Cowboys struggling to involve receivers

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As the Dallas Cowboys enter the bye week with a record of 4-2, plenty of questions surround their offense.

Even after claiming a victory on Monday, Mike McCarthy’s have been mercilessly critiqued about their lack of production.

Even with their struggles to score in the red zone, it’s hard to argue with the fact that Dallas was a lot better moving the ball when compared to what they showed us in that lopsided defeat to the San Francisco 49ers.

As expected, Prescott did well to take advantage of the weak Chargers secondary, going 21/30 for 272 yards and a score, while he did not throw an interception.

CeeDee Lamb was his go-to receiver, with the two of them connected seven times, with Lamb collecting 117 yards through the air to lead the way with a 16.7-yard average per catch.

The other encouraging note was how they finally got Brandin Cooks involved in the offense, who only had four catches for 36 yards on five targets but also found the end zone.

Aside from those two, though, there weren’t a lot of other playmakers that were involved in the passing game against Los Angeles.

Vanishing receivers

The rest of the Cowboys’ wide receiving group, aside from Cooks and Lamb, were targeted 20 times on Monday, making 18 receptions for 284 yards and a touchdown.

Every one of Lamb’s catches went for a first down, an encouraging sign for this offense going forward.

Michael Gallup continued his rough stretch, with just three catches for 24 yards on 10 targets, as he struggles to make plays when called upon.

Tony Pollard was the second-leading receiver for the Cowboys against the Chargers, with 80 yards, though one of his grabs was for 60 yards, so those numbers are a little skewed.

Aside from that, there were KaVontae Turpin and Jalen Tolbert, who seemingly disappeared from the Cowboys’ offensive game plan on Monday, as neither was targeted a single time.

Jake Ferguson and Sean McKeon meanwhile had one target each, with Ferguson the only one to register a catch, with his lone grab going for a mere 15 yards.

It’s not been helped by the fact that the running game has had difficulty throughout the year, with Dallas only racking up 96 yards on the ground versus Los Angeles.

Going forward, the question is whether or not heavying the workload on Cooks and Lamb is something that is sustainable and can keep this team winning.

The trade deadline is on Halloween, so the Dallas front office has plenty of time to assess their needs and if they need to add somebody.

Having a pair of star receivers hasn’t hurt them too badly to this stage of the season, even with a lack of production from the wide receiver room.

It could be a question of trust as to why some of the little-known receivers haven’t gotten game action or found the right time to involve them.

Either way, McCarthy needs to figure out how to unleash a lot of talent in that group.