Cowboys trying to solve red-zone puzzle
The Dallas Cowboys’ red-zone offense has been a problem for a while, but it became acutely painful on Sunday when the team failed to tie the Colts early in the second quarter.
As it turned out, the Cowboys’ first-and-10 from the Indianapolis 12 was their best scoring opportunity of the day. The Colts, who dominated the line of scrimmage all day, no matter which team had the ball, eventually shut out Dallas, 23-0. Thus the Cowboys’ chance to clinch the NFC East was delayed.
As Dallas prepares to host Tampa Bay on Sunday and possibly clinch the division at home, head coach Jason Garrett addressed the red-zone issues at length.
Garrett usually takes a narrow view of the task at hand, denying reporters’ requests to look at trends as a whole. He’s a one-game-at-a-time guy to the core.
However, he acquiesced to take a broader look at the last few weeks during his Wednesday press conference.
“If you want to talk about the last three games, some of it has been we’ve had some minus plays right from the start that got us in some bad down-and-distance situations,” Garrett said. “We’ve had some other negative plays or penalties.”
Of course, the one thing everyone at Garrett’s press conference, along with all the viewers on various Internet platforms, collectively realize is the Dallas head coach might not be talking about red-zone problems as much if fullback Jamize Olawale had caught an easy toss at the goal line on third-and-1 from the Colts’ 3.
“I think another part of it has been the execution part,” Garrett said. “In the game the other day, there were some plays we could have simply made. I think the players will tell you that, the coaches will tell you that. We would’ve cashed in on drives and we didn’t make them.”
SERIES HISTORY: 17th regular-season meeting. Cowboys lead series, 12-4. Dallas has an overwhelming advantage against Tampa Bay in games played on the Cowboys’ home field. Dallas is 11-1 at home versus the Buccaneers, including playoff wins in 1982 and 1983. Tampa Bay’s only win in Dallas was a 10-6 victory in 2001.
