Before Thursday's opener

[Gambit]

As a fan, I still carry hope for this season—not blind, not naïve, but grounded in seeing pieces in place that could move us forward. For me, a successful year would mean breaking through and winning at least two playoff games.

On offense, I’m holding to these hopes:

1. That the line stays healthy long enough to give Dak clean pockets when it matters most.


2. That the run game finds rhythm—not necessarily dominant, but dependable when called upon.


3. That Lamb continues to be the steady WR1 he’s proven to be, while someone else truly emerges alongside him.


4. That the tight ends become reliable chain-movers in big moments.


5. That play-calling doesn’t lose its nerve when the games get tight.



On defense, I’m looking for these:

1. That Kenny Clark anchors the interior and sets a tougher tone against the run.


2. That the rest of the defensive line builds off that strength and consistently pressures quarterbacks.


3. That the secondary, with or without full health, forces turnovers when they matter most.


4. That the linebackers play with sound discipline, limiting the mistakes that extend drives.


5. That the defense doesn’t just flash early, but sustains performance deep into January.



What are you hopeful for this season?

 

[Praxit]

...of course, with all you mentioned above. I for myself, am feeling good about this year.

It's exciting actually, its all looking up. Dak is healthy, we dont know how Shotty is going to get Pickens and CD in groove.

But its nice problem to have. Whole new RB committee, there's another sector we dont know how its going to play out.

Our OL fused in another new good player. Guyton getting healthy again.

Defense is bunch new faces, minus The Gold Digger. I'm feeling good about this bunch, young too.

Safety pos, is our weaker area, but trusting Eberflus to work with that.

I'll say this, I get better feeling this year, than last.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

...of course, with all you mentioned above. I for myself, am feeling good about this year.

Usually people are a little...cautious...with so much unkown/uncertainty.

For you...a "good feeling".

Very interesting and no disrespect intended!

 

[Praxit]

Usually people are a little...cautious...with so much unkown/uncertainty.

For you...a "good feeling".

Very interesting and no disrespect intended!

.....I've always been big on instincts. When Dak is healthy, his instincts work great.

Plus if OL is playing well, it just bonus to what could happen. Thurs night is HUGE test, for whole team.

The fact we have bunch of new faces, I'll say gives slight disadvantage. If they figure out early, how to FIRE together like pistons on engine.

Could be massive momentum swing. But playing Caliber team like Eagles.

The beginning of game will be hardest part. Getting feel for they Can and Can't do. Because your breaking in new engine.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

.....I've always been big on instincts. When Dak is healthy, his instincts work great.

Plus if OL is playing well, it just bonus to what could happen. Thurs night is HUGE test, for whole team.

The fact we have bunch of new faces, I'll say gives slight disadvantage. If they figure out early, how to FIRE together like pistons on engine.

Could be massive momentum swing. But playing Caliber team like Eagles.

The beginning of game will be hardest part. Getting feel for they Can and Can't do. Because your breaking in new engine.

A LOT of "Ifs" there.

 

[jazzcat22]

Always excited as the year starts. Anything can happen to all teams. Good and bad.

I am sure right before KO, the nerves will set in, as I think, man just don't be stupid.
I feel Dallas will be better than most fans and media are saying.
Is this the year the Eagles breaks work against them. Karma has been on their side the past 5 or 6 years. They seem to get a lot of lucky breaks. Like teams dropping a sure TD pass. Or a game changing penalty, a legit penalty.

Like last season, KC won 3 or 4 games by teams missing a last second FG. Won a few more as they were privy to a call going their way. Questionable or not really can't say. But they just went their way. It happens. Dallas got one of those against the Lions in a playoff game, in 2014? And the OL debacle a few years back, it went Dallas' way.

So maybe the Eagles used up all their luck.

 

[CWR]

As a fan, I still carry hope for this season—not blind, not naïve, but grounded in seeing pieces in place that could move us forward. For me, a successful year would mean breaking through and winning at least two playoff games.

