It’s time for Cowboys to ‘break the glass,’ move Zack Martin to right tackle

FRISCO – Before the season started, Mike McCarthy was asked, when discussing offensive line options, which scenario would force him to push Zack Martin out for the right tackle.

There was, the Cowboys head coach admitted. The standard was as high as possible: glass breakage in an emergency.

It’s time for McCarthy to break the glass.

Will he do it? Probably not. There is evidence that veteran Ty Nsekhe will take over for La’el Collins after the starter is banned for five games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Breaking glass is a mess, McCarthy will tell you. In addition, it can be argued that what Dallas is doing at this moment is not at the level of an emergency.

Valid points.

Here is a valid counter-argument.

Martin is a Pro Bowl game for the Right Guard, arguably the best in the league. But without Collins, he’s also the team’s best right tackle, a point proven last season when the club had to swing him out for two games.

Who gives the Cowboys a better chance of winning this weekend’s matchup against Los Angeles Chargers Pass Russian Joey Bosa? Martin or Nsekhe? Martin or Terence Steele?

Do you even have to ask?

Getting Martin to the right tackle is only part of the equation. The other concerns his replacement.

COVID-19 kept Martin off the regular season opener against Tampa Bay. Connor McGovern started in his place and did well against Ndamukong Suh and the Buccaneers defensive front.

Every team strives for continuity on the offensive. This goal has escaped the cowboys. It doesn’t matter who starts at Right Tackle on Sunday afternoon, it’s the tenth different starting number since the beginning of last season.

But here’s the question: is McGovern a better real Guardian than Nsekhe or Steele a real tackle? If the answer is yes, McCarthy and the coaching staff should be juggling the offensive line in week two to accommodate Martin’s move to the right tackle.

If Martin and McGovern on the right, Tyler Biadasz in center, and Connor Williams and Tyron Smith on the left make up the top five at this formative stage of the season, the club shouldn’t hesitate.

“Yes, the top five are of course a good way,” said offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. “Now you have to balance what we did in the offseason and where we are, where the players are at different stages, be it their careers or their health.

“We’ll find a combination here over the course of the week and see what suits us best.”

There is yet another reason in Moore’s answer why McCarthy and the coaching staff will be reluctant to take Martin outside.

Nsekhe and Steele created this team for deep duels. If the coaching staff is uncomfortable starting week two with one or the other, it is an indictment of their staffing and management development. Spending an entire off-season preparing two players for the tackle just to switch gears at the first sign of trouble doesn’t instill much confidence in the players or staff.

Again completely understandable. But we’re not talking about a one- or two-week deal here.

Collins will be out for five weeks. That makes the cowboys goodbye. That length of time should be the decisive factor in getting Martin to the right tackle until Collins returns against Minnesota on October 31st.

McCarthy isn’t the only one who wants to keep Martin on guard. Martin would rather stay. But there is also no doubt that he can handle the right tackle.

“Zack can do pretty much anything,” said Moore. “Zack is really talented.

“Of course he didn’t do much out there. But as soon as we deal with this game plan, we will have to make these decisions in the next few days.

“I think the most important thing is that we just have to get out on the field and move people before we make these decisions. We have to process where we are with the Chargers, where we are as a squad, and then we’ll move on. ”

The cowboys will likely go to Nsekhe. He’s a veteran who, in Moore’s words, “is enormous in size that forces people to travel a little further to get to the quarterback. He did a really good job. ”

Dallas is reluctant to get Martin to tackle the right tackle. It is obvious. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t.

Break the glass.

Watch David Moore on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) with the Musers at 9:35 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the Hardline every Tuesday and Friday at 4:30 p.m. during the regular season.

More cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News can be found here.

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