The start of real Cowboys football thankfully begins this Sunday. And in all my years of watching Cowboys football, it never fails- based on one game of data, many fans will either declare, “This team sucks”, or “This team is headed to the Super Bowl”.
The truth is, we will learn a few things Sunday, but 1/16th of the season is not a trend. Looking at season openers the last 3 years were hardly predictors of the whole season:
- 2016 season opener, we lost to the giants 20-19, then rattled off 11 straight wins. The first game was not indicative of what would become a 13-3 season.
- 2017 season opener, again played the giants, and won 19-3, looking pretty strong. We then lost 3 of the next 4 en route to a 9-7 non playoff season.
- 2018 we opened with a disappointing 16-8 loss at Carolina. And we lost 3 of our first 5 games. It was a foreshadowing of offensive problems but the latter half of the season after the Cooper trade, the team went 7-2 and won a wild card playoff game.
My point is, the first game is not often an exact representation of what this team will be the whole season. Whatever happens Sunday, good or bad, it’s 1 of 16. We probably won’t know what this team really is until we’ve at least seen 6-8 games. Last year at mid-season, we were 3-5, only to go 7-1 in the second half.
Bottom line...real NFL football starts Sunday. Hold off on pronouncements of what this team is for at least a few weeks. It’s going to be another long ride, with twists and turns none of us could ever have predicted.
But that’s what makes it so fun! Go Cowboys!
4 minutes into Qtr 1 Game 1 wrists will be slit all across CZ nation. The game thread here is just an absolute disaster for rational thinking.
