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Cowboys passing game struggles not solely Dak's fault

It's the day after a Dallas Cowboys loss -- which means everyone around Cowboys nation thinks the starting quarterback is terrible.

It's really a weekly thing around the NFL, especially in Week 1. You won? You're playoff bound.

You lost? Everyone stinks, your coach is getting fired, and the QB can't hit the broad side of a barn.

"Well it wasn't good enough on offense," Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said on Monday. "We didn't run it well enough, we didn't throw it well enough. And Dak [Prescott] was certainly a part of that."

But how much 'a part of that' was he. Certainly he carries a fair share of the blame.

We broke down all 29 of Prescott's throws from Sunday, in terms of how far downfield the ball was thrown. And on throws less than 10 yards down field, he was good -- a combined 16-19, for 121 yards.

But beyond 10 yards, he was just 3-10, for 49 yards. The lack of production is concerning, for sure. But worse yet is the lack of attempts at all, deep down field. Prescott made only one throw beyond 20 yards, all game... and that throw was woefully off target.

"The time to throw some of those vertical passes, maybe wasn't there," Garrett said. "Or if they were called, we had to get the ball underneath a little bit more. But again, you want to stretch the defense, you want to attack them vertically and horizontally in the passing game."

The Cowboys didn't on Sunday. The the receivers carry some of that blame, after struggling to create enough separation to give Prescott somewhere to throw the ball. And the offensive coordinator Scott Linehan? He's on the hook too.

"I have a tremendous amount of faith in Scott," Garrett said, when asked if he might take some of the reigns from Linehan. "We just have to do a better job collectively, as a staff, and as an offensive unit to help us move the football and score some points."

Move the ball... as in down field.

Worth trying more than once, in Week 2.

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