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Dak Prescott: Cowboys offense 'left some meat on the bone' in Week 1

13 September 2024Last Update :
Dak Prescott: Cowboys offense 'left some meat on the bone' in Week 1

Nine years ago, former Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle made headlines when he said DeMarco Murray “had a good year” in 2014 but “there was a lot of meat left on the bone.”

Murray set a Cowboys franchise record during the 2014 season, rushing for 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns on 392 carries. Randle rushed for 315 yards and four touchdowns on 76 carries the following season.

Although that has nothing to do with this current team, it brought back some memories Thursday when Dak Prescott responded to three different questions by saying Dallas’ offense left a lot of meat on the bone in Cleveland last Sunday.

The Cowboys didn’t need much offense to defeat the Browns 33-17 in Week 1. But they expect to have more Sunday in their home opener against the New Orleans Saints.

“Usually that’s when teams make that jump from Week 1 to Week 2,” Prescott said. “And just understanding we left a lot of meat out there on the bone. You look at the game, and as we’ve said around here, it was a tale of two halves. First half, started off slow on the first drive, after that, got it rolling, got some first downs. Got some points. And then in the second half, we weren’t able to convert on third down and that was the story for us.”

The Cowboys were second-best in the NFL last year, converting on third down 49 percent of the time. They were 4 of 14 on third down Sunday, 0 of 5 in the second half.

“It’s about getting back on track on that, converting those,” Prescott said. “And when you do, you get more chances at the plate, you get more plays. That’s when the big plays just come naturally in our offense. We’ve got to convert those third downs, and looking to do that this week.”

That probably starts with more success when Prescott targets No. 1 wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. The two connected four times for 58 yards in the first half as Dallas built a 20-3 lead. But in the second half, Lamb only caught one pass on four targets for three yards. Lamb only caught 50 percent of his targets against the Browns. That average was almost 75 percent last season.

It’s easy to suggest that the two didn’t have better results because Lamb missed all of organized team activities, minicamp and the first five weeks of training camp while in a contract holdout. But the two didn’t look rusty at all early on.

On second-and-10 midway through the first quarter, Prescott targeted Lamb on a deep ball along the right sideline. Browns Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward was running stride for stride with Lamb, but the ball was perfectly placed and Lamb did a good job of showing his hands late before hauling in the pass for what ended up being a 34-yard gain.

“What a catch and what a throw,” Tom Brady said of the play during the Fox game broadcast. “That was tight coverage. As Dan Marino used to say, ‘You can’t guard the perfect throw.’ ”

Dallas scored three plays later on another outstanding throw from Prescott to Brandin Cooks for a 21-yard touchdown. Those were the Cowboys’ two biggest offensive plays of the day. They know they’ll need more this Sunday. Prescott acknowledged that there were things they needed to clean up this week.

“Some things that were probably understood were going to come up when we haven’t had the time that we (have) had,” he said of his connection with Lamb. “Maybe it’s me just not trusting a little bit at the top of my throw, whatever it is. Maybe bleeding a little on a route. Some of those things are kind of natural, some of those things we’re going to always kind of fight with him just being as athletic and as talented as he is and wanting to go make the big play, but it’s part of it. I’m glad we were able to do it in a win. That’s my point of why I say we left some meat on the bone. Able to clean those things up at practice, talk about them, communicate them and understand we’ve just got to stay disciplined.”

There’s a reason that the Cowboys have recently agreed to significant contract extensions with  Prescott and Lamb. The ceiling is high. Their connection is as good as any in the league.

Six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick recently compared the two to Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, maybe the greatest connection in the history of the game.

Lamb didn’t start off his career-year last season with a monster game. Like last Sunday, it really wasn’t needed in a 40-0 blowout Week 1 road win against the New York Giants. But Week 2 was a different story. Lamb caught 11 of his 13 targets from Prescott for 143 yards in a 30-10 win over the New York Jets in Dallas’ home opener. Those are the expectations for a quarterback-wide receiver duo that recently signed deals that combine to average $94 million per season.

“Regardless of training camp and not being here and so forth, I think we definitely had some first-game production that we definitely left on the field, without a doubt,” Cowboys coach and offensive play-caller Mike McCarthy said. “As an offensive whole, the passing game, we definitely needed to be better. But really the whole message to the team is about the details. Our details were not nearly where they needed to be, especially in the second half.

“The passing game on offense needs to be better. We really emphasize bump and run, the opportunity to compete and take advantage of bump and run. And we were challenged some situationally there in the second half, and we need to do a better job moving forward.”

(Photo of Prescott: Nick Cammett / Diamond Images via Getty Images)

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