can only control their hand placement.
“Yeah, I mean, you got to do everything you can to get your hands inside. And when you can’t get your hands inside, you got to pull them off,” Adams said. “We can’t control those situations. We can only focus on fundamentals and doing everything we can to influence the call to go the other direction.”
Adams said he is focused on the few things the offense is not doing well rather than its statistics. Dallas entered Week 4 as a top-10 scoring offense, according to a question Thursday.
“My job is to try to keep us out there and keep us playing winning football. And so, again, like I think I said that early on in training camp, whatever statistics are fine and they’re good, I’m kind of focused on a few things we’re not doing good right now,” Adams said. “And then, again, at the end of the day, when we have the ball in our hands and we have the ability to put a game away, I think Dak said it, but it’s 100% true: we need to do that. And it’s about winning. It’s not about stats.”
Kickoff at Reliant Stadium is set for noon CT Sunday on Fox.
