Cowboys Need to Live Up to a Mountain of Expectations

Armed with a world class offense, unproven defense, and facing a first place schedule, the Dallas Cowboys won’t sneak up on anyone this year.

With a scant three weeks until Dallas Cowboys training camp, it seems like a good time to take a look at the upcoming season. A new dawn of Dallas supremacy seems imminent. The days of Tony Romo and his undeserved reputation as a choke artist are gone. Youngsters Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott are primed to lead the team for years. To be sure, it’s a great time to be a fan.

Here’s the thing, though. For all of last year’s punishing runs and pinpoint passes, it got them exactly as far as they’d ever been under Romo. If we’re being realistic, it was simply another frustrating letdown. Furthermore, the franchise is still stuck in this maddening rut of playoff futility. It’s fun to be the darlings of the regular season, but it doesn’t mean anything if you’re one-and-done come January.

Additionally, the run of exasperation extends to a defense that has trouble stopping anyone. Think of how different the narrative is if they make one late stop against Green Bay in the divisional playoff last year. A berth in the NFC Championship game looks a lot better than a flame out in your first playoff game. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

But last year is last year. At this point, it makes very little sense to rehash the past and relive painful memories. What we know now is that the Hall of Fame Game is exactly one month away. That’s right, one month from today is the day the Cowboys suit up in Canton, OH against the Arizona Cardinals.

More from Dallas Cowboys

So while we wait for the inevitable, let’s take a look at the gauntlet in the Cowboys’ way. It’s a sobering glimpse into the future that proves replication of last year’s success is anything but a given. In fact, the Dallas schedule features exactly six games against teams with losing records in 2016. Of those six, Arizona (7-8-1) and Philadelphia (7-9) were virtually .500 teams who will have every chance of beating the Cowboys on a given day. Also, parity is the rule of the day in today’s NFL.. Unless you’re the New England Patriots, form doesn’t hold very often.

Now does this mean the Cowboys are destined to suffer a sophomore slump of sorts? The short answer is maybe. Injuries happen.

They’re always the great equalizer in an NFL season, and the Cowboys were extraordinarily lucky in that regard during the course of last season. Neither Prescott, Elliott, nor virtually any member of that mauling offensive line missed significant time, save for guard/tackle La’el Collins. Even then, now-departed guard Ronald Leary filled in with absolutely no drop in overall play. That level of continuity is generally the exception, not the rule.

The encouraging news is that the Cowboys are exceptionally young on offense. Of course, this doesn’t speak to the likes of Jason Witten, but who’s to say he won’t play for five more years at this point? The fact of the matter is that youth typically buys a bit of time on the injury front. There is no brittle quarterback to protect anymore. And as much as this column was a safe space for Tony Romo and his supporters, there was a level of relief last year watching defenders bounce off of Dak Prescott.

Do you love to talk DFW Sports? Join our team and write a weekly column!

The youth on the offensive side of the ball will come in handy. To wit, Dallas’s non-divisional schedule features road games at Denver, Atlanta, and Oakland. The home portion isn’t any easier. Green Bay, Kansas City, and Seattle all come calling at some point. Those six foes alone posted a combined 64-31-1 record last year. Barring catastrophic injury, it’s hard to imagine any of them experiencing a significant falloff.

This, of course, all leads back to the defense. Can we count on this beleaguered unit to come up with “that” critical stop? That’s a tall order. This year’s bunch is surely greener and less-experienced than last year’s. It’s tough to ask the likes of Taco Charlton, Chidobe Awuzie, Jourdan Lewis, and Xavier Woods to contribute immediately, but that’s exactly the position they’re in. This is one of the most difficult challenges defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli will face. Not discounting the abilities of any of the new draft picks, but Marinelli’s reputation of turning chicken stuff into chicken salad will be tested to its max.

Next: Could Jamaal Charles end up with the Dallas Cowboys?

In any event, the pervading factor on this team is youth. Youth begets another vital element: hunger. None of these guys have won anything on this level. They all have something to prove, and the ones who fell short last year have the added motivation of removing the bitter taste from their mouths. It should make for a very intriguing voyage as summer turns to fall and winter. The Dallas Cowboys are a lot of things. “Boring” isn’t one of them.

Home/Dallas Cowboys