At this point,
But What If may come across as a bit ironic…some might even say disingenuous. After all, at the inception of this concept those three words written in that particular order was a simple literary device to acknowledge the Cowboys weren’t the team they needed to be as of yet but with a few things going their way, they could be contenders down the stretch.
Now with the NFCE in a (how shall I put this, Kamu Who?) choke hold and needing only to win 1 of the last 3 games (Colts, Bucs, Giants) to punch their ticket to the playoffs (or for the Commanders and Eagles to each lose 1 game of their next 3, which is just as, if not more, likely), But What If is slowly becoming But What Now….as if to say, “okay Dallas Cowboys….you have shocked the football watching world with this league-leading winning streak and are most likely about to secure first place in the NFCE, but what are you going to do with the opportunity?”
The Cowboys keeping this win streak going throughout the playoffs for some may just be unimaginable which is why I give you the fourth edition of But What If.
Without further ado…
But What If….Warriors Come Out to Play
In the wake of that roller-coaster ride that was a football game between the Cowboys and Eagles this past Sunday, a fascinating stat was offered up by one Bobby Belt via Twitter: “NFL teams are 1 & 73 all time when incurring 100 penalty yards, allowing three touchdown passes, and losing the turnover battle by two or more. The one victory occurred yesterday when the Cowboys beat the Eagles.” Let that sink in.
Some will reflect on that for a moment and conclude, “Yep…that’s why they’ll be watching the Super Bowl from the comfort of their couch” followed by a round of high-fives shared between haters.
For others, that little nugget above will be disregarded and discarded as fun with numbers; and ordinarily I would agree with that sentiment. But that’s not the first time in recent memory where this iteration of the Cowboys has won a game that they probably should have lost; despite beating the Eagles down in every other statistical category (offensive output, 3rd down conversion rate, scoreboard) like they just caught them running half-naked out the back door of their home.
If you reach deep into your memory banks you might just recall a game that occurred way back on 11/29/2018 where a similar script was adhered to by the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys were losing the turnover battle by 2 until Brees threw the game-clinching interception in the closing minutes of the contest. The Cowboys had 8 penalties that cost them 80 yards as compared to the 4 for 48 the Saints accounted for. And (perhaps the most damning fact of all) the Cowboys offense was only able to muster up 13 points against a Saints team that was averaging 37 points per game prior to that Thursday night. None of that mattered…because these Cowboys are warriors and they came out to play.
If you have been watching football for as long as I have, you’ve probably noticed the ebbs and flow of momentum that occur in every game. The Dallas Cowboys I have watched for the last two decade’s plus folded in games like what they faced with the Saints and again with the Eagles (particularly in those win and your in situations). They couldn’t match or maintain intensity for 4 quarters. They did not process and respond well to adversity. When things began going wrong, as a general rule, things didn’t stop going wrong until the final whistle, a resulting lopsided scoreboard in the oppositions favor and various players sitting in the fetal position with a white towel draped over their head.
This past Sunday, they once again did all the things we said they could not do if they wanted to win against the Eagles and were guilty of mistakes that normally tips the odds in the oppositions favor. But they also kept on fighting. Sometimes Money Maher missed a Field Goal from 45 yards in the first half. They kept on fighting. Dak Prescott threw 2 interceptions and was victimized for a strip sack with 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. They kept on fighting. The Cowboys defense laid down a red carpet for the Wentz led Eagles twice in the closing minutes of regulation allowing them to match touchdown scores with Dallas to keep the game knotted up. And they kept on fighting. They scratched, they clawed, they kicked, they shoved, they punched and they head-butted (to hear one ref tell it) their way to a nasty, gritty, ugly win.
So if you ask me what the Cowboys are going to do in the upcoming playoffs the only answer I can tell you with any degree of confidence is they will keep on fighting…sometimes even themselves.
But What If…Help is on the Way (and Hell is coming with it)?
Perhaps I am alone in this but I have really missed Tavon Austin being on the gameday 46. I think Jourdan Lewis is a good corner but both as a returner on Special Teams and as the gadget player in the now notorious Jet Sweep, he’s pretty useless and honestly the fact that anyone thought he should be used in a capacity other than what he already does on defense, should be fired, shot, hung, set on fire, dropped in a tub of water to put the fire out along with a plugged in toaster and then beaten to within an inch of their life…I feel pretty strongly about this.
Aside from what Austin can provide as both a returner and a gadget player, I do wonder what adding another player who can score from anywhere on the field does for the overall explosiveness of this offense. After this past Sunday’s performance by Cooper (10 catches, 217 yards, 3 touchdowns), defensive coordinators will have a plan for him which will most likely involve a combination of linebackers sitting underneath his routes to shut down pass-windows and safeties boxing him in deep, shielding him from paydirt...to say nothing of the corner responsible for the herculean task of shadowing him. With that level of attention being devoted to Cooper, Austin could have a heyday in the short to intermediate passing game, the clip below being an excellent example of one such use for him.
The path Austin follows from the sideline up the middle in the clip above was no doubt created by clearing routes moving from the top of the screen towards the bottom. I suspect the combination of Cooper and Beasley used in a similar path-clearing capacity would demand quite a bit of attention from the opposition, which should leave Tavon in a advantageous one-on-one match-up. I am not saying he should be featured, but as both the primary target and a decoy (defenses still have to respect his speed), Austin could be very effective.
