The prevailing narrative surrounding bye weeks in the NFL is that the extra rest allows players to recover from the aches and pains accumulated from the season up to that point. While that’s certainly true, the bye week gives coaching staffs time to truly evaluate and tinker with their rosters.

After blowing out the division rival Philadelphia Eagles 37-10 at AT&T Stadium on Sunday night, the Dallas Cowboys enter their bye week on a high note.

They just put together arguably their best performance of the season against a team that was supposed to be their biggest competition for the NFC East crown. Speaking of which, Dallas enters the bye with an undefeated division record (3-0) and more division wins than Philadelphia, New York and Washington combined (2-5).

Despite the good feelings right now, the Cowboys would be wise to not let those keep them from making necessary changes during the bye. The changes don’t have to be huge, but some slight tinkering could pay massive dividends later in the season.

Without further ado, let’s dive into some changes the Cowboys should make during the bye:

Jourdan Lewis jumps Anthony Brown (at least) on depth chart

Some cornerbacks make headlines when they don’t see playing time commensurate with their talent. Jourdan Lewis just makes plays.

Lewis has played 30-plus snaps in just three of the seven games this season, but when he does get meaningful playing time, he always finds a way to make a splash play or positive impact for the defense.

In Week 1, when Lewis saw 37 defensive snaps because Byron Jones was easing back into action after missing training camp to recover from hip surgery, Lewis did an excellent job of “matching” the receiver who entered his zone after the pattern distribution (above clip). This is the key to the pattern-match zone coverage Dallas loves to use.

The Giants tried to muddy the reads of Dallas’ zone defense by employing a switch release for the Nos. 2 and 3 receivers (counting left to right), but Lewis did well not to bite on the skinny post by the point man (No. 2) in New York’s trips-bunch left alignment. Instead, Lewis trusted that Jaylon Smith would pick up the first inside-breaking route (as designed), staying patient and sitting on the No. 3 receiver’s dig route. From there, Lewis stayed in the receiver’s hip pocket, crossing his face to break up the pass before it reached the catch point.

In Week 6 against the Jets, when he saw 36 defensive snaps, Lewis came up with the most impactful play of the day for the defense – a red-zone interception that gave the Cowboys some hope in a game in which they had little.

The interception was more of a result of an inaccurate throw than great coverage by Lewis, but it was still great to see him take advantage of the turnover opportunity because we’ve seen numerous Dallas defensive backs let easy interceptions clank off of their hands.

On Sunday against the Eagles -- when Lewis played a season-high 42 defensive snaps in Anthony Brown’s absence -- Lewis recorded a sack off of a well-designed and well-timed corner blitz on which the Cowboys goaded Philadelphia into sliding pass protection away from his blitz by feinting a blitz look on the opposite side with the pre-snap alignment of the linebackers.

Not only has Lewis played well when receiving 30 or more snaps this season, but he’s also proven capable of making a big impact with a reduced snap count. He didn’t play much against the Saints in Week 4 (10 total snaps), but when he did, he had the unenviable task of matching up against Alvin Kamara one-on-one in the passing game.

Not only is Kamara one of the league’s most fluid and effective route runners at running back, but he’s also arguably its most elusive ball carrier and has a 20-pound weight advantage on Lewis.

Jourdan Lewis only received 10 defensive snaps, but he once again did a great job taking away Kamara in the passing game when in.



Lewis is such a good chess piece for the defense to have. Not many other teams can trust their No. 4 CB to do this. pic.twitter.com/yP3nfOhx4O — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 1, 2019

Despite all that, Lewis rose to the challenge, blanketing Kamara on every snap he was on the field.

Making it even more impressive was the fact that New Orleans was doing everything it could to scheme touches for Kamara in the passing game against Lewis. None of it worked.

Looks like NO wanted to try to get the ball to Kamara on the wheel.



NO tried to pick Jourdan Lewis to set it up, but Chidobe Awuzie did a great job of jamming the WR to keep him flat, which allowed Lewis to mirror the wheel route. pic.twitter.com/LmlXKIlf0k — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 1, 2019

New Orleans tried to create some big plays with Kamara by sending him on a wheel route in conjunction with a pick route by the outside receiver on the same side of the field. Lewis, however, was continually in good position to take it away.

While the Cowboys have lots of talent and depth at cornerback, it’s becoming increasingly hard to justify keeping Lewis on the bench -- he’s unquestionably been one of Dallas’ three best corners this year.

Based on his play-making ability alone, it’s becoming harder and harder to keep Lewis off the field when the team goes to its nickel defense (four defensive linemen, two linebackers, five defensive backs). Given Chidobe Awuzie’s continued struggles at the catch point, there’s an argument to be made that Lewis should even start opposite Jones in the base defense before sliding into the slot in nickel.

On top of his pure play-making ability, Lewis is also very feisty in man coverage. Despite his lack of size, Lewis (5-10, 195) isn’t afraid to be physical. Moreover, his outstanding football intelligence and awareness make him extremely effective in zone coverage. Lewis has great “feel” in zone coverage, understanding how to properly identify route combinations while defending them within the context of the coverage call.

