{"id":156481,"date":"2023-12-30T11:00:06","date_gmt":"2023-12-30T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=156481"},"modified":"2023-12-29T15:31:47","modified_gmt":"2023-12-29T20:31:47","slug":"the-dallas-cowboys-have-a-glaring-hole-on-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/12\/30\/the-dallas-cowboys-have-a-glaring-hole-on-offense\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dallas Cowboys Have a Glaring Hole on Offense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The same issues are plaguing the Dallas Cowboys and factors like this will unfortunately continue to haunt them in time for the playoffs. It\u2019s becoming a predictable trend every year from what Cowboys fans see. Don\u2019t get it twisted, Dallas does have all the right spices in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/11\/13\/dak-prescotts-impressive-performance-puts-him-in-mvp-conversation\/\" target=\"_self\">Dak Prescott<\/a>, CeeDee Lamb, and other key players to get to where they need to be.<\/p>\n<p>The only issue is what they can do if the offense slows daily with the magnitude of injuries that occur frequently. It\u2019s like a bad nightmare waiting to happen to wake you up. It\u2019s 2022 all over again and this lesson is just something that Dallas can\u2019t figure out.<\/p>\n<p>The glaring hole on the Cowboys&#8217; offense? The offensive line. It\u2019s beginning to look like it will eventually crack and there\u2019s nothing they can unfortunately. The Cowboys activated a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/nfl\/profootballtalk\/rumor-mill\/news\/cowboys-activate-matt-waletzko-waive-rashaan-evans\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">offensive tackle<\/a> to their roster recently to cover up the wound.<\/p>\n<p>To say the least, Dallas has not <a href=\"https:\/\/cowboyswire.usatoday.com\/2023\/12\/28\/cowboys-lesson-offensive-line-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">learned its lesson<\/a> and it will continue to bite them in the end.<\/p>\n<h2>The Dallas Cowboys Offense Has a Glaring Hole<\/h2>\n<h3>The Cowboys\u2019 Offensive Line Is Continuing to Have Negative Ripple Effects<\/h3>\n<p>Here we go again Cowboys fans, the team is slowly diminishing while it looks like the offense has a bright future. That\u2019s not the case anymore which is disappointing for a team that had high expectations this upcoming postseason. Dallas addressed most issues this past NFL Draft, but they left one thing out of focus and that\u2019s building upon their offensive line.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s probably why <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/08\/04\/running-back-tony-pollard-now-in-the-spotlight\/\" target=\"_self\">Tony Pollard<\/a> isn\u2019t having much successful productivity this season and Prescott hasn\u2019t been able to receive much time in the pocket. The offensive line is the obvious answer and key players like them and Lamb are paying the price for it. It wouldn\u2019t make sense for the coaching staff and front office to let this become another issue again, right?<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Dallas didn\u2019t see the issue once they drafted <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/03\/29\/2023-nfl-draft-mazi-smith-scouting-report\/\" target=\"_self\">Mazi Smith<\/a> this past draft. They thought they could be solid with having Tyron Smith (once again) and Terence Steele recovering from his catastrophic knee injury. Dallas thought wrong and should\u2019ve put the pedal to the metal by getting a veteran to complement the offensive line.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The offensive line is what makes this team run, so any star player who goes down will negatively impact the team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>It Only Got Worse After the Line Took Another Hit<\/h3>\n<p>The Cowboys are clearly underwater with all these issues at the line, but close your eyes, it\u2019s only <a href=\"https:\/\/atozsports.com\/dallas\/cowboys-offensive-line-takes-yet-another-hit-ahead-of-week-17-vs-lions\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">getting worse<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/11\/07\/why-dallas-cowboys-lost-philadelphia-eagles-week-9\/\" target=\"_self\">Chuma Edoga<\/a> is added to the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/nfl\/profootballtalk\/rumor-mill\/news\/tyron-smith-remains-out-of-practice-and-his-replacement-chuma-edoga-was-limited\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> injury report<\/a> after being the replacement and backup for Smith. So now with these two being out with injuries, the team needed to go back to the drawing to grab one of their practice squad players. No matter if they come back from their injury, the way they play won\u2019t be the same.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s concerning for the left tackle position where they would want to avoid talented edge-rushers coming in and using it as an advantage. However, it might be much of a concern since they could use an additional tight end like <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/11\/16\/this-dallas-cowboys-offensive-threat-is-the-next-jason-witten\/\" target=\"_self\">Jake Ferguson<\/a> on the field to block. The Cowboys do have that option, but mostly they should be utilized only for some plays and not for most of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, Dallas seriously needs to address these issues during the offseason no matter the outcome of what happens.<\/p>\n<h3>Expectations for the Dallas Cowboys Offensive Line<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s bound for the line to crack, but the offense might be fine with that happening, only if they switch up their playbook. Dallas could get tricky with their plays and run quick passes, they have the speed in Brandin Cooks and Lamb. It wouldn\u2019t be a problem since they have their security blanket in Ferguson. It\u2019s something to watch out for when the playoffs begin where it\u2019s all for the marbles.<\/p>\n<p>If Dallas goes up against a contender with a strong defense then that might be a problem, even if they have their starting offensive line on the field. If Smith and Edoga are fresh, they will still battle the injury that they recover from. You never know with the Cowboys, injuries are the biggest thing that is stopping this team from becoming a dominant contender.<\/p>\n<p>Main Image: Jim Rassol \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here Is The Most Evident Hole For The Dallas Cowboys On Their Offense Ahead Of The NFL Playoffs And How It Can Induce A Wound<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4795,"featured_media":156688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,19],"tags":[5801,5147,302,9707,1235],"class_list":["post-156481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-cowboys","tag-ceedee-lamb","tag-chuma-edoga","tag-dak-prescott","tag-mazi-smith","tag-tyron-smith"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}