OXNARD, Calif. – Not to be an I-told-you-so, but what was our discussion just back on Monday from here in training camp?
That no matter Dak Prescott, no matter CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, no matter Jake Ferguson and the emerging KaVontae Turpin. No matter Brian Schottenheimer's tweaks to this offense, the head coach also the new play-caller.
The success of this 2025 Dallas Cowboys offense will rest on the shoulders of the offensive line.
And on Tuesday here at the River Ridge Sports Complex, before an estimated 3,000 fans huddling in for this scrimmage between the Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams, the Cowboys' offensive line struggled.
Couldn't run the football with any sort of consistency and didn't have one iota to do with who was running the football. There was little daylight to run to. Backs were routinely getting hit behind the line of scrimmage. Oh, they did pop one or three runs. Fullback Hunter Luepke had a good run inside the 10-yard line. At one point, rookie Jaydon Blue popped a good one. Javonte Williams and fellow rookie Phil Mafah did too.
But if they were scoring at home, not many rushing yards were totaled, and remember one of the keys to Schottenheimer's coordinated offenses in previous stops was running the football.
Now look, it's early. Too early to panic after one scrimmage against another NFL team. Not even if this extends into Saturday's first preseason game, 6 p.m. Central (5 p.m. pregame Blue Star Network), Cowboys vs. these same Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
This inexperienced offensive front has been practicing against the Cowboys' 4-3 defensive front all training camp. The Rams line up in a 3-4 base, and there was no pre-scrimmage prep for this outing. Plus, the Rams have some prominent players up front, including Jared Verse, Poona Ford and Branden Fiske.
But as Schottenheimer explains, "Just the symphony is the best word I can think of right now, on little sleep, of the running the football stuff," he said Wednesday morning after having a chance to review the tape. "Both running the football, the blocking scheme stuff and fitting the runs and all that stuff. It takes a lot of orchestration time."
There were other factors, too, that a head coach or offensive line coach would hesitate to invoke, although offensive line coach Conor Riley did say, "Not clean enough, my initial gut feeling." Was not happy with his linemen's pad level – too high – nor the eye discipline.
"We have to play as one unit," Riley said. "We can't play four out of five."
Now there is this. This unit is under construction. Remember with Tyler Guyton out with a knee injury, Nate Thomas took the majority of reps at left tackle. He had not played against another team since his final year at Louisiana in 2023, and for sure not against another NFL team, having spent his rookie season on IR. But you know what? Thomas was not overwhelmed by Verse. Not perfect, but not awful.
Pro Bowl left guard Tyler Smith played sparingly, replaced by who we thought would be backup center Brock Hoffman. And right guard rookie Tyler Booker was facing his first NFL team in a scrimmage. And the tight ends could have done a better job helping out blocking in the run game.
There was bound to be some hiccups, especially facing an unfamiliar scheme.
The good thing, though, when the line gave Dak time, he had no problems ripping the Rams secondary with passes to CeeDee, George and Turp, along with Fergie. Even Joe Milton, given time and before he left with a banged-up thumb, was heaving a deep pass probably as far as his strong arm could throw to find Jalen Brooks for a touchdown.
Also remember this: At this point in camp, this was practice. It's not as if the Cowboys were getting pushed around physically. They were just missing assignments up front.
Stay tuned for the rematch in tackle football Saturday night.
- Go Ahead, LC: Now, Cowboys former starting right tackle La'el Collins had been in camp just a few days, although he did get snaps at right tackle in the scrimmage, mostly with the second team but a few with the first as well in place of Terence Steele. How'd LC do so far Coach Riley? "Phenomenal. I'd say he's got his legs back underneath him." That's a start.
- Two-Minute Drive: Well, it really was like 1:20, down two points. Dak drove the Cowboys right down the field against the Rams' first-team defense to the 20-yard line where they would have attempted a game-winning field goal after spiking the ball with 11 seconds remaining. Dak hit an assortment of receivers on the way, including CeeDee, Turpin, Ferguson and Jalen Tolbert, starting to remind folks he's still here.
- Good Will Hunter: The ball keeps finding fullback Hunter Luepke, no matter if he's at fullback, one back or offset acting like a tight end. And they are handing Luepke the ball. Like they did inside the 10 during the red-zone period that he plunged into the end zone for what would have been a touchdown.
- Three Scoops: Here were the top three things that bugged Schottenheimer after reviewing the scrimmage. First, the Cowboys were carrying their pads too high, allowing the linemen to get knocked off the ball in the running game. Next, pointing out this Matt Eberflus defense is all about the ball. No takeaways, but the offense had one pass intercepted and three others could have been. Lastly, the details. As Schotty said, "We have rules," no matter the opponent or scheme they are facing. Not following rules creates poor technique.
- Things We Saw: Start with rookie free agent tight end Tyler Neville, delivering a pancake block on a run play, so if I saw it, sure must have looked especially good during tape review in the room … T.J. Bass did get a few snaps with the first-team offense at left guard … While the NFL officials were here Monday for a film session and answering questions about some of the new rules for this season, specifically the kickoff and onside kick changes, they had two crews here officiating the scrimmage, one on each field … Late last week someone forgot to tell Malik Hooker this is "thumping up" football, not tackle football, laying out at least three guys, mostly in the run game, too, causing him to say, "Sometimes you just sort of run into things." … And this from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on the next chapter of negotiations with hold-in Micah Parsons when asked if he was confident Micah would be ready to play in the season opener: "No, absolutely not. A big part of that is his decision. How would I know that?" And remember, since he has yet to put the pads on for the first time since Jan. 5, there is a good chance he'll need two weeks of work before the Cowboys send him out there for game snaps.
And let's leave you with this last note for our final word coming from Schottenheimer, reminding all the Cowboys have new offensive and defensive coordinators, coming in with new schemes from a year ago, and from his standpoint new plays, new route combinations and on defensive likely new blitz schemes.
So in these preseason games, starting Saturday with the Rams and especially in a scrimmage such as Tuesday's, the Cowboys are going to be very vanilla, not wanting to tip their hands to the Eagles on what might be coming.
"Again, don't read too much into it guys," Brian begins after saying he was disappointed in the defense giving up some big plays. "We literally played two coverages. We literally kept all of our clubs in the bag. It's like we were out there playing with a 7-iron. I hate to tell you guys, but I'm going to be honest, like, we're going to be playing with a 7-iron most of the preseason.
"Unless I get pissed," in reference to not planning on taking many deep shots but irritated with the lack of offensive production so called the go-route Milton completed to Brooks for the touchdown. "If I get pissed, the ball is probably going down the field if I get pissed."
And when asked if the Rams were playing with a "7-iron," Brian said no because teams have years of tape on what the Rams do, "People know who Sean (McVay) is. They don't know who we are. They don't know what our defense is going to look like. They were gaming us and doing things, which is great. We need those things.
"But no, there is nothing to protect for them. … Us, we're going to play it a little more close to the vest because in Year 1, you can do that. And why wouldn't you?"
Yeah, why not keep things buttoned up.
