Randle, Cowboys’ running game disappear in second half
From the outset Sunday afternoon at AT&T Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys were chewing up yards while running circles over and around the Atlanta Falcons.
The crowd of 90,345 was in a lather, and high-fives were plentiful. It had all the makings of a very impressive outing with new starter Brandon Weeden.
“The offensive line definitely came out balling today,” running back Joseph Randle said. “They were doing their thing.”
Then, as if the ground was filled with nasty potholes, the Cowboys’ ground game vanished into thin air. Never to be seen again.
On the Cowboys’ first three rushes of the day — all by Randle — they steamrolled to 85 yards. On their final 18 rushes, they managed to compile 42 yards.
The offensive line definitely came out balling today. They were doing their thing.
on how the game started
That includes minus-4 yards rushing on five attempts in the second half after the Cowboys accumulated 131 yards rushing in the first half on just 16 attempts.
With no running game to support Weeden in his first complete game replacing the injured Tony Romo, the Cowboys faded down the stretch in losing to the Falcons 39-28.
So how did the Cowboys’ running game dissolve so fast?
“We’re definitely going to have to look at the tape before we make any judgments,” Randle said. “Everything feels different than it actually looks on tape.
“So we’ll get back in there, we’ll analyze what’s going on and we’ll keep moving forward.”
After his first three runs, Randle compiled just 2 yards on his next 11 carries to finish with a career-high 87 yards on 14 carries while scoring a single-game career-high three touchdowns.
But he had 91 yards in the first quarter — tied for the third-most in one quarter in team history — on just nine carries.
“We have to go back and see what they changed, what we changed,” center Travis Frederick said.
“I think what’s important is that we focus on the things that we did well, continue to build on those, find out what we did wrong and improve on those and correct that.”
Following his early success, Randle said it felt like the Falcons “had everybody in the box.” That meant the onus was placed squarely on Weeden to beat Atlanta.
“They just came back out and played a better second half,” owner Jerry Jones said. “I really have to give them a lot of credit.
“We stopped ourselves pretty early, they had long drives, and we couldn’t get it going, and we couldn’t get anything sustained.”
Backup running back Lance Dunbar only ran one time for 5 yards, but he did have a career-high 10 receptions for 100 yards.
“I’m all about winning,’’ Dunbar said. “It’s not about the yards.
“I want to win the game, and that’s what this team’s about. We didn’t do enough to win the game and that’s what really matters at the end of the day.”
We have to go back and see what they changed, what we changed.
Cowboys center Travis Frederick
Randle ran 28 yards on the game’s first play, then — after a pass interference against the Falcons — scored on a 37-yard run. Randle’s initial rush was memorable for left guard La’el Collins, who made his first NFL start.
“I think we just went out there and executed our blocks,” Collins said. “We just did everything we had to do and that’s pretty much what got us off to a good start.’’
And why did the running game bog down in the second half?
“I’ve got to go watch the film and get back to the drawing board and see what we could have done better,” Collins said.
“We’ve just got to keep our feet on the gas and keep going.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2015 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Randle, Cowboys’ running game disappear in second half."