Targeting Brandin Cooks more could open up the Cowboys’ passing attack

Add as preferred source on Google

Six weeks into the NFL season, Mike McCarthy’s “Texas Coast Offense” has generated its share of negative reviews.

There are varying opinions on why the Dallas Cowboys rank 16 in the league regarding offensive yards per game, with many of the fingers pointed at Dak Prescott.

The most notable struggle this season with McCarthy calling the offensive plays has been their inability to score in the red zone, something they rarely had difficulty doing in 2022.

Brandin Cooks so important

There’s a wide array of opinions about what the Cowboys need to do offensively from now on, from acquiring an established veteran at the trade deadline to involving more receivers in the passing attack.

To this point of the regular season, it feels as though McCarthy has forgotten about the talent that Brandin Cooks brings to the table.

Dallas traded for him in March, seemingly to add another pass-catching threat to compliment go-to receiver CeeDee Lamb, but so far, Cooks has been the forgotten man.

The 30-year-old former Houston Texan has only caught 13 passes on 23 targets in 2023, by far the fewest for him at this stage of an NFL campaign.

He got a few more looks in their previous encounter against the Chargers with four grabs for 36 yards, plus his first touchdown as a Cowboy.

Targeting Cooks more allowed their primary receiving threat, CeeDee Lamb, to break loose as the Cowboys #88 had 117 yards through the air versus LA on seven catches.

While he’s not getting as many looks as we expected, Cooks remains upbeat about his position with this team.

On the Cowboys’ official website, Cooks talked about the importance of making the most of his opportunities when they arise.

“Like I’ve always said, I’m just gonna trust the process, and when the opportunity comes, I’m gonna try to take advantage of it. It just happened to be on Monday night.”

Currently, in his 10th NFL season, Cooks has been at his best when targeted deep down the field, amassing double-digits in yards-per-catch in each season before this one.

While his speed can often be helpful in short curl routes, which has been primarily what he’s been used for in Dallas, the Cowboys could be missing some opportunities for big plays by not taking as many deep shots to Cooks.

Cooks has amassed at least one catch of 40 yards or more in each of his first nine NFL seasons, while he had the longest receiving catch of the 2016 campaign when he was with the New Orleans Saints (98 yards).

His longest catch so far with the Cowboys in 2023 has gone for 17 yards, a significant drop-off from what he’s accomplished in his career.

Alongside Eric Dickerson, he has the distinction of being the most-traded player in league history (four), so there may be a perception that Cooks is a difficult person to manage; however, there are no indications of that since he joined the Cowboys.

Cooks will face one of his former teams on Sunday when Dallas hosts the Los Angeles Rams at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.