Now that all the byes have been completed I took a real good look at the team stats in the NFL and found some interesting numbers. Most of them on the offense.

I checked the defense rankings first cause I’m a defense guy. Kinda figured that the Boys would be higher than the 16th rank they’ve got. But Total Defense is a bit misleading cause Dallas is 5th in the league in scoring defense. That’s a pretty impressive feat seeing as how the offense has given the opposing offense 2-gimme touchdowns and a few more layup scores. The Dallas D also has a respectable 12th overall ranking on 3rd down percentage giving up 37%. That’s the Money Down and Dallas has done a lot better on 3rd down than last year.

The Money Down on offense is a bit depressing. A measly 39% on 3rd down isn’t acceptable. That and the penalties would explain why Dallas is tied with Pittsburgh for the lowest scoring offense for a Top 10 ranked offense. Clean that up and it’d be easy to imagine Dallas reaching the likes of the Patriots & Saints for points per game. And if Dallas could score 29-36 points a game they would never lose another game with the way the defense is playing.

But thankfully the 3rd down is an area the Cowboys can clean up. Just have to execute the plays. Make the perfect throw, make the block, catch the pass. Do the fundamentals and we’ll see that percentage climb to the mid-40’s.