Cowboys mailbag: Questions on the offensive line, Mazi Smith, and the first four weeks so far

Every week, we take questions on X (Twitter) and Facebook about Dallas Cowboys players and other issues surrounding the team. So let's get9 right into it.

"What's going on with the offensive line?" on Twitter)Mike: Starting two rookies and playing a right tackle that is still a little stiff coming off an ACL injury. In fairness, Tyler Guyton is getting better with each game but he's playing an extremely pivotal position and faces the best pass rusher each team the NFL has to offer. For Cooper Beebe, he's doing good at center with his snapping. So far that hasn't been an issue. What has been a problem is his run blocking where he's failing to overpower the competition. This is a new offensive line that will take time to build the chemistry and get the two rookies to develop. All is not lost here but the learning curve is wildly steep for this unit.

Dana: This offensive line has had some struggles early on this season in both pass blocking and run blocking. However, it really is not all that surprising when you consider that the C and LT (some of the most important positions on the offensive line) are both rookies who had to transition into playing those positions. Cooper Beebe (C) has done fairly well in the first four games allowing only three pressures and just had his second game without allowing a single pressure against the New York Giants . Tyler Guyton (LT), on the other hand, has had a much tougher time ensuring that Dak Prescott's blind side is protected while going up against some very talented pass rushers. He has allowed 11 pressures so far this year and penalties have been a big issue for him.

While it can be frustrating going through these growing pains with this offensive line, it is beneficial for these young players to gain experience. The longer these guys play together, the stronger the chemistry and trust will be. Let's hope that the Cowboys are able to reap the benefits sooner rather than later.

"Is Mazi Smith turning into what we all hoped or is it too early to tell?" Turner on Facebook)Mike: After one game, which was against the New York Giants, I'm still holding off popping the cork on that bottle of champagne. It was nothing short of impressive what Smith did last week and what we saw is exactly what he was drafted to do. If he starts stacking games with performances like that in the next few weeks, then let's get the party started.

Dana: It is still too early to tell. However, what we have seen from Mazi Smith these past five quarters of football have been promising. The last quarter of play against the Ravens just may have flipped a switch for Smith to understand and reach his potential. While there are no moral victories in the NFL, Smith was able to build off of his success and continued to make a big impact on the field last Thursday in New York. While his stat line is pretty bare with three total tackles and one tackle for loss, it doesn't tell the whole story of how dominant he was. His ability to plug up holes in the running game, allowed for his LBs to play more freely behind him, contributing to the stout run defense that only allowed 26 rushing yards.

In an from Kyle Youmans on DallasCowboys.com , Mike Zimmer talked about how Smith builds off of his successes.

"I think Mazi has a lot more confidence right now," defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said. "When we got to training camp, I'm not sure he had that kind of confidence, but I think it's continued to grow. More times you catch him doing things right, the better he does things. Hopefully he's walking around with his head high and his chest out this week."

If Smith is able to continue on this trajectory, he will prove to everyone that he was worth the first-round pick.

"Good or bad, what has surprised you the most about the Cowboys first month of the season?" on Twitter)Mike: The bad part that has surprised me the most has been the defensive line. There was always apprehension with this defensive line coming into the season but to see it falter as drastically as it has is maybe the worst and disheartening surprise in the first four weeks. What makes it all surprising is the fact that each week the defensive line problems never got any better or developed from the previous week's issues, and now the injuries only compound the depressing fact it will struggle further. The surprise isn't the fact the defensive line struggled, just how badly it's struggled.

Dana: Although there are a lot of areas that I'd hoped would be improved, I can't say that many of them are surprises. The lack of running game was known. The struggles in stopping the run was known. The penalty issues were known. However, there is one issue that is new this year that has been a bit surprising: the pass rush's inability to generate sacks. The Cowboys defense started out hot with six sacks in Week 1, but have stalled out with only two sacks in the three games since. The Saints and the Ravens eliminated the pass rush by running the ball, but the Cowboys defense didn't have a lot of success getting home against Daniel Jones and the New York Giants either.

The Cowboys are currently on pace for 34 sacks this season, where last year they had 46. With DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons both missing time, it doesn't look too likely that they will be able to get back to 2023 levels.