FRISCO, Texas -- On the 13th game of the Dallas Cowboys' season, Javonte Williams reached 1,000 yards with a 1-yard touchdown run last week against the Detroit Lions.
With four games to play, Williams has 1,022 yards and nine touchdowns on 215 carries, putting him on pace for 1,337 yards.
In any era, that would be considered an excellent season, but it might have been better.
The Cowboys' running game has lost its efficiency. In the past three games, they have 44 runs of 3 yards or less. In the last eight games, they have averaged better than 4 yards per carry only three times. Once was Thanksgiving against the Kansas City Chiefs, when they gained 137 yards on 26 carries (5.3 yards per carry), but 68 of those yards came on two runs.
Against the Lions, the Cowboys had 91 yards on 24 carries, but- quarterback Dak Prescott had the longest run at 12 yards on a scramble.
"Actually our targeting and our identification of the front and what we were trying to do was good," coach Brian Schottenheimer said ahead of Sunday's game versus the Minnesota Vikings (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC). "We didn't sustain blocks very well, and that's where we need to be better. We need to strain to finish.
"We're going to be challenged this week with a defense led by [coordinator Brian] Flores that's very multiple and they're going to do a lot of different things, but the biggest thing I would say is it's that last push and the strain and the finish of getting guys covered up a little bit longer to let the backs be able to pore the hole and puncture the defense."
Offensive coordinator Klayton Adams put the issue on the final 5% of blocks. The message was received by the linemen.
"Really, it's taking advantage of premier looks when we have a light box," center Cooper Beebe said. "We can't just get 2 or 3 [yards]. It's gotta be 5, 6, 7 and just keep us on track."
Said Williams, "It really all comes back to execution, playing our game, not worrying about who we're playing against or their record or anything like that. Just play our game."
The Vikings have the 22nd-ranked run defense, giving up 126.8 yards per game.
A meaningful streak
For the fourth straight year, Solomon Thomas was named his team's nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award. From 2022 to 2024, he earned the honor with the New York Jets and now he has it with the Cowboys.
Thomas started The Defensive Line in 2021 with his parents, Martha and Chris Thomas, to work to end youth suicide in honor of his sister, Ella, who died in 2018. Following the death of teammate Marshawn Kneeland, Thomas was one of the players to share his story.
"It means a lot to me that the work I'm doing is being recognized," he said. "Would do it regardless, but it means something to know it's making a difference in the community. I guess for me to be a leader for my teammates, showing them that, yes, we have these busy lives, busy schedules, but we can still make time to give back to those around us. We have this beautiful platform in a short time to impact people's lives, and I'm just trying to take advantage of that."
Every day as he walks from the training table to the locker room, Thomas sees a board that shows the Cowboys' past winners of the award -- Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Jason Witten and Prescott.
"To be a part of that board with those legends would mean the world to me," said Thomas, a Coppell, Texas, native. "Just trying to bring it home, but no matter what, just trying to make people proud."
Lights, camera, action
For just about the past month, NFL Films cameras have shadowed the Cowboys for the NFC East edition of "Hard Knocks."
There have been some colorful moments and language. But for a team that has done "Hard Knocks" during training camp multiple times, took part in Amazon's "All or Nothing" series a few years ago and is chronicled as much or more than any other team in the NFL, it's not been a big deal.
Schottenheimer said he has not followed the series.
"People send me things and stuff like that, but I will say this: They've been great," the coach said. "The guys have a job to do. The production people have been amazing. They kind of fit right in with us. By this point, you're just kind of used to it and you don't think too much about it. Kudos to them and NFL Films and HBO and everybody that puts it on."
Said defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, "I've been on 'Hard Knocks' [with the New York Jets], so it's normal to me."
And he has not watched it either.
"I'm trying to focus on winning football games right now," he said, "so that's the kind of mindset I'm on."
