Patrik Walker

FRISCO, TexasFor a stretch of three games this season, the high-powered offense returned for the Dallas Cowboys en route to averaging 34 points per game. The last two outings, however, have seen them find difficulty scoring, time and again, helping to fuel the 2-4 start to the season.

Ryan Flounoy, the team's third-most proficient wide receiver behind CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, says the team is learning the lessons from their first six games while also remembering the fact there are still a lot of games left to play; and in a division that, as a whole, is in a hole.

"We're taking it week by week. It's a long season. It's only Week 6, and we've got [11] more games," he said. "It's a long season. I think we're heading in the right direction, and correcting the things we need to correct. It's the attitude of wanting to get better. We know we're better than what we've shown these last couple weeks.

"That's why I feel like we're heading in the right direction. We're having the right conversations, the tough conversations."

As the defense begins to show signs of life, it's the Cowboys' offense that finds itself under the hot swinging light of interrogation lately.

The decision to almost entirely forego the rushing attack in a mostly close contest against the Green Bay Packers was a headscratcher passing the ball on 37 of the 38 plays that followed Javonte Williams' rushing touchdown, for example.

That has to be where a good bit of the tough conversations must be had this week in preparation for Monday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles.

"We've got a dominant running back," Flournoy stressed. "[Javonte] is a great running back, and I think we need to feed him more. We need to put the whole offense together. Defenses can't stop our receiving corps and our running back corps."

When the Cowboys establish the rushing attack, it makes their high-flying receiving corps deadly as teams attempt to stack the box to slow down Javonte Williams, all the while knowing they might pay a hefty price for doing so with Lamb, Pickens and Flournoy on field.

That isn't what's been shown in the losses to the Buccaneers or Packers, and the defensive efforts to keep the Cowboys in the game long enough for the offense to wake up and finish the job have been wasted.

That can, and has to, change in Week 7.

"We just need to go out and trust each other," said Flournoy. "We know what we need to do, and what we've got to do."