Philadelphia and Kansas City look like Super Bowl contenders, but the Cowboys also belong on that list. The defense is great, and they’ve got the most improved offense in the league.
The numbers they’ve been putting up have been pretty remarkable. Their offense has scored 28 touchdowns in its last six games – 4 more than the Eagles and 8 more than KC. They’re simply shredding teams right now.
Earlier in the year, recall, Dallas had Cooper Rush at quarterback and was playing things conservatively, scoring only 9 TDs in its first six games. (Not to pin that all on Rush – Prescott was ineffective in Week 1 against Tampa Bay.)
If we look at the first six games for each offense, weighing them to the last six games, Dallas has been the most improved in every category – touchdowns, points, rushing and passing.
The results are the most glaring with touchdowns, with over 3 times as many touchdowns in the last six weeks.
Note: on this chart, there are six teams that have played 13 games. For those, the middle game is omitted (providing an even, apples-to-apples comparison each team.
| MOST IMPROVED OFFENSES -- TOUCHDOWNS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1st 6 | last 6 | Diff |
| Dallas | 9 | 28 | 19 |
| Chicago | 9 | 19 | 10 |
| Carolina | 7 | 14 | 7 |
| Cincinnati | 15 | 22 | 7 |
| Green Bay | 12 | 18 | 6 |
| Seattle | 14 | 20 | 6 |
| Philadelphia | 19 | 24 | 5 |
| Arizona | 11 | 15 | 4 |
| Miami | 15 | 18 | 3 |
| San Francisco | 13 | 16 | 3 |
| Pittsburgh | 8 | 10 | 2 |
| Detroit | 18 | 19 | 1 |
| Denver | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Las Vegas | 15 | 15 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 16 | 16 | 0 |
| NY Giants | 13 | 13 | 0 |
| Kansas City | 21 | 20 | -1 |
| LA Rams | 11 | 10 | -1 |
| Tennessee | 12 | 11 | -1 |
| Atlanta | 14 | 12 | -2 |
| Cleveland | 16 | 14 | -2 |
| Houston | 10 | 8 | -2 |
| Indianapolis | 10 | 8 | -2 |
| Jacksonville | 15 | 13 | -2 |
| LA Chargers | 15 | 13 | -2 |
| Tampa Bay | 10 | 8 | -2 |
| Washington | 13 | 11 | -2 |
| Buffalo | 20 | 16 | -4 |
| New Orleans | 16 | 12 | -4 |
| Baltimore | 17 | 12 | -5 |
| NY Jets | 15 | 10 | -5 |
| New England | 14 | 7 | -7 |
Looking at rushing, the Cowboys have piled up 425 more yards and 11 more touchdowns in their last six games than they put up in the first six.
The Saints and Patriots, meanwhile, have the ground games that have declined the most. Both of those teams had some good running games early but haven’t done much of anything recently.
On this chart, to avoid making it overly cluttered, I’m showing only the production from the last six games. The percentage number at the end shows the relative difference versus the first six, using standard fantasy scoring (6 points for TDs and 1 for every 10 yards).
