The Dallas Cowboys offense has been missing a couple of important ingredients ever since the 90’s. The defense, I haven’t been worried about. They’ve had their bumps in the road, but most years they have been among the NFL’s better defenses if not among the NFL’s best. But, the offense has been missing a couple of things.

The first thing that comes to mind, of course, is Quarterback. But I’m not talking about a specific position here, even though we have been in dire need of a quarterback from the time Troy Aikman decided to retire until, perhaps, the time Tony Romo took over for Drew Bledsoe.

The first ingredient I am talking about is fire. The offense has been playing without fire for the better part of a decade, ever since Michael Irvin went down with that injury in Philadelphia leading to his retirement. Without Irvin, Aikman brought his business-like approach to the offense, and that approach seems to have stuck around much longer than Troy did.

I’m sure most of you have noticed it. The offense mechanically steps up to the line and goes about their business. No swagger. No fire.

At least until last year. Tony Romo brings some swagger to the offense. He has an infectious confidence that gives the offense the sense that every play can be a big play. But he’s not alone in bringing this fire back to the Cowboys. Marion Barber and his run-as-if-its-your-last-play-ever attitude has also lit a fire in the huddle. Between the two of them, the Cowboys’ offense has their swagger back.

But, perhaps the most important ingredient is the go-for-their-throat play calling of Jason Garret. This is the same type of play calling that won three Super Bowls in the 90’s. The Cowboys are no longer content to get a lead late in the game and just run the ball to chew up the clock.

When you have your opponent down, you go for the throat. The Cowboys aren’t playing “not to lose” the game, they are playing to win the game. We saw it in the 90’s when the Cowboys would be up by a score late in the game and would still throw the ball downfield to Irvin or Harper looking to seal the deal.

We lost it after Norv Turner left for Washington, but Jason Garret has brought it back. And it’s that type of attitude that has the Cowboys at the top of the NFL in scoring. No longer are we content to take a one score lead in the fourth quarter and grind it out trying to make the clock the opponent’s enemy. The clock isn’t their enemy; the Cowboys offense is their enemy.

It’s like playing prevent defense. You play the entire game in a way that puts you ahead, and then you decide to play differently when the game is on the line? There is certainly a time and place for the prevent defense, but if the opponent only needs one score to win or tie, it’s not the time.

The same goes for offense. If we don’t have a two or three score lead, it’s not time to grind it out in clock management. Go for the throat, get the win, and then play clock management.

Those are the ingredients the Cowboys have been missing since the 90’s, and those are the ingredients that Jason Garrett, Tony Romo and Marion Barber bring to the table. If they can keep it up, it should be a good year for Cowboys fans.