Numbers reveal how the Cowboys ignited a highly efficient offense

The Cowboys struggled to run the ball. All efforts were thwarted by the Commanders aggressive play near the line of scrimmage. The offense missed blocks and couldn't get any push to open any running lanes for running back Javonte Williams . But the offense wasn't impacted. The Cowboys recognized the Commanders' intentions and simply deviated from the run, proving that flexibility beats stubbornness every single time.

The most impressive thing about the offense is how many times the team tried to pass the ball on first down. They had 23 first down plays in the game and they dropped back to pass on 14 of them (61%). That's a large number considering the team was playing with the lead almost the entire game.

More impressive than that quantity of dropbacks was the quality of plays in those situations. The Cowboys had successful plays on 11 of those 14 plays, a 79% success rate, compared to just 4 of 9 (44%) on designed runs. Whether it was bootlegs, play-action, or even productive scrambles after not finding an open receiver, the offense repeatedly had success on first down when dropping back. They averaged 8.6 yards per play at those moments, compared to 3.0 ypp on running plays.