3 & Out: Addressing Issues From The Opener

FRISCO, Texas – Back with three quick topics as the Cowboys look to rebound from last Sunday’s 20-17 loss in Los Angeles:

• The Offense
• The Defense
• Aldon Smith

I Know…
‘creativity’ seems to be a popular criticism of the offense this week, but I’m sticking with my same point the last two years.

The Cowboys still don’t have a problem piling up yards, but they still need to finish more drives when they’re in scoring position.

Fans want more pre-snap movement. Noted. Fans want more passes on first down. Fine, but the Cowboys averaged 6.7 yards on first down Sunday night, evenly split 16/16 between run/pass, and likely wanted to achieve balance to help rookie Terence Steele in his first career start at right tackle. (Third down was more the problem. They converted only 3 of 12 and got themselves into third-and-long too often, partly due to sacks and drops on second down.)