Dallas Cowboys: Baffling Play-Calling, Not Players, Gives Dallas Loss in Opener

Prior to taking the field for Sunday night's season opener, the Dallas Cowboys had one win and three losses when Tony Romo threw 45 or more passes.

In Sunday's loss to the Washington Redskins, Tony Romo threw 47. Both Marion Barber and Felix Jones averaged nearly five yards per carry but saw very, very limited action.

The offensive play-calling turned a talented offensive unit into a one-dimensional passing attack. The problem is, this isn't the first time Jason Garrett has abandoned Dallas' running game for seemingly no reason. In last season's three-point loss to the San Diego Chargers Felix Jones, who was averaging over five yards per carry in the game, was allowed only 10 carries.

Head-scratching decisions went beyond weighted play-calling. In Dallas' first drive saw three quick first downs one two rushing and two passing plays before Garrett called back-to-back receiver screens to Dez Bryant. 

To call the first is something that can be understood, the Cowboys have a new weapon and would like to see what he is capable of. The second call, however, was nonsensical. The first play went for two yards, to come back with the exact same look on second and eight is something that can only work in the Madden franchise.

The drive stalled and Dallas was forced to punt, but their second drive got going just like the first. Three first downs on three plays and, following an unnecessary roughness call on Washington, the Cowboys had a first and 10 on Washington's 12 yard line. 

So, of course, the play called makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, a half-back pass from Marion Barber. At this point in the game Tony Romo is nine for 10 passing. If anyone is throwing a pass in this situation it should be the quarterback, and what is the sense in keeping Barber from doing what he does best, running the football.

The fourth drive of the game, now is when the running game is really abandoned. After starting on their own one yard line, Dallas drove out to the Washington 37, when the drive only stalled after Garrett called four consecutive passing plays following a first down rush by Tashard Choice.

One of the most discussed calls was the decision to run a pass play with almost no time left on the clock and the ball on the Dallas 36 yard line. Yes, Tony Romo should have thrown the ball away, and yes Tashard Choice should have just gone out of bounds or gone down.

That being said, players are out there to make plays. When told to run a passing play and to try and score, that's what they'll do. Romo and Choice should have never been put in the position to make that kind of mistake.

There is almost zero chance the Cowboys' offense could have gone 64 yards on that play with the Redskins playing back to prevent a big play. Down by three Dallas should have taken a knee and gone into halftime to regroup, instead of giving Washington every bit of momentum.

In the fourth quarter, down by three, Dallas had a third down and two. On the teams prior possession the team faced a third and two and Tashard Choice took a hand off up the middle for eight yards. On this play, however, the play called was a toss sweep to the short side of the field to Choice who ended with a three yard loss.

There were several mistakes and several penalties, but the players, especially on the defensive side, kept the team in the game until the final play. Had Dallas' coaching staff called a balanced game and limited their own faults, which caused far more damage than the penalties committed throughout the game, the Cowboys would have stood a much better chance at coming out on top.

Jason Garrett has to stick with his running attack in close games and stop calling plays that take Dallas out of their rhythm the way he did on Sunday for the team to stand a chance this season.