Food for Thought

Quick, name the team you think has the #1 offense in football. Is it the Saints? Nope. The Giants? No. Then it has to be the Colts, right? No again. Believe it or not, the Cowboys have the #1 offense in the NFL. The Cowboys are currently leading the entire NFL with 420.4 total yards of offense per game. I heard mention of the stat yesterday and I still can't believe my eyes.

We've seen the Cowboys trip all over themselves while trying to move the ball down the field. And at times they have almost seemed inept. But amazingly they are at the top of the list in total yardage. And they managed to pull it off while playing the NFL's #1 and #2 defense over the course of the first five weeks of the season. Ok, so Carolina is mediocre (#15) and Kansas City and Tampa Bay are flat out terrible. They are ranked 28th and 32nd, respectively. But don't be fooled. The Cowboys put up 462 yards against the Giants, the league's #1 defense. And they managed 315 yards against the Broncos, the league's #2 defense. Denver's average yards allowed is 253 per game.

So what does that really mean? Well, a lot of things. First and foremost, it tells me that maybe the negativity surrounding the Cowboys is a little over the top. But it also means that they could be an amazing offensive group if they could quit committing dumb penalties and Jason Garrett could stop outsmarting himself at crucial moments. The offense obviously has the talent and ability to put up big yardage and point totals if they can clean up their act. But so far we have no indications that things will change any time soon.

But at least there is something to hang your hat on if you are looking for hope. We all know the offense can move the ball against anyone. The defense has improved week to week, but they still can't close the door at the end of games. Special teams play has gone from horrible last season to probably slightly above average this year.

So all of the Romo haters need to take note of the fact that as average as he has seemed so far this season, he is leading the top offense in the NFL. So that must mean he is doing something right. Sure, he still needs to improve his ball protection and accuracy, but things are not even close to as bad as ESPN and other media outlets would have you believe. Isn't it interesting that we don't hear the fact that the Cowboys are the #1 offense in the NFL anywhere in the media?

I guess when Tony Romo, Jason Witten, and Roy Williams all talk about how good the offense could be if they could stop killing themselves they aren't just fooling themselves. So, can Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett find a way to stop the brutal, drive killing/extending penalties? I don't know but if they do the Cowboys could be a good team. Can the Cowboys improve their turnover ratio (it is currently -4)? That stat says a lot to me. The top teams all have a positive turnover ratio while the Cowboys are terrible in the category.

The story here is that there is actually hope even though it might seem that the Cowboys are a complete mess. They are, there is no denying that fact. But the offense is good enough to keep the Cowboys in any game. The fact that both losses came on the last play of the game is proof of that. We all need to hope that the bye week allows the Cowboys to reassess their play and eliminate the ridiculous play calls, careless mistakes and penalties that are killing them.