As the Dallas Cowboys make their final Friday preparations for the 2019 regular season, fans and opponents alike wait eagerly for the reveal of what could be called a new Cowboys offense.

For the first time since 2014, someone besides Scott Linehan will be in charge of calling plays and despite the foundation staying the same, there will be noticeable renovations to the house Jason Garrett built.

The degree to which the offense is actually new has yet to be revealed, but there has been speculation of things to look for.

Formation variance

Pre-snap movements

Play-action frequency

Scheming WR open through route combinations

Diversification of personnel

While the full reveal won’t come until the face off against the Giants Sunday afternoon, there was a keyhole-sized view of plans in the pre-season.

This snap, a key play in the Cowboys 97-yard touchdown drive against the Rams in Hawaii, drew praise and attention because of the quality of the throw from Dak Prescott, and the acrobatic catch by Michael Gallup.

However, a deeper look reveals why they were able to be successful.

As the great Tony Romo has shown the general public, the key to every play in the NFL is found before the snap.

It begins with the formation. Here the Cowboys start in a 2×2 formation with 2 wide receivers, Gallup and Jon Vea Johnson to the near side, and tight end Jason Witten to the far side with receiver Randall Cobb.

Cobb is aligned in reduced split, actually inside of Witten who is split off from the offensive line.

Then Johnson goes in motion across the formation. He goes from the slot to Prescott’s left over to join Witten and Cobb and create a bunched look. This reveals why Witten was positioned outside of Cobb as he now becomes the point man in the bunch, allowing the smaller Cobb and Johnson easier releases off the line.

The key point of the motion is to help Prescott get an idea what the defense is doing coverage wise. When the slot defender moves with Johnson, Prescott knows its very likely he is getting man coverage, and as the near side safety begins to slide down towards the line of scrimmage and the far safety starts to roll to the middle of the field, he knows he is likely getting a one-high look.

Once the corner covering Gallup moves up to press the reciever, Prescott likely knows Pre-snap that he is going to go that way on the go route.

At the snap, Johnson, Cobb and Witten run a version of the Hi-Lo concept where Johnson runs a shallow cross, and Witten runs a dig behind it. Because of the three receiver look in the compressed formation to that side, and the fact that both Witten and Cobb take vertical releases, the free safety has to keep his attention on that immediate threat. Prescott keeps his eyes, and his shoulders to that side to keep that safety in the middle of the field until he finishes his drop (3 steps plus a hitch), and then flips around and uncorks the back shoulder ball to Gallup who goes up and makes a great play.

This is a great example of using formations, motions, and route concepts to create a favorable situation for your quarterback and his play makers.

This is a 1st-and-10 play from the Cowboys 3rd pre-season game against the Texans. Backup quarterback Cooper Rush is on the field with most of what was the Cowboys “first” offense through the pre-season.

On this play, the Cowboys again use a compressed 3×1 formation, this time in 21 personnel, with full back Jamize Olawale lined up as a second tight end next to Jason Witten, and the wide receiver on the far side in a very tight split.. Additionally, Moore once again dials up pre-snap motion, moving Tavon Austin in towards the core of the formation.

This look is likely read as a run key for the defense, because of the heavy personnel and tight alignment and the wide receiver motion. This is exactly what Moore is hoping for.

He dials up play action, and borrowing from Rams head coach Sean McVay, he uses max protection, with 8 blockers staying in to protect before the backs leak out as check down options.

The only two players out in the route are running a “Yankee” concept, which combines a post route with a deep over route. This concept, combined with the pre-snap formation, and the play action fake, creates a ton of traffic in the middle of the field. The deep post on the far side pulls the corner and the free safety out of the play, opening up plenty of real estate for Austin to run to as he crosses the field.

The max protection allows quarterback Cooper Rush the time to finish his deep drop and allow the play to develop, and he is able to hit Austin down the field for an explosive gain.

Conclusion

These two plays are just a small sample of the types of things we could see from the Cowboys offense under Kellen Moore starting on Sunday against the division rival Giants, but they allow us to see the benefits of the formations, motions, and complimentary route concepts fans have heard about, and shows a willingness to embrace important aspects of the game such as play action on early downs, and attacking down the field.

If these tendencies continue to show up on Sunday, it will be an exciting day to watch the Cowboys, and could be a wake up call to the rest of the league.

Gallery Cowboys 2019 Week 1 Player Power Rankings View 40 photos View 40 photos

Other apps just deliver sports. The USA TODAY Sportswire app lets you pick specific team sites to get only the news that you want to know.

newsletter Get 10 hot stories each day Thanks for signing up.

Please check your email for a confirmation. Thanks for signing up.

Please check your email for a confirmation.