Lewis also is one of the few corners in the NFL who is just as effective in run support as he is in coverage. There’s an argument to be made that Lewis may be the best tackler in the Cowboys’ secondary, evidenced by the fact that he’s yet to miss a tackle this season, according to Pro Football Focus.

The bye week is the perfect opportunity to insert Lewis into his rightful role as the nickel corner of the Cowboys’ defense.

Give Tony Pollard at least 10 offensive snaps per game

During training camp and the preseason, the coaching staff had Cowboys Nation believing that rookie running back Tony Pollard would be a major part of the offense.

The Cowboys were praising him at every turn during camp, not only for his ability to pick up the playbook and be an effective special teamer – as is usually the case with most fourth-round picks – but also for his ability to contribute to the offense right away. With Ezekiel Elliott holding out, Pollard impressed at every turn, proving to be an effective traditional running back in addition to his versatility to align and make plays at receiver.

Unfortunately, in the weeks since Elliott signed a massive extension to end his holdout, Pollard’s role has been significantly reduced. He has seen meaningful playing time only in the games in which the Cowboys blew their opponents out. In each of Dallas’ four wins (all by double digits), Pollard saw 16 or more offensive snaps. In each of the three losses, he did not see more than seven offensive snaps.

The Cowboys with and without Tony Pollard this season, courtesy of @TheQuantEdge pic.twitter.com/ysiigUHrqh — All22Hype (@All22Hype) October 22, 2019

Pollard’s minuscule role makes even less sense considering his productivity when he is on the field. According to The Quant Edge, the Cowboys are exponentially more explosive with him on the field, seeing a major improvement in explosive run rate with a small uptick in explosive pass rate as well.

Pollard has proven to be a dynamic threat with the ball in his hands. He’s been one of the most elusive running backs in football, avoiding 12 tackles on 49 touches this year. He ranks third among all running backs with at least 30 carries in yards after contact (YAC) per attempt (3.84) and sixth in elusive rating (94.1), according to PFF – both of which rank above Elliott, who is 22nd in YAC per attempt (2.99) and 35th in elusive rating (45.1).

Sample size is a bit of an issue, but it’s important to understand that Pollard isn’t benefiting from great blocking. Pollard’s YAC per attempt proves he is doing a great deal of creation on his own.

Even though Pollard was typecast as a scat back pre-draft, he’s actually proven to be very capable running inside the tackles, displaying the patience, vision and contact balance to be consistently effective.

Most impressively, he exhibits the ability to manipulate defenders by pressing the line of scrimmage with controlled footwork to hide his true intended path. This generates advantageous angles for the offensive linemen climbing to the second level, which in turn creates bigger running lanes for Pollard.

An increase in Pollard’s snap count doesn’t mean Elliott needs to see a reduction in his -- the Cowboys can get creative and employ two-running back sets, which they have done sparingly this season.

With Pollard’s ability to be effective as a receiver in the slot, the only limit to the number of ways he can be utilized is the creativity of the coaching staff, as his versatility gives Dallas almost endless possibilities from a schematic standpoint.

By hook or by crook, the coaching staff needs to make a better effort to give Pollard more playing time, regardless of game script. It doesn’t matter if the Cowboys are ahead, behind or tied, Pollard has proven capable enough to warrant a bigger slice of the pie on offense.

More passing on first down

Kellen Moore has shown to be a more effective and creative play-caller, but one habit that feels all too familiar to former offensive coordinator Scott Linehan’s inefficient play-calling is the incessant rushing on first downs.

Even with that, the Cowboys are currently first in offense DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average), yards per play (6.7), third-down conversion percentage (52%) and total yards per game (437.9), seventh in points per game (27.1) and ninth in red-zone touchdown percentage (64%).

The scary part is that the Cowboys haven’t even reached their ceiling yet. If there’s one area where the offense can be more efficient, it’s Moore’s first-down play-calling.

According to Sharp Football Stats, the Cowboys currently run the ball on 58% of their first downs, averaging 4.4 yards per carry with a 49% success rate (success rates explained here).

Conversely, when they throw the ball on first down (42% of the time), they average 8.4 yards per attempt with a 60% success rate – both of which far exceed the production of first-down runs.

It’s unacceptable that the Cowboys rank 27th in first-down pass rate despite having the second-highest success rate in the NFL on first-down passes. Throwing the ball more on first down will create more short down-and-distances on second and third down, thus making for more beneficial running situations.

For the Cowboys to field the most efficient offense possible, Moore would be wise to place a heavier emphasis on first-down passes (more than 50% of the time) rather than runs coming out of the bye.

Enjoy this post? More film studies:

-- Why DeMarcus Lawrence isn’t playing as poorly as his sack total suggests

-- Film room: 3 takeaways from the Cowboys’ domination of the Eagles, including how Kellen Moore got the offense back on track

-- What’s wrong with the Cowboys’ run defense? The issues span multiple levels