Tyler Guyton has been one of the most discussed players since the Dallas Cowboys picked him in the first round of the NFL Draft back in April. He was the player everyone wanted to learn more about in the early offseason workouts, in training camp, and even now that he's made his regular season debut.
Guyton's first regular season test couldn't have been more complicated, as it was Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett on the other side of the line of scrimmage. The results have caused a mixed reaction from the fanbase.
On the one hand, many praised Guyton for his ability to survive the Garrett experience . On the other, many have pointed out Guyton didn't really do good against the man considered by many to be considered one of the best players in the entire league, regardless of position.
Here's the truth about Guyton's performance: When left one on one against Garrett, it was ugly. But the Cowboys' gameplan did an excellent job putting the rookie in favorable positions as to limit the impact made by Garrett.
Guyton was awarded the worst pass blocking grade on the team by PFF after giving up two pressures and one sack to Garrett.
"I think the biggest thing is, the best compliment you can give a rookie in his first start, is when you don’t have to adjust anything for them," McCarthy told reporters after the Cowboys' opening win. "We didn’t have to get out of our game plan by any means, so I thought they did a nice job first time out the gate."
Perhaps what McCarthy is saying is indeed true: The Cowboys didn't have to change the gameplan much on the fly. The thing is the gameplan was to help out the rookie.
The Cowboys offense used a lot of elements to achieve this: They ran multiple keepers with Dak Prescott rolling away from Garrett. Multiple times, they even moved the pocket by having the quarterback sprint out to his right at the snap and have him throw on the run while Guyton blocked down to the Browns' interior linemen, leaving Garrett to the running back.
Some of these concepts can be seen in the clip below, as well as some of the designs used drawn on a notebook (I did my best, but be warned: I'm no Picasso).
Additionally, the Cowboys leaned into empty formations with seven-man protection sets, as a tight end and running back lined up to each side of the offensive line to help chip Cleveland's defensive ends.
McCarthy also called five screen passes in the game, most of which were designed to be thrown Garrett's way in an effort to minimize his impact as a pass rusher. In addition to the screens, the Cowboys called nine play action passes, meaning almost 40% of Dak's 36 dropbacks were either a play-action concept or a screen.
In fact, PFF's John Owning noted on X that the Cowboys used six or more blockers on passing plays than they ever did for a single week in all of the 2023 season.
Keep in mind, this isn't a knock on Tyler Guyton
It's really not my intention to roast the first-round rookie or anything like that, but I'm instead trying to achieve two things here:
- Give McCarthy his flowers for the plan. The offense needs to clean things up but truth is most of the team's woes came because of execution in Week 1. The plan was solid and Garrett didn't break the game against the rookie projected to take time to fully develop.
- Note that this might impact the Cowboys offense moving forward. After all, even if Garrett won't be playing Dallas again this season, Sunday's gameplan could be a sign that the rookie will get plenty of help throughout the year regardless of opponent. How does it help them and how does it hold them back? It's something to monitor.
We'll get another glimpse at the rookie this Sunday when the Cowboys host the New Orleans Saints for the team's 2024 home opener.
Related: Micah Parsons makes bold prediction about Cowboys' rising star that just made his regular-season debut
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