Dallas Cowboys' offense must do a balancing act

SAN ANTONIO - As assumptions go, it stacks up to betting on another long, hot summer.

The Cowboys no longer have Terrell Owens. They have three quality running backs and a desire to give their quarterback more support as they embark on this Romo-friendly era.

The premise is sound. The Cowboys need to run the ball more this season.

Like the sweltering Texas heat, it comes down to a matter of degrees.

Coach Wade Phillips declared in the first news conference of this training camp that he wanted his team to move into the NFL's top 10 in rushing. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett must call more running plays to achieve that goal and play to the talents of Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice.

But don't get carried away. The more the Cowboys run, the more it takes the ball out of Tony Romo's hands. Take the ball out of his hands too often, and it takes away from what makes him special. You also increase the likelihood of more tight, low-scoring games.

There's nothing wrong with the occasional 13-10 score. But do you think owner Jerry Jones wants to christen his shiny new stadium with five or six of those games?

What happens this season won't be a philosophical shift as much as it will be an adjustment.

"We're going to be a balanced football team," Garrett said. "We always pride ourselves on that, breaking the huddle and having the defense defend the run and defend the pass, to be versatile that way."

Phillips points to the Cowboys' championship teams of the 1990s as the template. Those teams would run the ball, then throw to the tight end if that was taken away. When defenses collapsed on the tight end and clogged the inside running lanes, the Cowboys threw it to the wide receivers. Once defenses became concerned with the wide receivers, the Cowboys shifted back to the run.

The blueprint has been different for this team. The Cowboys ran the ball 42.3 percent of the time last season. That represented a slight drop from Garrett's first season as coordinator.

The Cowboys will have to increase that percentage to crack the top 10, won't they?

"Well, maybe a little bit," Phillips said.

Good luck trying to pin down a run-to-pass ratio. Garrett doesn't establish those kinds of parameters entering a season.

"Again, we'll try to be balanced and try to keep attacking defenses," Garrett said. "I'm not overly concerned with those percentage numbers.

"We want to be able to do both. We want to be good at throwing the football and running the football. Run it inside, run it outside. Throw it short, throw it long."

These discussions often hinge on how you define balance. Is balance an equal distribution between the run and pass? Or is true balance the ability to win a game on the ground when needed and through the air when the ground game is stymied?

Isn't balance the ability to run or pass effectively when needed more than it is a formula or play-by-play breakdown?

"That's why you have to be good at different things, because there are times when teams are going to say, 'We're not going to let you throw the ball deep,' " Garrett said. "And if you can't throw it short and run the ball, you're going to have a hard time.

"Teams will say, 'We're not going to let you run the ball.' If you can't throw it, you're going to have a hard time.

"The great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the low post had a lot of options, then he rolled up the sky hook. It's hard on the defense when you can do different things."

Teams control the game with the run. They score with the pass. The Cowboys' coaching staff is concerned it will limit itself if it overemphasizes the run.

"The problem with running it all the time is you're not going to score a lot of points," Phillips said. "It's going to be a close game every time. If you can control it at the end of the game, you can win. I've been there with Earl Campbell, but a lot of games are really close.

"If you have a strong passing game, you can score more points and move the ball more. You take a chance of making more mistakes, certainly. But you have to find the right medium."

The Cowboys ranked 21st in rushing last season with an average of 107.7 yards. That sounds like a lot of ground to make up. But based on their average of 4.3 yards a carry, the Cowboys need only four to five more rushing attempts a game to crack the top 10.

Now, that doesn't address how you distribute 29 to 30 carries a game among three talented backs, but that's another issue.

"I think we'll be like we've been in the past," Romo said. "Pretty balanced."

It's a matter of degrees.