Dallas Cowboys’ Scott Linehan Must Get Gutsy Again in 2016

During the Dallas Cowboys’ magical and unexpected 12-4 run in 2014, everyone thought they were fun to watch despite their old-school, run-first offense. That was because the few pass plays called by Scott Linehan were fireworks-generating. Even though the Cowboys ran the ball a lot again in 2015, there were no such fireworks.

It’s easy to blame that on Tony Romo’s absence, and it’s somewhat accurate. But with the way the Cowboys controlled the ball in 2014, those flashy plays by Romo could have been made by any semi-decent quarterback because of Linehan’s superb play-calling.

For whatever reason, Linehan simply didn’t do that in 2015, at least not when Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore were under center. And no, we’re not counting all those predictable endarounds to Lucky Whitehead as moneymakers for Linehan.

Check out these examples from 2014:

An overload formation on a designed breaking route for Gavin Escobar? Not typical for the Cowboys prior to 2014. A left-handed shovel pass to Jason Witten at the goal line in an empty gun formation? Unheard of in Dallas in the pre-Linehan era.

But neither one of those throws required a Hall of Fame arm. Sure, the Escobar window was tight, but that’s just because Romo was a hair late with the ball. On both of those designed one-read plays, Weeden, Cassel and Moore all could have made the throws.

So why didn’t Linehan call them? It wasn’t because the Cowboys didn’t run the ball well and rack up time of possession; on the contrary, they were among the league leaders in time of possession and rushing yards in 2015.

It was reportedly because Jason Garrett wanted his backup quarterbacks handcuffed, for lack of a better term. Weeden in particular was limited to checkdowns and first reads over the middle. That changed a little in his final start and then change more when Cassel and Moore took over, but the play-calling didn’t. Even though Cassel and Moore were given more freedom with their throws, Linehan still kept the play-calling at an elementary level. As we’ve said here before, no quarterback can succeed in that situation.

If Romo is healthy and stays that way in 2016, it shouldn’t be hard for Linehan to get back to the magic he conducted in 2014. The man was arguably the best offensive coordinator in the NFL that season and a big reason why the Cowboys were a questionable no-catch call away from the NFC title game.

But if Romo misses any time with injury (and especially if it’s significant time) next year, Linehan will have to utilize all of his offensive weapons with the play-calling to give his quarterback – whoever it may be in that scenario – any chance to succeed.