Cowboys look to fix their offense

The only way the Dallas Cowboys can secure the National Conference East title in the remainder of Week 15 is with a tie between Washington Football Team and the Philadelphia Eagles.

With the playoffs and division title all but locked up, the final three games of the regular season will be spent trying to solve the mystery of an offense that went ice cold.

The Cowboys (10-4) are not out of the race for first place in the NFC, with Washington scheduled to visit Sunday night. Washington could be eliminated from the division fight with a loss Tuesday to the Eagles in a game that was postponed due to COVID-19.

Dallas’ defense again led the way in a 21-6 win over the New York Giants, in which the Cowboys became the first team since the Detroit Lions in 2007 to force at least four turnovers in three consecutive games in a single season.

Dak Prescott and the offense went through trouble again trying to figure out what’s not quite working since injuring his calf in an overtime win against the New England Patriots in Week 6.

Dallas scored on five possessions against the Giants. The three offensive series that ended in field goals (68, 58 and 37 yards) were longer than the two that ended in touchdowns (13 and 29).

In the first seven games, the Cowboys never had fewer than 380 yards on offense. In the most recent seven, they have failed to reach that figure five times.

If Dallas wants to advance past the divisional round for the first time since the last Super Bowl title in the 1995 season, the offense must regain the form with which it started the season.

“I mean, we had some success,” Prescott said. “Obviously we want to get better and we want to get more touchdowns and I think if we get touchdowns, we’ll feel a lot better about our overall performance.”

What’s working?
Dallas is tied with Indianapolis for the NFL lead with 31 steals. If the Cowboys get three more, they’ll have their most since finishing with 43 in 1987, two years before Jerry Jones acquired the franchise.

What’s not working?
Another part of the offense’s recent problems is the difficulty in getting big plays. In the first six games with Prescott, the Cowboys averaged nine plays per game with runs of at least 10 yards or passes of 20 yards or more. They have averaged five in the seven games since.