The Dallas Cowboys’ hiring of Scott Linehan this week has been met with a lot of skepticism, from fans to media types, from former players to former coaches.
Two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Jimmy Johnson is among this group, and he has a specific concern about Linehan taking the offensive reins. Namely, Johnson points out, Linehan has a history of being a pass-first, pass-often coordinator. This isn’t encouraging for anyone who has followed the Cowboys of recent, and been frustrated by the team’s penchant for abandoning the run with alarming regularity under both Jason Garrett and Bill Callahan.
“The only concern I would have is that one of the problems with the Cowboys is at times they have abandoned the run with DeMarco Murray and I don’t recall Detroit being a power running football team,” Johnson said, per the Dallas Morning News.
In four of his five seasons with the Lions, Linehan’s offenses finished firmly in the bottom half of the league in terms of rushing attempts per game. They were 14th in the league in 2013, but from 2009 to 2012, they finished 24th, 24th, 31st and 25th in terms of rushing attempts.
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