Cowboys Reveal ‘Huge Focus’ vs. Winless Ravens

The Dallas Cowboys’ defensive debacle in Week 2 left media and fans spinning about one side of the ball heading into Sunday’s matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.
That ruckus has shifted focus away from the Cowboys’ most consistent ailment through their first two games: running the ball. Dallas had less opportunity to create anything positive on the ground given the massive early deficit they fell into against the New Orleans Saints.
Nonetheless, the early returns have been less than pleasing. The Cowboys’ running backs rushed for 70 yards in Week 1 and tallied 57 yards last week. As the league continues to shift toward a reliance on the running game, Dallas seems in danger of falling behind of that curve.
Rather than panic, left guard Tyler Smith believes a responsibility falls on the Cowboys’ offensive line to lift a burden off their backfield.
“It’s a huge focus for us… that’s something I’ve been really intentional about going into this week… letting our guys run,” he said. “We got a great running back room, we got really athletic guys with really great, diverse skillsets. It’s on us to get them going.”
The offensive line must play better, but that may be a dramatization of the capacity of this group. Rico Dowdle has not separated himself from the pack and Ezekiell Elliott, though useful elsewhere, does not have the same burst he came into the league with.
All the while, Dalvin Cook looms as a potential replacement on the practice squad. Altogether, this group has not shown it can maneuver traffic and fight for chunk gains.

Given those shortcomings, there becomes a need for the offensive line to create opportunities for these backs.

That means opening up running lanes, winning off the snap and avoiding penalties that set the offense back behind the chains.

Smith, the best combination of youth and skill on this line, has to lead that charge How much better can this phase of the offense look against Baltimore’s run defense? Perhaps not significantly different. But any improvement could provide a boost to an offense needing a little extra juice after a slow start to the seaosn