What's the positive pistol? Why that's what you use to shoot those negative vibes to give you a better outlook on anything. In this case the 2021 Dallas Cowboys season. I find it also comes in handy in the other, real, parts of life as well.
Is it necessary to have a little self sell in you? Yes, it is but wouldn't you rather be positive now and wrong later? What's the harm? Another year to stack on the 25 Years of Misery?
First off, let's put that to rest, this team won the East 6 times in that 25 year span and 3 of the last 7 years. So, is that really 25 Years of Misery? Oh, you are Super bowl or bust? Sorry, in 60 years, they've only been to 8 so you get 52 Years of Misery.
Now, concerning the NFC East, the last time a team repeated was 2004, 17 years ago so it seems that it's up for grabs every season. Does the NFC East look greatly improved from the one a team won with a losing record and promptly lost their first playoff game? A team with one more win than the Dallas Cowboys? Do they really look that good to you?
Or can you make a case for any of the 4, and I admit PHL is a bit of a stretch, winning the East this season. Then why not the Cowboys? Their QB is back and please don't turn this into a Prescott thread. He is yards better than anyone else they could put on the field last year and the best QB in the division by far. And reports are good about the returning OL.
There have been 120 participating teams in the Super bowls to date. There have been 18 teams that missed the playoffs the previous season, including the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a 7-9 record in 2019. That's 15% of the teams and in the last decade we've seen few divisions with repeat winners except for the AFC East.
There have been disappointing and surprising teams every season as well. In fact, since 1988, 10 teams have failed to make the playoffs after a trip to the Super bowl the previous season.
One thing that has developed and in this situation the Cowboys were ahead of the curve, the NFL is a year to year proposition now with teams ready to pull the triggers on GM's, HC's and QB's quicker than any time before. It is the "what have you done for me lately" game now.
So, it's our choice, the level of positivity or negativity we decide to approach this season with and valid points to be made for either and both. We all have the same ability to feel as we want to feel about this season.
If you are so down on them that you can't sell yourself, I won't argue with how you feel even though I do not feel the same. I will continue to point to the positive ammo I see and 4 really good bullets I see are Prescott, Big Smitty, Collins and Martin returning healthy because this team rides the offense and offense is necessary to compete in the NFL.
The best defensive team in the playoffs was the WFT at 7-9 and they lost their only playoff game because of the lack of offense. The paradigm was shifted by the owners and they are getting exactly what they wanted.
And your Dallas Cowboys are in the sweet spot with what should be a top 5 offense is scoring and yards.
What you've really got to sell yourself on is that this D, with a change in coaching and additions through the draft and FA, has improved enough to take the East and maybe get past that division round on the strength of the offense. I do not see a NFC team that scares me.
A little self disclosure about the author of this thread. I was a card carrying pessimist for most of my life and quick to tell anyone that I was either right or pleasantly surprised, win-win for me. But I was wrong and didn't grasp the true value of optimism and positivity, even on events over which I had no control. I learned the only thing I could truly affect was my attitude because what was going to happen was going to happen. When it did and it was not what I wanted, in fact what I feared above all other things, I was still thankful for that time when I was positive.
The value is in the here and now, not the future and not even in the outcome, the payoff for positivity happens for us in the journey, not the destination. And we choose how to make that journey. Took me 60 years to learn that.
GO COWBOYS...