| MOST IMPROVED, RUSHING (last 6 games) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Yards | TDR | Pts | Diff |
| Dallas | 1,038 | 15 | 193.8 | 103% |
| Carolina | 859 | 8 | 133.9 | 85% |
| Cincinnati | 677 | 9 | 121.7 | 70% |
| Pittsburgh | 884 | 6 | 124.4 | 64% |
| Indianapolis | 694 | 5 | 99.4 | 60% |
| Buffalo | 929 | 8 | 140.9 | 59% |
| Washington | 880 | 4 | 112.0 | 49% |
| Chicago | 1,280 | 9 | 182.0 | 37% |
| Kansas City | 762 | 7 | 118.2 | 34% |
| Green Bay | 896 | 4 | 113.6 | 24% |
| Baltimore | 959 | 8 | 143.9 | 23% |
| Miami | 589 | 5 | 88.9 | 22% |
| LA Rams | 625 | 4 | 86.5 | 20% |
| Tennessee | 838 | 5 | 113.8 | 12% |
| Minnesota | 634 | 7 | 105.4 | 5% |
| Denver | 574 | 4 | 81.4 | 4% |
| Seattle | 653 | 7 | 107.3 | 3% |
| Detroit | 650 | 11 | 131.0 | 1% |
| Arizona | 663 | 6 | 102.3 | 1% |
| Tampa Bay | 398 | 2 | 51.8 | -1% |
| San Francisco | 745 | 4 | 98.5 | -11% |
| Philadelphia | 919 | 10 | 151.9 | -11% |
| Las Vegas | 734 | 4 | 97.4 | -14% |
| Jacksonville | 709 | 5 | 100.9 | -14% |
| NY Giants | 818 | 7 | 123.8 | -15% |
| NY Jets | 717 | 4 | 95.7 | -16% |
| Cleveland | 840 | 8 | 132.0 | -19% |
| Atlanta | 929 | 4 | 116.9 | -21% |
| Houston | 451 | 2 | 57.1 | -27% |
| LA Chargers | 447 | 3 | 62.7 | -28% |
| New England | 471 | 1 | 53.1 | -58% |
| New Orleans | 449 | 1 | 50.9 | -63% |
While the Cowboys have been grinding opponents into mush, they have also passed often enough (and well enough) to have the league’s most improved passing game in the last six games. Again, this is using standard fantasy scoring (6 points for TDs and 1 for every 10 passing yards).
Teams that’s passing production has declined by over 30 percent include the Colts, Bills and Ravens.
| MOST IMPROVED, PASSING (last 6 games) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Yards | TDP | Pts | Diff |
| Dallas | 1,460 | 13 | 224.0 | 54% |
| Chicago | 957 | 10 | 155.7 | 40% |
| San Francisco | 1,594 | 12 | 231.4 | 31% |
| NY Giants | 1,344 | 6 | 170.4 | 28% |
| Philadelphia | 1,460 | 14 | 230.0 | 23% |
| Seattle | 1,667 | 13 | 244.7 | 20% |
| Green Bay | 1,574 | 14 | 241.4 | 20% |
| Cincinnati | 1,851 | 13 | 263.1 | 12% |
| New Orleans | 1,515 | 11 | 217.5 | 11% |
| Carolina | 1,126 | 6 | 148.6 | 8% |
| Arizona | 1,411 | 9 | 195.1 | 6% |
| Miami | 1,847 | 13 | 262.7 | 6% |
| Las Vegas | 1,532 | 11 | 219.2 | 6% |
| Cleveland | 1,413 | 6 | 177.3 | 5% |
| Atlanta | 997 | 8 | 147.7 | 4% |
| Kansas City | 2,072 | 13 | 285.2 | 3% |
| Jacksonville | 1,443 | 8 | 192.3 | -1% |
| Tennessee | 1,150 | 5 | 145.0 | -1% |
| Pittsburgh | 1,288 | 4 | 152.8 | -1% |
| Minnesota | 1,493 | 9 | 203.3 | -2% |
| New England | 1,362 | 6 | 172.2 | -3% |
| LA Chargers | 1,623 | 10 | 222.3 | -4% |
| NY Jets | 1,391 | 6 | 175.1 | -8% |
| Houston | 1,210 | 6 | 157.0 | -11% |
| Denver | 1,341 | 3 | 152.1 | -13% |
| Detroit | 1,439 | 8 | 191.9 | -15% |
| Tampa Bay | 1,399 | 6 | 175.9 | -17% |
| Washington | 1,169 | 7 | 158.9 | -24% |
| LA Rams | 1,068 | 6 | 142.8 | -27% |
| Baltimore | 1,152 | 4 | 139.2 | -32% |
| Buffalo | 1,426 | 8 | 190.6 | -37% |
| Indianapolis | 1,181 | 3 | 136.1 | -39% |
—Ian Allan