Photo Credit: Dallas Cowboys
FRISCO, TEXAS — For the Dallas Cowboys, a lot has changed since the 2019 season. The club’s 8-8 finish prodded an entirely new coaching regime but one of the few carryovers from last year is offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore.
The Cowboys’ offense hit many strides last year with Moore’s young innovative imprint, most notably the numbers put up by quarterback Dak Prescott. He thrived in Moore’s system accumulating career-highs in passing yards (4,902) and touchdowns (30). Moore incorporated more motion plays including play-action, which seemingly calmed Prescott in the pocket as he went through reads. Dak has been criticized in the past for his lack of deep throws but the Mississippi State product averaged a career-best 8.2 yards per attempt in 2019.
When the Cowboys hired Mike McCarthy, it came as a shock that he not only retained Moore after one year as coordinator, but that he chose to relinquish play-calling duties to him. McCarthy did not give up play calling in Green Bay but trusts Moore and likes enough of what he saw on film last year, to build off of what Dallas’ offense accomplished last season under his leadership.
Prescott told media that he had a conversation with McCarthy on his desire to stay in Moore’s system.
“ I had a talk early on with McCarthy and it was just the importance of it being Kellen’s show and the way that he does things. The majority of quarterbacks you look at in the league that have had a lot of success have stayed in the same system. So that was the big importance for him to keep me and the rest of this offense in the same system and take what we’ve done over the past few years and grow on that. We’ve had some success but we’re just trying to take that to the next level and that’s what he offers us.”
It was imperative to Dak that the team continues to build off of the offensive continuity attained last year. McCarthy wholeheartedly agreed but I would not be surprised if his stamp is also on some of the schematics. The team will merge together things that worked well last year under Moore and combine them with successful staples from McCarthy’s tenure in Green Bay.
“ Feel very comfortable in the offense, comfortable with the guys, “ Prescott remarked. “ Getting adjusted with communication, the new terms, the new words, that’s almost second nature, I guess you could say, now. I’m kind of right where I need to be and feel very comfortable with the offense and where we’re going as a team.”
