A year ago in this space, I touted the Cowboys as a Super Bowl contender. I wasn’t the only one. There were writers and pundits all over America that believed the Cowboys would finally break their NFC Championship Game drought and perhaps even make it to the Super Bowl. We were all wrong. Therefore it seems rather silly for me to make this request of you, but here goes; don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of valid and logical reasons. It was not a stretch to suggest that the Cowboys were among the best teams in the NFC last year. Until they weren’t! In fact, they weren’t even close.
Now consider this, for the third straight season the Cowboys finished with a 12-5 record. They won the NFC East. That 12-5 record was tied for the best in the entire NFC. They lost a tie-breaker to the 49ers but won a tie-breaker with the Lions to finish as the number two seed in the conference. I am sure it is not necessary to remind you what happened against the seventh seed in the first round of the playoffs at AT&T Stadium. Suffice it to say that at one point in the fourth quarter, it was 42-16 Green Bay.
Fans were frustrated, furious, freaking out, fuming, foaming at the mouth, fussy, fretful, and a bunch of other words that start with F. What was this team, America’s Team, going to do to make this right? Early in the off-season Cowboys fans got their answer. Jerry Jones told reporters at the Senior Bowl that for 2024 the Cowboys would be “all-in.” Now all-in is defined as, “fully committed to or involved in something.” It appears that the Cowboys definition is a bit different.
Back in 2001 Cowboys linebacker Darren Hambrick famously asked, “What do voluntary mean?” This year we may ask a similar question about the phrase “all-in.” So Jerry said they are all-in and then proceeded to spend the off season defending his proclamation. He has tried on numerous occasions to explain what he meant by all-in but it is clear that his definition is very different from the accepted one. To most all-in means securing the services of one of the best receivers in the game for the long term. In other words not playing chicken with CeeDee Lamb. The Cowboys did. To most all-in means improving your team through free agency. The Cowboys did not. To most all-in means not allowing some of your best players to leave via free agency. The Cowboys did.
So now what? Well, the Cowboys will field a team with a quarterback in the final year of his contract. Perhaps that will motivate Dak Prescott to be the best he has ever been. Maybe the Cowboys realize his best is not good enough to pay him what he wants. Ok, but then why is there not another quarterback being groomed as the starter. Please don’t suggest that person is Trey Lance. He is a project at best.
The Cowboys will field a team this season that is very weak at the running back position. One of the off-season acquisitions was Zeke Elliott. He was a great back until he wasn’t. And when he wasn’t, the Cowboys made the difficult decision to let him go. Now he is back and he appears to be the starter, a job the Cowboys determined he was not up to two years ago.
The offensive line might be good. Tyler Guyton and Cooper Bebe are off to a great start in their careers. But each is playing a brand new position. Each is playing a position they have never played at any level, much less the NFL.
It is tough to know what the defense is going to look like. Mike Zimmer is back. The former defensive coordinator has spent time in several other organizations in the same role. He was also a head coach for the Minnesota Vikings. He was the best acquisition of the off-season and may pay dividends. Under Dan Quinn the defense was great at taking the ball away from the other team but not so great at stopping the other team especially not when they ran the ball. Under Zim it is likely that both will happen, take-aways and stops.
They get Trevon Diggs back, and teamed with Daron Bland the Cowboys will be a force in the secondary. They will keep linebackers on the field this year. That will help stop the run. But they need production from last year’s first-round pick Mazi Smith and they need Micah Parsons to be Micah Parsons into the postseason.
If all those things happen the Cowboys might make the playoffs this year. Of course, based on my previous pre-season predictions they will probably win the Super Bowl, just to prove me wrong. Wouldn’t that be great!
Sports columnist John Rhadigan is an anchor for the Bally Sports Southwest television network.