With the ascension of Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch playing in Sean Lee’s stead, I admit I do wonder if the Cowboys haven’t been better off having him in the mentor role on the sideline versus receiving the lion share of snaps. That said, having a healthy Sean Lee is one of those “great problems to have,” provided that they use him as a rotational piece.
At a guess, I’d say the linebacker combination that Marinelli/Richard employ will depend heavily on situation, down & distance. Adding him back into the rotation should also mean having a fresher linebacking core from whistle to whistle. Considering that the Cowboys now boast arguably one of the best (if not
the best) defenses in the NFL, Lee being added back into the linebacking rotation is a whole lot like having too many guns and not enough hands to pull all the triggers...
Lastly, there is the curious case of David Irving. He’s one of those knuckleheads whose talent is undeniable and (somewhat) deserving of patience, but where do you draw the line and how long do you sit idly by while he plays jump-rope with that line? Based on what the Cowboys have accomplished in his absence, I’m not sure he’s worth the headache, but at the same time, I can’t help but salivate at the thought of him (a player with a history of taking over games by himself) being a reliever to guys like Antwaun Woods and Maliek Collins…which is a lot like having a Speak’N’Spell pinch-hit in a spelling contest…for the opposition anyway, it’s ridiculously unfair.
Then when you stop to consider the Cowboys will be adding all three of these starting caliber players (Austin, Lee, Irving) just as the playoffs get underway, for the opposition and their many fans it’s a bit like…
But What If….all the Dak-Doubt is a good thing in the long run?
Let's review: The Cowboys have the #1 rushing attack. The Cowboys have the #1 receiver over the last 6 weeks. The Cowboys have the #2 scoring defense, just barely being edged out of first by the Ravens. Clearly the Cowboys are one of a few teams getting it done on both sides of the ball which in general is what you want to see from a Super Bowl contender. And yet, were you to ask Vegas, analyst abroad, and the football watching world to pick their favorites to win it all, not a single one is talking about the Cowboys and there is one big reason for that: Dak Prescott.
In my opinion, Dak is a franchise QB and I could not be happier that he is the leader of the Dallas Cowboys. No supporting argument is necessary because if you are reading this, I think it is safe to assume you have eyes (furthermore, you are already well-versed in the Pro's and Con's, so I won't rehash that here). Even so, there are those that still doubt the merits of a Dak-lead offense….and in a weird way that might just be a great thing for the Cowboys chances down the stretch.
In the Jason Garrett era one fascinating trait of his teams is that when no one seemingly believes in them, they tend to play their best football. The moment the world takes notice though and starts talking them up as the team to beat, they tend to inexplicably fall off. Not sure why, but I have lived it too many times. But as long as Dak is the quarterback, no matter how much talent you stack around him (and make no mistake, this team is ridiculously stacked right now…on both sides of the ball) the masses will continue to doubt, placing the Cowboys players mindset right where we want it - on a mission to shock the world and prove everyone wrong.
To be clear, I’m not talking about what the opposition believes; I assure you, they aren’t taking Dak or these Cowboys for granted in any way. But so long as the national and social media continue to parrot the narrative that Dak is terrible and a back-up QB at best, given the importance of the QB position to overall results, the uninformed and misguided masses will continue to doubt the Cowboys as a whole. And as I intimated above, in a soil of doubt, these Cowboys (for whatever reason) have a tendency to blossom and flourish.
So rather than roll your eyes at the various Dak hate that’s being slung around, if anything we as a fan base should encourage it:
Please…by all means…ignore his career win to loss ratio…that is meaningless and clearly a reflection of the talent he has around him. The fact that he is tied for most winning drives late in games among all NFL quarterbacks is clearly an aberration. Those 450 + yards he put up in the air against the Eagles was a combination of dink & Dak and the fact that a broken clock is right twice a day; that was the emptiest collections of stats compiled on Sunday. Nothing to see here….out of 32 QB’s playing in the league, I could probably name 50 that are better than Dak. As long as Dak is the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, they will never come close to sniffing a championship!!!
Easy Dak, easy.
Wrap It Up
This is a Super Bowl caliber team, folks. You don’t have to recognize that now to enjoy it later but I can assure you of the teams potentially going to the playoffs, no one wants the Cowboys lining up on the opposite end of the field; home, away or on the moon. If you are still complaining about Dak, Garrett, or the Front Office, you are exposing yourself as someone who actually enjoys having something to complain about because right now we Cowboys fans should be sitting back and enjoying one of the most unfathomable enigmatic situations to ever present itself to the Cowboys franchise.
The Giants are toast and have been for about a month now. The Commanders are down to their 3rd string QB and along with the Eagles, are a loss away from watching the playoffs from home. And the 2017 Super Bowl Champions just announced that Carson Wentz will not play this coming weekend and may not play again in 2018. Just as the NFL powers are starting to lose steam in their hot-streak, the Cowboys are just now beginning to pick up momentum. And because the nucleus of the Dallas Cowboys experienced the crushing disappointment that was 2016, there is not a single player that will be taking this opportunity for granted. I still make no predictions about how this will end, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the NFL world is about to get the Cowboys best punch...a punch that would make Chuck Norris proud.
Thoughts?
