Do the Cowboys trust their running game?

The Dallas Cowboys boast what most consider the best offensive line in football, a unit that is built to dominate the line of scrimmage and create enough holes in short yardage situations even if defenses stack the box.

But the Cowboys aren’t fully committed to that smash-mouth approach so far this season. Maybe they simply miss DeMarco Murray too much, and don’t feel they have a suitable back that can get the job done.

Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots once again spoke volumes as to how Jason Garrett, Scott Linehan and the rest of the coaching staff feel about the running game.

The Cowboys had six third-down plays of 4 yards or less, and ran it once in those situations. Christine Michael rewarded them by picking up a first down. That was Michael’s only snap of the game, and second of the season (he had one carry in Week 4 against New Orleans).

The other five times, though, they put the ball in Brandon Weeden’s hands.

The result?

A sack, an incompletion, a completion short of the first down marker and two successful completions for first downs.

Where’s Garrett’s comfort level with the running game?

“We’re always trying to get better,” Garrett said. “We’re always trying to create the right environment for those guys to run it. We want to see those guys perform at a high level. We’re trying to get better on all parts of our team.”

Establishing the running game continues to be an issue for the Cowboys. Joseph Randle and Darren McFadden have yet to separate themselves, and Michael hasn’t had many opportunities to show what he can do.

Randle led the team in rushing Sunday, gaining 60 yards on 15 carries, a respectable 4-yard a carry average. Weeden finished with the second-most rushing yards, gaining 18 on three carries.

McFadden had 16 yards on five carries, and Michael had one carry for 6 yards on a third-and-1 to pick up a first down early in the second half. Despite that successful run, Michael didn’t see the field after that.

For the game, the Cowboys rushed for 100 yards on 24 carries.

“We need to run the ball better,” Garrett said Monday. “We’ve done some good things in the running game, but we need to be consistently better running the football throughout the game.

“In some cases, we haven’t had favorable boxes to run at. Teams have been trying to defend the run. Having consistent balance to be able to attack the defense a lot of different ways will help the running game. To answer your question, we need to run the ball better.”

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Do the Cowboys trust their running game?."