f the Dallas Cowboys quarterback"s interceptions have come on the road.There are plenty of other numbers to illustrate the stark contrast between the Cowboys at home and away from AT&T Stadium Authentic Leighton Vander Esch Jersey , starting with the symmetrical records of 3-0 and 0-3.While a visit to NFC East-leading Washington on Sunday is a chance for at least a tie for first place along with their first winning record this season, the Cowboys would probably view it as a road breakthrough more than anything."We"ve talked about it all year," right guard Zack Martin said. "It"s usually been reversed. We"ve usually been better on the road than we have at home. I think the biggest thing is our communication on the road has not been anywhere near how it"s been at home."Communication speaks to the protection issues with Prescott, whose passer rating is more than 40 points lower on the road — 67 compared to 108.Toss in the NFL"s second-lowest road scoring average (12.3 points per game), and the Cowboys haven"t given themselves much of a chance in losses at Carolina to open the season, followed by Seattle and Houston. They"ve alternated road and home games — and losses and wins — all season.Dallas has transformed into one of the NFL"s youngest teams over the past couple of seasons, and coach Jason Garrett has mentioned youth a few times when asked about the difficulties away from home. The question is whether it"s the primary reason."Possibly, but that"s irrelevant," Garrett said. "What"s relevant is we have to do a better job of it. At times on the road, when we were all together and communicated well and everybody was on the same page, we executed pretty well. But there are too many examples in each of those games where we didn"t do that."While the passing yardage is close to the same, it"s somewhat misleading because the Cowboys struck for big plays early in home wins over the New York Giants and Jacksonville and turned to the running game to protect leads in the second half.And there"s something to be said for the rushing attack, which the Dallas offense is built around, being reliable on the road. The Cowboys are averaging 119 yards on the ground in the three road defeats.The only time Ezekiel Elliott, second in the NFL in rushing, was truly shut down was the 19-16 overtime loss to the Texans. He averaged a season-low 2.7 yards per carry, and when he was stuffed on third-and-1 in overtime, Garrett was criticized for punting from the Houston 42-yard line. The Texans drove to the winning field goal."That"s our focus this week is going into this game, having great communication and starting fast, putting points on the board," Elliott said.The Cowboys are converting less than 25 percent of third downs on the road, which is partly explained by long-yardage situations caused by penalties.There also have been several instances of silent counts gone awry, with linemen getting slow starts on snaps and causing problems for Prescott. The third-year QB has been sacked 13 times on the road compared to six sacks at home."Up front it"s being on the same page with the calls and communicating, whether it be different snap counts or different line calls when it"s real loud, or different signals to different guys," Martin said. "That"s really what"s killed us the first three road games."The Cowboys also had two big changes to their line — one expected and one not. Four-time Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick is out indefinitely with a nerve disorder and won"t be eligible to play for at least seven more games. Rookie Connor Williams is starting at left guard."From Carolina to where we are now, I think we"ve come a long way Youth Deonte Thompson Jersey ," Martin said. "I think guys are getting a lot more comfortable in there. We still have a long way to go. I think we"re making progress week by week and that"s what you want to see."NOTES: DE David Irving was limited in practice while still dealing with personal issues. He"s been in a custody battle involving his daughter. ... WR Tavon Austin (groin) and LB Joe Thomas (foot) didn"t practice. Both injuries could be long-term issues. ... LB Sean Lee (hamstring) was limited. The question with the 2016 All-Pro is whether to keep him out a fourth straight game for the extra healing time that goes with the open week after playing the Redskins.Tale of the tape: Improvement on offense for the Cowboys all starts with the offensive line We’re going to do this a little bit different this week. Instead of going through every position group and breaking down the good and the bad, were going to zone in on the offensive line. There has been mixed reviews going around the internet on whether or not this offensive line is playing as bad as the statistics say. Let’s take a look at the tape and see if we can find some answers with the Paul Alexander-led group.Failing to read the read-optionOn the first drive of the game the Cowboys received a bit of help from the Seattle defense when they literally walked their “12th man” on the field for a five-yard