Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin believes if the Dallas Cowboys are going to get back on track, they’d do well to get Dez Bryant more involved in the offense than he has been over the past two weeks.
In the 20-17 overtime loss to the Redskins, Bryant was held to three catches for 30 yards and a touchdown. In the 28-17 loss to the Cardinals, he went for two catches, 15 yards and a touchdown, but that touchdown came in garbage time.
“They’re doing things to take Dez out of the game plan, and you’ve got to get him back in the game plan,” Irvin said, per ESPN Dallas. “The thing is there are ways and things that I would like to see us try to do. Maybe a bunch receiver setup sometimes, and go off those bunch sets because it’s impossible to focus on one guy in a bunch.
“But a lot of times, Dez is getting the old Bobby Taylor coverage and the guys on TV say, ‘Oh, Dez is one-on-one.’ Dez is not one-on-one. They have a safety buzzed over. The linebacker runs out. But that being said, you still have to find ways to get him open and get him involved because it changes the game. Don’t ever allow a defense to dictate to you who they can take out of the game.”
Head coach Jason Garrett believes Bryant’s production will shoot back up once the offense as a whole begins running more smoothly again.
“I just think the overall execution of our offense needs to be better,” Garrett said. “Teams have been trying to defend the run against us all year long, a lot of guys down around the line of scrimmage. I think we’ve done a really good job staying with it, being persistent, and as the game wears on, doing some positive things in the running game. Similarly in the passing game, we’re best when we’re balanced, so when they’re playing some run fronts, you’ve got to keep running it and having success there, but you’ve also got to chase them out of it by throwing it, and Dez has been a huge part of that, obviously. Last week we weren’t quite as clean throwing the football, and hopefully we’ll get back to that this week.”
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