Pro Football Focus says Cowboys interior line backups “pass” the test versus Cardinals

Now that the shock of the shellacking the Cowboys took at the hands of the Cardinals is starting to wear off, we can take a look at some things that might have gone right. Recently, we noted the Cowboys offensive line had trouble getting the running game going, but that the pass blocking seemed okay. Pro Football Focus goes a bit further and really praises the interior lines’ ability to pass block on Sunday night.

OFFENSE- Seven out of the ten offensive linemen who played, allowed zero total pressures. Joe Looney played 30 offensive snaps and allowed zero total pressures on 19 pass blocking snaps. Looney finished the game with an 80.7 pass-blocking grade. Kadeem Edwards and Jake Campos also allowed zero total pressures. Edwards played 53 offensive snaps and finished with an 86.0 pass-blocking grade. Campos played 37 offensive snaps and finished with an 84.7 pass-blocking grade.

The pass-blocking started to break down later in the game when Mike White was taken down four times in the second half. Some of that had to do with White’s tendency to hold the ball and his yet-to-be-developed pocket awareness. Some of the blame does lie with the tackles. Chaz Green was one of the culprits, as usual, and Cam Fleming, who had a solid game through three quarters, started to falter late. But the interior did a pretty decent job.

We all know that Cooper Rush had a pretty bad game. PFF rubs salt in the wound.

- When not blitzed, Cooper Rush completed 6 out of 11 passes for 53 yards, 2 INTs, 1 batted pass, 1 first down, and a 28.0 passer rating.

A 28 pass rating? Yikes!

On the defensive side of the ball, we have a pet-cat alert.

DEFENSE- Charvarius Ward played 22 defensive snaps and on 11 coverage snaps he was thrown at two times and had two pass breakups. Ward had the highest defensive grade for the Cowboys, a 90.6.

Ward was an early favorite out of training camp when he was routinely making plays at practice. The shine started to come off as he and the rest of the backups in the secondary really struggled in the first two preseason games. He’s attempting a comeback and shooting for a spot on the 53-man roster.

And finally, a little Randy Gregory action.

- Randy Gregory played well on his 13 defensive snaps. He finished the night with one sack, one hit, and three stops. Gregory had an 84.8 defensive grade.

So far, we’ve heard nothing else about the supposed rumor he could be looking at more trouble with the NFL and it’s drug policy. The tweet from Jason La Canfora hasn’t been backed up by any other sources, and La Canfora has not issued any clarification or further confirmation. A very strange situation to say the least. Stephen Jones once again said today that he doesn’t know of any trouble that Gregory could be in, but admitted they wouldn’t know until the NFL informed them.

So as of now, we just wait and hope.