The Cowboys have been the NFL's version of Jekyll and Hyde through the season's first five weeks.
After beating the Giants and Jets by a combined score of 70-10 to start the season 2-0, they dropped a road game to the Cardinals, who many expected to be among the worst teams in the NFL this year.
Dallas got back on its high horse after exploiting the Patriots' pitiful offense with a 38-3 victory. It was quickly brought back to earth after being handled by the 49ers, 42-10, on "Sunday Night Football."
Starting QB Dak Prescott had one of the worst games of his NFL career in the loss, completing just 58.3 percent of his passes for 153 yards, one touchdown and a career-worst-tying three interceptions. His 51.6 QBR was the sixth-lowest of his 102 regular season starts.
MORE: Dak Prescott says 49ers loss 'most humbling game' of career
Prescott hasn't looked like himself so far this season, and neither has the Cowboys' offense. Is he missing former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore? Let's take a look at how the stats shake out below.
Dak Prescott stats: How Cowboys QB has fared without Kellen Moore
The Cowboys elected to mutually part ways with their offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore, this past offseason.
Moore was the Cowboys' OC for four seasons from 2019 to 2022. He led Dallas to a top-six scoring offense in the NFL in three of his four seasons at the helm (with the one outlier being in 2020, when Prescott suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 5).
Moore moved on to become the Chargers OC — a team that ranked seventh in points and fifth in yards per game in the NFL entering Week 6. Meanwhile, even though the Cowboys promoted Brian Schottenheimer to OC, head coach Mike McCarthy has been the team's offensive play-caller.
Through five weeks, McCarthy and Schottenheimer's guidance had Dallas ranking eighth and 17th, respectively.
The Cowboys' offensive woes are more glaring than what their points-per-game average suggests.
Even though they're a top-10 rushing team in the NFL, the Cowboys rank 20th with 203 passing yards per game. That's worse than struggling offenses like the Patriots and Raiders. Their red zone offense ranks 28th in the NFL with a lowly 36.8 percent touchdown conversion rate.
And this is all with the third-best offensive line in football, according to Pro Football Focus.
Prescott, McCarthy and Schottenheimer have not gotten on the same page yet, and the team's offensive numbers reflect that. Running back Tony Pollard is off to a slower start than expected. Star wideout CeeDee Lamb was visibly frustrated in the team's loss to the 49ers after recording his fourth game with fewer than five receptions.
Prescott's stats haven't taken a massive hit, but he is averaging five fewer passing attempts, leading to roughly 75 fewer passing yards and one less passing touchdown per game than he did under Moore.
| Through 5 games (2023) | With OC Kellen Moore (2019-2022) | |
| 69.4 | Cmp% | 66.9 |
| 32.0 | Att/G | 36.9 |
| 212.2 | Yds/G | 287.1 |
| 1.0 | TD/G | 2.0 |
| 0.8 | INT/G | 0.8 |
MORE: Ranking the NFL's worst offseason moves, from Sean Payton to Daniel Jones
After the dismantling loss to San Francisco, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the team is not considering any changes to the team's offensive play-calling totem pole.
“No, not in any way. No,'' Jones said during his weekly radio spot on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas when asked if McCarthy would be demoted as the team's play caller.
“We should recognize that we had a very bad outing, and San Francisco had a very good outing,” Jones continued. “We should recognize that and call it what it is and not mislead ourselves. But as far as sitting here and saying we should completely change out the towels here, that’s not even in the cards. And it’s really ridiculous.”
Prescott and the Cowboys' offense have a great chance to bounce back against a poor Chargers defense on "Monday Night Football" in Week 6, but they also need to be prepared for a shootout.
After that, they face tough matchups against the Rams in Week 7 and the Eagles in Week 8. That is not exactly the easiest stretch for Prescott to get back into form, so the star QB will need to find answers fast.
