Rico Dowdle Continues to Shine for the Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys lost on Monday Night Football in a thriller versus the Cincinnati Bengals 27-20. The game involved stars like Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who went for 14 receptions, 177 yards, and two touchdowns. The last score for Chase was the game-winning touchdown with 1:01 left in the fourth quarter. For Dallas, star CeeDee Lamb showed up after a lackluster game on Thanksgiving, going for six receptions, 93 yards, and the game's first touchdown. Despite the loss, an emerging star for the Dallas offense continues to shine alongside Lamb. Running back Rico Dowdle continues his streak of great games. Dowdle recorded his first-ever career consecutive 100-yard games, rushing for 131 yards on 18 attempts. One of those runs early in the third quarter was Dallas's season-long up to this point, going for 27 yards. A career day for Dowdle in his short time as the lead back. He became the first Cowboys running back to record back-to-back 100-yard rushing games since Tony Pollard in 2022.
Entering the 2024-25 season, the Cowboys did not fully address their issue at running back. Starting running back Tony Pollard left for his hometown team, the Tennessee Titans. Re-signing old friend Ezekiel Elliott was the only addition to a running back room consisting of Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, and Hunter Luepke. The intentions entering the season were to create a running game based on a committee; however, the Cowboys quickly found out that the committee was not as successful as planned. Dallas was ranked as the 32nd run game in the NFL, having bottom rankings in rushing attempts, yards before contact, and rushing success rate on first down. It was the worst run game in the NFL and one of the worst in Cowboys history to start the season. Due to the result of the disastrous run game, the Cowboys decided to look toward Dowdle to carry the load. The journey of Dowdle taking over started with a Week Five win at Pittsburgh, where he ran for 87 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown for 22 yards via a pass from Dak Prescott. A great performance for the four-year back in his first true game, being the lead back for Dallas. What followed for Dallas and Dowdle were two disappointing outcomes. The first outcome was an embarrassing Week Six loss at home to the Detroit Lions. Dowdle ran for 25 yards on five attempts, and Dallas would go on to lose 47-9. Then, two weeks later, following their bye week, they had a must-win game versus the San Francisco 49ers. The game would not feature Dowdle; he was ruled out hours before due to a sudden illness. The Cowboys would go on to lose 30-24 to the 49ers, where the leading rusher was Ezekiel Elliott, who ran for 34 yards on ten carries. However, this would be Dowdle's only setback in his short time as the Cowboys’ first-choice running back. His role would seemingly increase, and he would start to shine before anyone knew it.
The Dallas offense suffered a huge blow. Quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending injury in a Week Nine 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. The injury would change the way the offense would have to run, as backup Cooper Rush would take the reins. Due to the injury of Prescott, the offense started to move their approach to controlling the time of possession and running the football more. The main beneficiary of this offense is Rico Dowdle. The Cowboys have played six games since Prescott's injury. Even with tough games against Philadelphia and Houston, where Dallas had to play from behind and abandon the run game, Dowdle has not disappointed. Dowdle, in the other four games, has put up 404 yards on 71 carries and a touchdown. This comes out to an impressive average of 5.7 yards a carry for a running back people seemingly overlooked heading into the season. Dowdle's last three games have each consisted of 18-plus carries and running for at least 89 yards. The latter two games were over 110 yards each against New York and Cincinnati. While it could be said that the caliber of the defenses Dallas has played against are not top-tier defenses, the numbers do not lie for Dowdle. His performances are something that Dallas has not seen for a while at the running back position. This has been a career year for Dowdle up to this point, who is set to become a free agent in the offseason. The emerging shining star for Dallas is giving them a reason to spend the money to bring him back.
