Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys’ offense sticking with ‘the fastball’ against Arizona

You want to know how the Dallas Cowboys got their offense going again?

They went back to their up-tempo offense, which they call “the fastball.”

It was something they used to great success early in the season but got away from during their November and early December doldrums that included quarterback Dak Prescott missing a game with a calf strain and receivers CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper being out of the lineup because of a concussion and COVID-19.

Add in injuries to running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard and personnel shuffling on the offensive line and the Cowboys somehow got away from their old friend.

The return of “the fastball” offense proved to be the impetus for the record-setting scoring explosion in last Sunday’s 56-14 victory against Washington.

It will be the foundation of their game plan for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals (10-5) as the NFC East champion Cowboys (11-4) look to build on their four-game winning streak and continue to strive for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

“Tempo has obviously been a friend as the season has progressed,” tight end Dalton Schultz said. “Something that we worked on a lot, especially in the offseason and into training camp. I think that’s kind of when we play our best ball sometimes. It’s when everybody is feeling that sense of urgency and we can just execute all the plays that we’ve been running since the beginning of time.”

Tempo is a change-up offense that the team often uses in its two-minute sets, but it can be brought out when the Cowboys have made a positive play and want to go fast to put the defense on its heels. Upping the pace takes advantage of a tired defensive line since opposing teams aren’t able to make substitutions.

That worked to perfection against Washington last Sunday when the Cowboys tied a team record for points in a half in taking a 42-7 lead at halftime en route to scoring the third-most points in franchise history.

The defense and special teams chipped in with an interception return for a touchdown and a blocked punt return for a touchdown, but the biggest difference was the efficiency on offense.

The Cowboys scored touchdowns on all six trips inside the red zone after just six on their previous 18 red zone chances.

And Prescott passed for 330 yards and touchdowns to four different receivers, while becoming the first player in NFL history with scoring tosses to a running back, a wide receiver, a tight end and an offensive lineman in the same regular season game.

Guard Zack Martin said the Cowboys have played their best football when they use different modes and tempos to press the defense.

“It doesn’t necessarily allow them to get certain pressures or calls in so you see a lot of base defense,” Martin said. “You can kind of feel that when you run about four or five plays in a row on that fastball offense. The shift is in our favor there with the defense kind of getting tired.”

Running back Ezekiel Elliott said when the offense goes fast it helps the whole unit get in a rhythm, and he believes the fastball offense will be important Sunday against a Cardinals defense that likes to use a lot of different schemes and looks that the Cowboys haven’t seen this season. It forces them

“to vanilla it out a little bit,” he said.

Receiver Amari Cooper agreed, while pointing to the impact it had on Washington. “I noticed even last week, when we weren’t playing fast we weren’t as productive, but when we started speeding things up, we were extremely productive and those guys were tired,” he said. “I heard one of the guys, he told me to my face, ‘Y’all need to slow this down. I’m tired.’ So I know how effective it is.”

Despite the Cardinals’ current three-game losing streak, the team is still allowing only 324 yards per game, which is good enough for eighth-best in the league. “With Arizona having such a good defense, great players, we’ll have to see how conditioned they are,” Cooper said.