The Dallas Cowboys offense got off to a slow start against the Washington Redskins Sunday, but by the second quarter, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore’s unit started to look like the well-oiled machine that dominated the New York Giants defense in Week 1.

You can review the data and analysis from Week 1 here. In Week 2, the dominance of the play-action continued. Almost 40% of the team’s total offense came through play-action passing. It was particularly a focus on first downs, where teams are still likely to believe Dallas will hand it off to Ezekiel Elliott. In addition, Moore continues to alter the run/pass tendencies from both under center and in shotgun. Here’s how.

Raw Data from Week 2

Where these numbers differ from the official stat line it is because I have intentionally included offensive plays which were negated for penalties.

The Cowboys ran 68 plays on offense not including the kneel down. Quarterback Dak Prescott took 32 snaps from under center and 36 from the shotgun. This is very similar to Week 1 (32 under center and 34 in the shotgun).

Of the 32 snaps from under center in Week 2:

21 were runs

Two were passes

Eight were play-action passes

One was a run off play-action

Scott Linehan was often criticized for being predictable because the Cowboys ran so frequently when Prescott took the snap from under center. Last week against New York, Moore called runs on 75% of the plays from under center. This week, he reduced that number even more: 21 runs on 32 snaps is only 65.6%. If you include the QB-keeper off play-action in the fourth quarter, that still only raises it to 68.75%. This is one of the ways that Moore’s offense is less predictable than Linehan’s.

Of the 36 snaps taken in the shotgun in Week 1:

10 were runs

18 were passes

six were play-action passes

two were play-actions runs by the QB

Moore called running plays (including the play-action runs) on 12 of the plays from the shotgun (33.3%).

Eliminating the PA runs, Moore still called runs on 27.7% of the plays from the shotgun. His willingness to run out of the shotgun is another way in which he is changing the patterns established by Linehan and simultaneously making the Cowboys offense less predictable.

It was suggested last week that if Moore wanted to continue to use the play-action out of the shotgun successfully, they would likely have to run the ball more out of that formation. Against the Giants, the Cowboys only ran the ball six times out of 36 shotgun snaps (four runs and two off play-action), so 12 runs out of 36 shotgun plays against the Redskins was a significant increase.

Play-Action

Once again, the Cowboys offense was nearly unstoppable when Prescott utilized play fakes. The efficacy of the play-action pass doesn’t seem contingent on whether it used from the shotgun or under center.

Prescott threw 14 of his 30 attempts off of play-action, completing 12 of those 14 attempts for 134 yards and one touchdown. One of the incompletions resulted in a defensive penalty for roughing the passer, so Prescott only had one incompletion off play-action.

Perhaps in an effort to continue breaking the trends established by Linehan (who had tendency to run on first down), seven of the 14 play-action passes came on first down.

Moore did an excellent job of using play-action from different base formations (eight times from under center and six times from the shotgun).

Seven of the eight play-action attempts after lining up under center were all completions:

six yards to TE Jason Witten

0 yards on a screen to RB Ezekiel Elliott

51 yard touchdown to WR Devin Smith

incomplete to TE Blake Jarwin (penalty on defense)

Witten for a loss of one

eight yards to WR Amari Cooper

12 yards to WR Michael Gallup

27 yards to Jarwin

Five of the six play-action attempts from the shotgun were completions:

three yards to WR Randall Cobb

incomplete on deep pass to Gallup

13 yards to Gallup

eight yards to Cobb

Cobb for no gain

seven yards to Smith.

One of the more memorable plays of the game came on a play-action run: Prescott stiff-armed Redskins CB Josh Norman at the end of a 42 yard scamper. Prescott added runs of two and 11 yards for a total of 55 yards on three play-action runs.

This is the second week in a row that approximately 50% of Prescott’s pass attempts have come off play-action (14 of 31), as well as close to 50% of his completions (12 of 26) and passing yards (134 of 260).

The Cowboys offense gained 474 yards against the Redskins; 189 of those yards came off play-action of some kind.

