Cowboys Pinpoint Key Reason For Offensive Failure; Is It Fixed?

Going into Monday night at the Philadelphia Eagles? The Dallas Cowboys' offense hadn't been good for the previous two weeks, even though before that, it was one of the better units in football.

But one theme that has followed the Cowboys since Week 1 has been the lack of a consistent run game.

With a young and upcoming offensive line, along with Javonte Williams, the Cowboys have struggled to get much out of the run game.

Averaging just 76 yards per game, ranking 31st in football and with only one game of 100+ yards, Williams and the rushing attack haven't gotten rolling at all.

Against the Green Bay Packers, Williams had just 11 attempts as the run game was abandoned by Brian Schottenheimer.

So, why wasn't it working?

First of all, something sure got fixed on Monday as Javonte Williams' career-high 155 rushing yards keyed a 38-21 win at Lincoln Financial Field, pushing Dallas to 3-4.

And what was the problem before?

Ahead of this game, offensive coordinator Klayton Adams offered an explanation.

"A lot of little pieces to the puzzle, not just one answer," Adams said. "We got to be committed to it, we got to have success early with it. Last week, there was two second-and-ones that we had negative yardage runs on. I think psychologically for a play caller that affects you of like, gosh, we can't just go get a yard.

"I think we got to execute better. Just trusting that we're a better team when we play that way. And when we've played our best football this year offensively, we're just a better team when we do that, we're more balanced, we're more well-rounded."

So there seems to be a franchise-wide acknowledgment that the run game has to be better.

But we heard Schottenheimer state before the Green Bay game that he wanted to run the ball more, yet he didn't. The game script might have been a reason.

We predicted that against a Philadelphia Eagles defense that had given up 100+ rushing yards in every game this season, it was the ideal opportunity for Dallas to get its run game rolling.

We also said that the trickle-up of the offense could be realized if Javonte is allowed to get untracked, because if you do that, it opens up advantageous opportunities for George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb in the passing game.

And on Monday, that pair combined for three TD passes.

If they want to have a good shot at rolling into a winning streak, the Cowboys would be wise to realize that a lot of "different puzzle pieces'' need to add up to Javonte Williams carrying a load.