The offense gets credit for offensive TD’s, field goals, and all extra points whether one point or two.
The special teams get credit for Kickoff and punt return TD’s or any block returned for a TD during a kick, field goal or punt.
The defense gets credit for any INT or fumble returned for a TD plus any safeties.
The Cowboys, so far, have scored 124 points. The NFL rank is #4. However, the defense has scored 18 points and the special teams 6 points. These 24 points in combined defense and special teams scoring is ranked #1 in the NFL. When you subtract the defensive TD’s, safeties and special team scores from each team and re-rank them according to offensive scoring only, the Cowboys drop significantly to #10.
The Cowboys are also tied for #1 in scoring from the kicking team. They have scored 48 points from combined extra points and field goals. When you subtract this number from the offense you are left only with the points from TD’s and 2 point plays. The Cowboys offense has scored 8 TD’s and have made two 2-point plays for a total of 52 points. When all teams are ranked this way then the Cowboys offense falls to #18.
This is not even taking into consideration, the excellent field position gifted by the defense due to turnovers. This may be a situation where the Cowboys ranking in yardage is a more realistic indicator of where this offense is in relation to the other 31 teams in the league.
There is good news. the numbers achieved by the Cowboys offense has been under difficult circumstances. When you replace three Pro Bowl level O-linemen with a couple of undrafted rookie free agents and a journeyman with 15 starts, then it is unrealistic to expect an offense close to its previous productivity. As this veteran offensive line comes together I think we can expect a drastic improvement. Even as the team is currently ranked #4, I see rapid progress and I hope that begins Sunday night.
The Cowboys cannot depend on defensive scoring.
Ranking based off offensive points only
Team Pts Def Offense
1 MIA 150 0 150
2 BUF 139 6 133
3 SFO 125 0 125
4 CHI 115 0 115
5 LAC 110 0 110
6 PHI 118 8 108
7 WAS 109 6 103
8 KAN 101 0 101
9 DAL 124 24 100
10 DET 106 6 100
11 SEA 111 12 99
12 LAR 98 0 98
13 BAL 99 2 95
14 GNB 100 6 94
15 IND 97 6 91
16 HOU 96 6 90
17 DEN 100 12 88
18 MIN 90 6 84
19 ARI 88 6 82
20 TAM 84 6 78
21 CLE 76 0 76
22 JAX 80 6 74
23 TEN 72 0 72
24 ATL 62 0 62
25 LVR 62 0 62
26 CAR 67 6 61
27 NOR 62 6 56
28 NYJ 62 8 52
29 NWE 55 2 51
30 PIT 62 12 50
31 CIN 49 6 43