First-Down Play Calling

Including plays called back because of penalties, but not including first and goal if less than 10 yards, the Cowboys ran 27 first down plays.

Prescott took the snap from under center on 16 of the 27 first down plays.The frequent use of the shotgun on first down (11 of 27 plays) is yet another way in which Kellen Moore is changing the way the Cowboys offense operates.

The 16 first down plays from under center included:

11 runs

five play-action passes

The 11 first down plays from the shotgun included:

five runs

three passes

two play-action passes

The Cowboys used play-action passes seven times on first down.

Like last week, Moore utilized play-action on first down frequently early in the game (three of the first four first down plays were play-action passes).

The Cowboys were more successful running out of the shotgun on first downs than when Prescott lined up under center.

They ran out of the shotgun six times on first down for a total of 27 yards (average of 4.5 yards per carry). Although, three of those runs were less than four yards, and the longest rush was nine yards.

The Cowboys ran the ball from under center 11 times on first down for a total of 37 yards (average of 3.3 yards per carry). They had four carries for less than four yards, one carry for four yards, and two rushes for a loss of yards. The longest rush from under center on first down was 8 yards. (Keep in mind that two of those carries came on the last possession of the fourth quarter when it was obvious they were trying to run out the clock.)

As in Week 1, the Cowboys offense had more success throwing the ball on first down. All five pass attempts on first down when Prescott took the snap under center were play-action passes. Prescott completed 4 of those throws for 42 yards (completions of six, one, eight, and 27 yards). The lone incompletion was negated by a defensive penalty.

Prescott attempted five passes from the shotgun on first downs (two were play-action passes). The play-action passes resulted in two completions of three and eight yards. The other three passes from the shotgun resulted in completions of three, 10, and 13 yards.

The Cowboys ran the ball 17 times on first down for a total of 64 yards, which is an average of 3.76 yards per rush.

The passed the ball nine times on first down for 82 yards, which is an average of 9.1 yards per pass attempt.

Third and Short

The Cowboys faced third and short (three yards or less) on five different occasions against the Redskins.

Moore had Prescott line up in the shotgun on all five plays. They ran the ball four of the five times, and they successfully converted the third down attempt every time they ran. Elliott had carries of 15 yards, three yards, and a two yard touchdown. Prescott’s 42 yard jaunt (mentioned above) also came on third and short. The only time they were unsuccessful on third and short was the pass that was tipped by Cobb and then intercepted.

Miscellaneous Observations

Unlike the previous week against the New York Giants, Moore didn’t utilize a lot of pre-snap motion against the Redskins.

The Cowboys offense went “no-huddle” on six plays against the Redskins.

The Cowboys were seven of 11 on third downs (64% conversion rate). They are now 13 of 21 on third down for the year (62%).

The Redskins were just two of nine on third down (22%), although Washington did convert two of their three fourth down attempts. After two games, the Cowboys defense has limited their opponent to four conversions on 20 third down attempts (20%).

Prescott completed passes to eight different receivers.

After playing just 37 snaps in the season opener, Elliott played 53 snaps in Week 2 (76% of the offensive plays). RB Tony Pollard played just 17 snaps (24%), but he contributed 22 yards on five carries. He also nifty three yard touchdown run called back because of a holding call on Cooper.

The Cowboys gained an impressive 7.3 yards per offensive play. Last week, it was 7.1 yards per play against the Giants.

Although it is a small sample size, Moore’s play calling has improved the Cowboys red zone efficiency. In 2018, they converted 51.7% of their red zone opportunities (26th in the NFL). They were 3-4 in the red zone against the Redskins and 2-4 against the Giants. That brings their season total to 5-8 (62.5%).

According to Football Outsiders, the Cowboys are second in the NFL in yards per drive (51.06), second in the NFL at points per drive (3.67), and first in the league in touchdowns per drive (.500).

Next week the Cowboys are back home to face the hapless Miami Dolphins.

You can follow me on Twitter @CJosephWright.