This might be it fellas... This might be the year

[nozz0312]

I've been going back and forth with people about the Cowboy's chances of winning the division, or at least making it to the playoffs. And no one can ever give me a reason why they don't see Dallas making it to the playoffs besides putting it all on Romo as if he can't get it done. Typical no knowledge having Football fans. Listen to all of the negatives about Romo and Dallas. And come up with their own judgments off of that.

In reality, Dallas's chances are as possible as ever. As I watch the teams in the NFC and what they have done to get better. The redskins are rebuilding, Giants lost key players to free agency. Eagles could be a problem. But that's one team out of three. And then you add the fact that Dallas was 8-6 going into the final two games of the regular season last year. And they lost because of poor defense, especially the secondary was atrocious. But with what they have done this offseason focusing mainly on the defensive side of the ball. They filled big time holes. This is a new looking defense.

Rumors of Sean Lee and Bruce Carter will be the two young Linebackers possibly starting the season. Linebacking core will be fast, and young. Young secondary. Defensive line is already decent/good.

We all know that the offense can get it done. Two healthy Runningbacks who can take over a game at one snap of the ball. A QB who is great at a lot of things. If teams underestimate him this season, Dallas could easily jump out to a big time start of the 2012 season. Pending a healthy traning camp and pre season.

[htfryar]

I am cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season. I have gotten my hopes up before, and then had this team take a big steaming dump on them. I refuse to be suckered in again. Until this team proves it can win big games down the stretch, and no that is not a shot at Romo, I am not going to predict a division win or anything of the sort. Although, the closet optimist in me thinks we are 1 year away from a BIG run in the playoffs.
_________________

[plan9misfit]

Unless we see some significant improvement in the interior offensive line and with our pass rush, I'd have a hard time seeing us with a record better than 8-8. If players other than Ware can't get to the QB and if we can't stop defenses from treating Romo like he's a human pinata, we have zero chance of succeeding at anything other than at being failures.
_________________

Co-Founder: DCRA - No McQuistan, No Super Bowl

The_Slamman wrote:

It's like we are in a win now mentality with lose now personnel.

[nozz0312]

[htfryar]

Part of the reason we had trouble getting to the opposing QB last year was because our secondary couldn't cover anyone. Avoiding sacks is pretty easy for the other team to do if their WR's are open all the time. This year, with out improved secondary, even Almost Anthony might get some sacks.

As for protecting our QB, bringing in Callahan is an upgrade over what we had last year. Sure, Houck was good back in our glory days, but that was the early 90's. He has been past his prime for a few years now and didn't seem to be motivated as he was back in the day. Callahan is better now than Houck is. Although many people are already writing off Livings and Burnindeuce before a single practice, I am willing to wait and see what they can do. My main concern is Center. Phil Costa stunk it up last year. If Callahan can coach him up and get something out of him, great. If not, hopefully either Kowalski or Nagy can earn the job.
_________________

[The_Slamman]

I quite confident the Cowboys will make the Playoffs this year and probably win a game or two in the playoffs. Think about it... the last year Pat McQuistan was with the team was 2009. Dallas made the playoffs and won a game. Then, Pat leaves for 2 years... Dallas misses the playoffs. Now that Pat is back, I can't really see anything stopping the team from building on what it had in 2009.
_________________
Quote from May 7, 2013...

[plan9misfit]

[roysmyboy31]

Cautiously optimistic would be how I feel about the team. Garrett and all the young guys will have another year under their belts at their respective jobs. A lot of games last year went very wrong towards the end of the game, so late game execution will need to be better. We certainly have the offense to not only make the playoffs, but win a few games there. The defense is certainly a question mark, but we certainly addressed our CB position well. I am still a bit concerned about our front 3 and whether or not it is up to the task. Our pass defense should be improved though.

What I am concerned about the most is the competition though. Have we improved enough to overtake the Giants, who have a top offense and a fierce defense to go along with it? Also, with a full offseason this year, I expect the Eagles to be stronger this year as well. Our H2H against those two teams have not been great the past two years, so we need to find a way to beat our divisional rivals more consistently.
_________________

[Tyshine]

[sodakcowboy78]

I dont mind getten our butts kicked if thats the case...the problem i have is giving games away. Hopefully this year with a full off season and new faces on defense and a strong running game the Boys can finish games.

I dont count on anything after the last few years with this team. Philly kicked our butts last year and the Gmen are Super Bowl Champs because they find a way to win...if the boys can split with both of those teams and be dominate at home they have a chance.

But I dont get my hopes too high...


Peace

[Northland]

A few things have to happen for this to be our year:

1. Stay healthy.

2. Some continuity/improvement from the O line. The run game will hinge on solid contribution from Vickers at FB. See our running game numbers last year with and without Fiammetta.

3. Steady pass rush. Improvement in the secondary could help this area.

4. A steady pass rush will help contribute to the defense creating more turnovers.
_________________
Northland

[Copple12]

I don't think we can just assume the other three teams take a Giant step back (pun intented) and Dallas will leap to Stardom (another pun intended). The Giants still have the edge at qb, oline, dline, pass rush in general, secondary, and coaching. They also have the experience. You can't just write them off.

You also can't just assume that every rookie is going to turn out to be good. Some of them could be busts. Clairborne should be a stud for many years to come, but there is always that possibility that he sucks it up. Especially in his rookie season. Brandon Carr is a solid corner, but he's not a shut down corner just yet. Without any safety help, he may struggle some this year too. Jenkins is good one year, bad the next, decent last year, and pissed this year. You can't rely on him to be back to Pro Bowl form. This defense is still the biggest question mark. If the young guys step up and show some of that potential, then they could be really good. But odds are that they are going to have some growing pains this year.

"two running backs that can take over a game at one snap of the ball"

That's one big statement for an inconsistent runningback and a guy coming off a good six games and an injury. There aren't too many runningbacks in the league that can live up to that statement. I'm not sure that these two do.

The offensive line is another huge question mark. Your flippin the tackles and assuming the young Smith is going to perform better than he did last year. There could be a learning curve here. You would like to think that he can just flip sides and be just as good if not better, but it doesn't always work out that way. The interior line is another mystery. Who is going to play? Whoever it is, we don't know how well they will play.

Bottom line is, if this is going to be Dallas' year, and it very well could be, everything is going to have to fall into place. You can't just assume everyone else in the league will take a step back and Dallas will make the jump forward. Romo will be solid, the receiving core will be solid, and Ware will be a beast. Everyone else is a huge question mark. But that's why we play the games.