NFC East News: A Close (Perhaps Too Close) Look at Cowboys RBs
From The Dallas Morning News:
Coming off a poor showing throughout the exhibition season, the Dallas Cowboys running game faces another problem in Sunday’s regular-season opener at Washington.
Coach Wade Phillips often points out the visting team has a difficult time running. The home-crowd noise is a big factor, Phillips said, because it neutralizes the offensive line’s advantage in knowing the snap count.
“It’s tougher on the road, but we’re going to try to pound the football as much as we can,” Phillips said on Monday.
The Cowboys could not pound the ball on the road last season. They averaged 97.1 yards rushing per game on the road, tying them with Philadlephia for the ninth-lowest figure in the league. Their per-carry average of 3.9 yards on the road was 10th-lowest.
To me, this is an overreaction, but we are talking about the Cowboys here. Dallas is the favorite to win the NFC East this year, and yet they’ve struggled on offense during the preseason. Still, I tend to think that their running game will be just fine with Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice giving the Cowboys three nice options in the backfield. How many teams around the league would take that?
