Austin American-Statesman

'FIGHT' not enough for Cowboys

Garrett acknowledg­es he’s still looking for more options to open up underperfo­rming offense.

- By David Moore

The Cowboys take pride

FRISCO — in their competitiv­e fire. It’s a pillar of their foundation, something to lean on in difficult or frustratin­g times.

That’s why you heard Jason Garrett use the words “fight” or “fought” six times in the immediate aftermath of the team’s loss to Carolina, then throw in a “battled” and “battled his ass off ” for good measure.

Quarterbac­k Dak Prescott took the podium moments after Garrett and used the word “fought” on six occasions in two minutes, at one point praising his teammates because they “fought the fight.”

Fight is essential. But it’s also something a team clings to for

validation after a loss. It’s what a team falls back on in the wake of a 16-8 loss when the offense generates little to no spark.

The issue the Cowboys face heading into Week 2 isn’t one of effort or desire. This team will play hard. It will fight.

The issue is can it play well enough on offense to win? Can it reverse a disturbing trend that extends into November of last season? Can it execute? Here’s a dirty, little preseason secret that came to light in recent weeks more than at any other time. Every coach in the NFL is willing to impede continuity and preparatio­n to avoid injury and be fresh entering the regular season. They do this on the assumption they will still be efficient enough on both sides of the ball to be competitiv­e.

Garrett and the Cowboys lost that bet, at least on offense.

Eight points is the lowest total by the Cowboys in an opener since they lost to Washington 13-7 in the begin- ning of the end for Wade Phillips in 2010. The Cowboys had just 232 yards in total offense, were 2 of 11 on third down and didn’t advance past the 50-yard line until the game was six minutes deep into the third quarter.

Fight is found in all successful teams. It’s line one, as Garrett likes to say, but it too often goes unrewarded unless it’s followed by this:

“The word that comes after that is execution,” Gar- rett concedes. “You have to make sure that as you’re scratching and clawing and fighting that you’re executing and doing your job in all three phases of your team.

“Typically, that’s where you have to improve from week to week, particular­ly when you’re playing some different combinatio­ns of guys or if you have a young team, all of the things that everyone talks about.

“We have to impro ve everyone doing their job, everyone doing their job well together and executing at a high level,” Garrett contin- ued. “We have to lock in.”

Garrett expressed faith in offensive coordinato­r and play-caller Scott Linehan during his Monday after- noon news conference. He said this evolving offense has a handful of givens it can rely on at critical moments to keep the chains moving.

But other than handing the ball to Ezekiel Elliott or hit- ting slot receiver Cole Beasley in the seam, how many money calls can Linehan dial up at the moment? This offense needs to develop more staples and quickly.

“The best offenses have a lot of things that they can get to,” Garrett said. “Givens are what we call them, things they can call and they know they’re going to have some success.

“We don’t have enough of those right now. We just have to do a better job trying to create those as a coaching staff, and then we have to execute once the ball is snapped.”

Garrett acknowledg­es the coaching staff must use a critical eye to determine the best way to use these players going forward but rejects the assertion that his staff is too conservati­ve in its approach. He said it will continue to use different formations and varying tempos to strike the balance it needs to attack defenses.

“Those are the things we’ll try to do, and we’ll try to do a better job as a coaching staff to make sure we’re attacking the defense a lot of different ways,” Garrett said. “And then the most important thing is to make sure we execute.

“And talking about executing, that goes back to coaching as well, making sure we’re giving them opportunit­ies in practice so they have a chance to execute well once we kick it off on Sunday.

“Those are all things we’re focused on, and we’ll try to do a better job.”

Fight isn’t enough. This coaching staff needs to give the players more.

And the players need to execute.

 ?? GRANT HALVERSON / GETTY IMAGES ?? The Cowboys sputtered on offense in losing their opener 16-8 to the Panthers. They managed only 232 yards of total offense and were 2 of 11 on third-down conversion­s.
GRANT HALVERSON / GETTY IMAGES The Cowboys sputtered on offense in losing their opener 16-8 to the Panthers. They managed only 232 yards of total offense and were 2 of 11 on third-down conversion­s.
 ?? DAVID T. FOSTER III / CHARLOTTE OBSERVER ?? Cowboys receiver Cole Beasley is one of the few playmakers the team has on offense. Beasley had a team-leading seven receptions Sunday.
DAVID T. FOSTER III / CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Cowboys receiver Cole Beasley is one of the few playmakers the team has on offense. Beasley had a team-leading seven receptions Sunday.

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