Dallas Cowboys: Five assumptions to make after Week One
By Carl Daley
The Dallas Cowboys will have some major questions to answer in the coming weeks. Let’s take a look at some factors that could be an issue down the road.
The Dallas Cowboys had a fairly rough afternoon on Sunday as they fell to the Carolina Panthers forcing them to start the season 0-1. The NFL season is relatively short compared to other sports leagues so making assumptions is pretty commonplace amongst most people.
Finding trends and hypothesizing the potential success and failures of the 2018 NFL season will occur frequently for all 32 NFL teams. Let’s take a look at some of the things we can assume about the Cowboys as the 2018 season kicks off.
- Releasing Dan Bailey was a bad idea
Short answer: Yes. I am sorry, I just do not see how it made sense to release Dan Bailey for an untested CFL kicker. Sure this was one game, but it still does not make any sense. Bailey is the most accurate kicker in team history…how can you just disregard that?
Sure his accuracy has begun to wane but Cowboys fans could have stomached that miss a little bit more if Bailey was the one kicking. Bailey’s replacement, Brett Maher blew the one chance he had to make a good first impression with the Cowboys fan base and potentially the front office.
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The blowback from that missed kick will seemingly rest at the feet of the decision makers in the front office. This is not a case of the grass is always greener, no, this is a case of unproven players typically do not handle clutch game situations well, especially players who have never played in the NFL.
Now, of course, this issue could be remedied if the Dallas Cowboys were to add a kicker who actually has some experience making tough in game kicks. Players like Giorgio Tavecchio, Cairo Santos, Blair Walsh, and of course BAILEY, are still available on the open market.
This problem should be fixed sooner rather than later as Dallas could have some bigger issues on the horizon.