Fansided

3 changes Mike McCarthy must make to survive first season with Cowboys

By Steven Kubitza

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 20:Head coach Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys walks onto the field as the Dallas Cowboys take on the Atlanta Falcons in the third quarter at AT&T Stadium on September 20, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 20:Head coach Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys walks onto the field as the Dallas Cowboys take on the Atlanta Falcons in the third quarter at AT&T Stadium on September 20, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys
ARLINGTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 19: Ezekiel Elliott #21 of the Dallas Cowboys runs against the Arizona Cardinals during the second quarter at AT&T Stadium on October 19, 2020, in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

2. Getting Ezekiel Elliott’s head back on track

Ezekiel Elliott had a nightmare start to Monday’s game against the Cardinals. He lost two fumbles and both resulted in Arizona touchdown drives to make the score 14-0 at a time when it looked like the Cowboys defense may have actually figured out Kyler Murray.

Elliott is supposed to be the focal point on offense now and was replaced by Tony Pollard for a stretch of time in the second quarter. That is not going to result in many Cowboys wins.

The star back finished the game with 12 carries for 49 yards and no touchdowns as McCarthy continued to pass in garbage time, even down near the end zone.

Elliott has had a slow start to the year and some of that has been due to the offense throwing so much because the defense can’t make any stops. He is going to need to be much more involved if the Cowboys are going to hang on in the division.

His high-mark on the season is only 96 yards and that came on 22 attempts in Week 1. McCarthy is going to need to make Elliott feel more involved and that could allow some more natural flow on offense. Andy Dalton is not going to succeed in a shootout-style offense and giving Elliott more touches can slow the game down as well.

His two fumbles can, hopefully, be chalked up to an anomaly. Elliott’s next challenge is succeeding behind an offensive line that seems to lose a starter every week. But giving him more touches does make the offense less predictable and that benefits everyone.

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