Adams has given Dallas’ offensive talent a blunt assessment

Klayton Adams offered an unusually plain assessment of the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday: the offense is still trying to figure out what it is. The coordinator described a streaky, inconsistent operation and said the running game must become more effective if the team is going to find balance.

That admission carries more weight because Dallas is 2-3 with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and a running back who had already demonstrated he could carry an offense. The issue is not a barren depth chart. It is that the talent has produced continuity in brief installments, then allowed the operation to change shape before the game was finished.

Adams’ discussion of Tyler Goodson gave that search a concrete detail. He said he spoke with Javonte Williams on Wednesday about developing a role for Goodson, with some responsibilities potentially well suited to Goodson and fewer repetitions for Williams in certain situations. Goodson has not been named the starter, and Dallas has not promised him a particular workload.

This is a role being designed, not a solution already stamped and delivered.

Williams remains central to the conversation for a sensible reason. In 2025, he ran for more than twelve hundred yards, scored 11 rushing touchdowns and averaged close to five yards per carry. That résumé explains why Dallas would continue to trust him; it does not explain every current offensive inconsistency. Nor does adding Goodson imply that Williams caused all of it.

The backfield has needed a complementary answer since Malik Davis was lost just before the season. Emari Demercado has also been used in that supporting capacity. Goodson now enters the discussion because Adams sees particular duties that could fit him, giving the Cowboys a chance to make the rotation more purposeful.

The value would come from repeatable jobs—rather than simply distributing carries because a second back is on the roster.

Prescott’s concern reaches beyond the running backs. He wants Dallas to function over all four quarters, an assessment that fits a team capable of beginning well in one game, improving late in another and losing its rhythm somewhere in between. Those variations matter because they make the offense difficult to define even when individual pieces are productive.

A good opening sequence is useful; it becomes an identity only when the same level of execution survives the next challenge.

Lamb’s point about defensive stops adds an important demand. When Dallas forces a punt or creates a takeaway, the offense has to turn that work into points, field position or sustained control. A defensive stop cannot guarantee a touchdown, and a lead does not automatically produce sacks later.

Still, the offense cannot operate as though defensive success belongs to a different team. Its response helps determine whether a stop changes the game or merely delays the next problem.

Green Bay provides a particularly sharp setting for that response. The Packers’ pressure rate is 42.2%, fifth in the NFL, while their blitz rate is 33.2%, 13th. Those numbers measure different forms of defensive activity: pressure does not necessarily mean extra rushers.

Prescott expects Green Bay to challenge Dallas after Tampa Bay reached him 13 times on Oct. 8, and Jonathan Gannon brings relevant history from his Arizona years. In 2025, Arizona beat Dallas 27-17 after getting to Prescott 15 times and recording five sacks. That comparison identifies a threat without pretending to predict Sunday’s exact script.

Adams’ admission matters because the Cowboys have shown enough ability to make their inconsistency feel preventable. Williams has recent production, Goodson may offer a useful complement, Prescott can direct the operation and Lamb can punish mistakes when the offense stays on schedule. The meaningful choice in Green Bay is not which identity label sounds best.

It is which series of personnel and execution decisions Dallas can repeat from one possession to the next, through pressure and beyond the point when early success has worn off.

Sources

Dallas Cowboys: team reporting

Dallas Cowboys: team reporting