FRISCO — Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb smiled Wednesday when recalling the third offensive play from Sunday’s game, his facial expression bearing both amusement and respect.
That wily Kellen Moore.
He did it again.
On second-and-7, Lamb aligned as the outermost of four players grouped together out wide. He was the only wide receiver in the bunch. Backup guard Connor McGovern was positioned just inside of Lamb. Tight ends Jeremy Sprinkle and Sean McKeon were next to the 315-pound McGovern.
“I must admit, that was probably the craziest formation I’ve seen,” Lamb said. “Just lining up right by the numbers and seeing an O-lineman line up in the same position as me — it’s safe to say I wasn’t worried about the corner. Let’s say that. …I had the utmost confidence in that play.”
His confidence was rewarded.
The Atlanta Falcons prepared all week to face Moore’s offense only for the third-year coordinator to unveil an arrangement he hadn’t shown once in his career. These unscouted looks have become a weekly calling card for Moore, whose creativity will be showcased again Sunday at the Kansas City Chiefs.
Expect the unexpected.
That is the scouting report on Moore.
To some degree, the same can be said for Chiefs coach Andy Reid. He has decades of ingenuity and gadget plays in his portfolio. But as much as anyone, the 33-year-old Moore is a face for the newest generation, exhibiting a maturely disciplined feel for how he deploys these unscouted looks each game.
Nothing is gimmicky. Nothing feels half-baked. The weekly volume relative to the rest of the offense is measured.
These are all important distinctions.
“Creativity is great, but it has to be sound,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “If it’s not sound, it doesn’t happen. And it has to build off of something. You don’t want to be Jack of trades, master of none. You don’t want to just be drawing them up on the board each week.
“If you look at the deceptive plays, most of them are things that he’s put in during training camp, or in some form of fashion, it’s a variation of things we’ve done in the past. It all fits together.”
For example, take that third play on Sunday.
Nearly half a season built up toward it.
Moore had been especially creative with McGovern. In Week 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Moore unveiled what the Cowboys call their “Mac” subpackage, a concept that features McGovern at fullback. Plays from Mac all started as all runs, but Moore has since expanded what the Cowboys do when McGovern is positioned there.
Moore also has employed McGovern as a receiver-eligible sixth offensive lineman at times.
So, it was nothing unusual when the Falcons sideline observed Dallas enter “12″ personnel — one running back and two tight ends — on the third play with McGovern taking the field instead of a second wide receiver. The Falcons practiced and had a plan for that, counting with their 4-3 base personnel.
But they didn’t prepare for McGovern and those tight ends to join Lamb out wide at the formation’s left side. They hadn’t seen that. They hadn’t scouted that. Had they, the Falcons defense surely would have looked more prepared.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott was split wide on the formation’s side, drawing top cornerback A.J. Terrell. That left one cornerback, playing several yards off the line of scrimmage, and a distant safety as the only lines of defense to the four-man grouping.
Quarterback Dak Prescott fired a quick pass to Lamb.
Lamb followed McGovern and his tight ends’ blocking for a 37-yard gain, the longest play in a 43-3 win.
“A lot of that credit goes to Kellen,” running back Ezekiel Elliott said Wednesday. “He loves football. He loves this game. I feel like sometimes, in his free time, if he sees a trick play while he’s watching college football, he is going to get on his iPad or whatever he draws his plays up on and try to draw something up for sure.
“I’m sure he has thousands of unconventional looks that we can run as an offense. He has a lot of trust in us to put those plays in and use them.”
McGovern may not line up at wide receiver again all year.
But because the Cowboys (7-2) put that look on tape, the Chiefs (6-4) and other future opponents must discuss and decide how to account for it. That creates one more headache when preparing for a team that currently leads the league in points per game (31.6) and yards per offensive play (6.3).
The more the Cowboys build out their Mac package or show other unscouted looks, the less time opponents can spend during practices and meetings on the offense’s other areas.
When Dallas led 36-3 in the third quarter, Moore called for a red-zone package in which wide receiver Cedrick Wilson took the direct snap as a quarterback, flipping the ball to Elliott who flipped it to running back Tony Pollard for an 11-yard gain.
A dubious holding penalty called back the play, but it serves its purpose.
Another unscouted look for opponents.
“I certainly think there’s huge value to that,” Moore said this week. “There’s only so much time in a week with practice and preparation aspects with regard to that. So the more we can put on film, the more it benefits us because defenses have to pick and choose what they’re going to focus on each week.
“Maybe we have a little flavor here and there, but I think the key is keeping it concise, keeping it tight, still keeping our identity of who we are. We’re not going to turn into Gadget City, but you want to still be able to establish some run game when you want to, throw it when you want to, do what we do best. I think they complement each other really well.”
Lamb agrees.
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