The Cowboys lead the league in total offense, with an average of 436.8 yards per game.
They never got higher than 20th last season, finishing 22nd.
The Cowboys have not finished a season leading the league in total offense since 1977. They haven’t led in scoring since 1980. They haven’t won a Super Bowl since the 1995 season.
“We haven’t played our best ball,” Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said. “You look at the numbers and, ‘Hey we’re No. 1 in offense,’ it’s something we can be proud of, but it not’s the staple. It’s not who we are. It’s not what we’re aiming for. We’re aiming to be a successful team, a successful offense.”
The Cowboys ranked fifth, fourth and fourth in total offense during their three Super Bowl victories in the 1990s.
Despite being first in yards this season, the Cowboys rank fifth in points scored and are 5-3. That’s why they aren’t hanging a banner for leading the league in yards.
“That’s good, but I mean, you’re 5-3,” Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. “That’s the biggest thing you’ve got to focus on. I think sometimes you can’t get caught up in that. You want to be a big-time offense statistically and all that, but you want to win games; you want to score points. That’s how you do it. You look at that [last] game. We scored 30, but it was a different 30. I think our focus is the standard for that offense is really high. So starting faster earlier in games is a big priority. The further along you go and be the type of team you expect to be, your certainly not going to win as many games when you can’t score early on in games.
“It’s a confident group. We’ve got a lot of talent, smart coaches. It’s just putting it all together, and we’re confident we can do it.”