penalty. This took the Cowboys from a 3rd-and-6, to a 3rd-and-1. In recent years, 3rd-and-short was almost a gimmie for the Cowboys offense, that is not the case anymore. The Cowboys line up in shotgun with Zeke lined up to the right of Dak Prescott. The read-option had worked wonders for the Cowboys the week before so if you guessed that the read-option was coming you were exactly right. The Seahawks also guessed right and forced the Cowboys to punt after losing a yard on 3rd-and-1. The Seahawks blitz Bradley McDougald, and center Joe Looney decides to block him leaving Bobby Wagner free in the middle. Prescott needs to see that Wagner is moving to the front side of the play pre-snap, and with McDougald also pressed up to the line, that there is an overload on that side. If he pulls the ball he has tight end Geoff Swaim crossing to block on the back side, and he has Allen Hurns coming in for a seal block to give Prescott the edge. On that side of the ball he has three blockers and there are three defenders, he needs to read that and keep the ball. It doesn’t help that on the front-side Connor Williams gets bullied into the backfield and Tyron Smith is unable to hold his block for any length of time. Pressure from all anglesThe Seahawks send a slot-blitz on this play and Zeke Elliott does a nice job of picking it up. Elliott runs the blitzing DB all the way up the field and completely out of the play. Awesome right? Wrong. Zack Martin gets walked all the way back into Dak Prescott’s lap forcing him to step up in the pocket, avoiding the defender’s arm (that should have been a penalty for hitting the QB in the helmet), and throw off balance while avoiding the DE, and running into the side of Tyron Smith. It also looks as if Bobby Wagner was spying Dak Prescott on this play taking his legs out of the equation on third down. Even when the receivers do run some nice routes to create some separation, the offensive line can’t allow the pocket to break down so soon.Bad CommunicationThis looks to be a misdirection run called by Scott Linehan that could have been very successful if executed the right way. The Seahawks are showing an overloaded blitz to the left side of the offense and the run if supposed to be going right. One problem, no one blocks Frank Clark, and he gets into the backfield before Elliott even touches the football. Tyron Smith is letting him go expecting Connor Williams to pick him up, but Williams gets engaged in a combo block and only realizes there’s a free man running by after it’s too late. The refs missed a hold here on Connor Williams, and Ezekiel Elliott trips over his own feet trying to cut right. A chance for a big play was ruined, due to the offensive line miscommunication. Poor technique is causing issues for multiple linemanFirst off, let me comment on how good of a get jump Frank Clark got on this play. But the truth is, if Tyron Smith gains more depth with his initial kick step he could have handled this speed rush with ease. Instead, Tyron takes almost a chop step here with his first step, and that completely took away all of his chances of making a play against the talented pass rusher. From the looks of it, Smith did not anticipate Clark rushing him to the outside with a speed rush, so he didn’t get his weight moving to his outside foot, and this was an easy sack for Frank Clark. Smith needs to improve his play, this is sloppy for an All-Pro left tackle and one of the better ones in the game.Elliott Womens Zack Martin Jersey , and TE’s have struggled in pass protectionIf you’re familiar with the Cowboys coaching staff, you know how much they love having their running backs, tight ends, and receivers block both in the run game, and in the passing game. Unfortunately for the team, they have been atrocious at doing so, so far this year. This will be the second time in three games that Ezekiel Elliott has decided to “cut” a blitzing linebacker in attempts to block them. On the first occasion, the play ended in a sack, on the second occasion, the play ended in an erratic pass to an open receiver. Zeke as to do a better job than this. If Elliott squares the blitzing linebacker up here, it gives Prescott a chance to complete a pass on 2nd-and-7, instead, this ball is thrown inaccurately due to a Prescott having a 250-lb linebacker being catapulted into his face.The Cowboys offensive issues are not with one player, one unit, or one coach. It is a combination of all three, but if the offensive line can pick up their play just a little bit, that should give the quarterback, running back, receivers, and coaches more chances to make plays. Until then, we will likely see a lot of the same due to the inability to run deep routes, run the ball with consistency, and give a quarterback who isn’t playing with much poise, the ability to bounce back and pick up his play. The Cowboys brought in Paul Alexander to coach up this offensive line, and so far the results have been far from positive. With the team already at 1-2 on the young season, they do not have much time to figure it out.