On offense, I’m holding to these hopes:

1. That the line stays healthy long enough to give Dak clean pockets when it matters most.


2. That the run game finds rhythm—not necessarily dominant, but dependable when called upon.


3. That Lamb continues to be the steady WR1 he’s proven to be, while someone else truly emerges alongside him.


4. That the tight ends become reliable chain-movers in big moments.


5. That play-calling doesn’t lose its nerve when the games get tight.



On defense, I’m looking for these:

1. That Kenny Clark anchors the interior and sets a tougher tone against the run.


2. That the rest of the defensive line builds off that strength and consistently pressures quarterbacks.


3. That the secondary, with or without full health, forces turnovers when they matter most.


4. That the linebackers play with sound discipline, limiting the mistakes that extend drives.


5. That the defense doesn’t just flash early, but sustains performance deep into January.



What are you hopeful for this season?

I didn't think we are going to see a more disciplined assignment based team defense now. I am concerned about getting to the qb, but we have a lot of potential.

Im hopeful the defense is solid and with a sustained run game CD and Pickens feast.

Of course its all hope. I can see it going badly as well.

Even losing Micha I still feel much better about this off season than last.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

I am hopeful for a fresh start. What I like about this year is the "unknown".

We have not seen the starters play together yet. We have not seen Schotty coach a game that matters. We have not seen what the offensive changes will look like, what George Pickens is going to do, etc..

A year ago this time the Cowboys were just running it back with Big Mike with a roster that was worse than the one that got dismantled by the Packers in the playoffs. The results were predictable. With the exception of DE the Cowboys look a lot stronger elsewhere (OL, DT, WR, LB).

Everybody is 0-0. Let's get this thing rolling, for better or for worse.

 

[Kwyn]

As a fan, I still carry hope for this season—not blind, not naïve, but grounded in seeing pieces in place that could move us forward. For me, a successful year would mean breaking through and winning at least two playoff games.

On offense, I’m holding to these hopes:

1. That the line stays healthy long enough to give Dak clean pockets when it matters most.


2. That the run game finds rhythm—not necessarily dominant, but dependable when called upon.


3. That Lamb continues to be the steady WR1 he’s proven to be, while someone else truly emerges alongside him.


4. That the tight ends become reliable chain-movers in big moments.


5. That play-calling doesn’t lose its nerve when the games get tight.



On defense, I’m looking for these:

1. That Kenny Clark anchors the interior and sets a tougher tone against the run.


2. That the rest of the defensive line builds off that strength and consistently pressures quarterbacks.


3. That the secondary, with or without full health, forces turnovers when they matter most.


4. That the linebackers play with sound discipline, limiting the mistakes that extend drives.


5. That the defense doesn’t just flash early, but sustains performance deep into January.



What are you hopeful for this season?

This reads like a prayer.

 

[JustChip]

I'll say this, I get better feeling this year, than last.

Same here. Coming back last year with no changes after the GB debacle was deflating. It remains to be seen what this team is without Parsons, but we saw the ceiling with him in 2023.

 

[Gambit]

This reads like a prayer.

We're half way there

 

[Praxit]

A LOT of "Ifs" there.

Yeah, in our case we have to positively speculate. lol
I do that because the negativity here outweighs the positive.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Yeah, in our case we have to positively speculate. lol
I do that because the negativity here outweighs the positive.

Well, okay....I say whatever you do...do it for yourself.

Not for what you think the forum might need.

 

[Creeper]

Hopes and dreams. I am done with it. 2024 killed it for me. Not the season, the offseason.

Some realities:

We have not seen Tyler Guyton play a single down since last season - and he wasn't very good last season. The penalties, sacks and pressures he gave up were bad. Has he improved? He worked with Tyron Smith, but Smith didn't give him great praise. Until I see Guyton stone some pass rushers I can't be hopeful.

Booker was our first round draft pick but we have not heard a lot about him in TC. He played some in 1 pre-season game. He looked good but that was against backups. When happens when he is lined up opposite Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen, etc.? I have low expectations for his rookie year. It is a learning process.

Which Terence Steele are we getting? He got better at the end of last year but is still weak pass protecting.

We haven't seen our RB1 play this year. We cn only guess what he will look like against the Eagles.

We didn't see Bland or Diggs in preseason. How will they look coming of injuries in 2024?

Dak is supposedly healthy now but he was healthy against GB in 2023 and healthy to start the 2024 season. He was not very good. Which Dak are we getting?

There are so many questions about this team and trading Micah just adds one more. Where are those 12+ sacks going to come from, and the QB pressures which were 2nd in the

 

[davey999]

Two playoff wins?

Jerry has slowly but surely eaten away at any excitement I have for these seasons. It's actually quite sad, to be honest.

I remember before the most recent GB playoff game just expecting them to falter, and then it happened...