CFZ Cowboys surpassed expectations in 2022

[Diehardblues]

I’m not sure why Cowboy fans are so distraught over this seasons results. The over/ under was 10 1/2 wins . We surpassed those expectations. And we won our 1st playoff game on the road since 1992.

Most analysts had us struggling to make a playoff spot with so many unknowns after making several Cap moves in off season and the uncertainty of our OL.

There was hope that our defense could continue emerging under Dan after an impressive first year with Defensive Rookie of the year Micah Parsons.

And then with the preseason injury to Tyron just a couple weeks before regular season as then Daks injury in Week 1 most felt the season was over. All the while the Egirls were expected to make a surge after their draft which brought several top picks in while expecting Hurts to continue improving on his Rookie playoff season to compliment a top 5 defense .

What we didn’t expect was our backup QB to hold our team up from collapsing . And our defense emerged more than expected keeping our season alive .

What we also didn’t expect is former NFC powers to be down like LA, GB and TB which elevated the Cowboys from 5th-7th best in NFC to 3rd or 4th best.

I’d argue we surpassed expectations this season. But too many fans get too hyped up during the season buying in to the media hoopla. Shoot, I was impressed we probably had the 3rd best team in NFC. And that’s with a dysfunctional ownership, over hyped QB and not enough talent at key positions on offense .

This seasons upswing can be credited to an emerging defense and a backup QB which kept the season alive while Prescott was out. In years past our season would have been over in October.

 

[Diehardblues]

I had SF for most of the season being in Champ game . And probably against Egirls . I’d say the NFC played out Purdy much as expected with exception of prior powers down like LA and GB.

And SF and Phil have the top 2 defenses and why they have survived . Defenses win in the playoffs.

I’d challenge any fan to find a preseason link that had the Cowboys going to NFC championship game .

 

[Chuck 54]

The problem is the same fans that dumped on the team all year, the fans who just weeks ago said whoever we played in the playoffs would destroy us, the same fans who said TB and Brady would end our season…..they are the same fans who after a close playoff loss, want to say we should have won and we waisted another season with a SB roster. It’s comical how they change from week to week.

 

[cnuball21]

Most of our fans are just not rational…unrealistic expectations and knee jerk reactions about players week to week.

The ultimate goal is always the Super Bowl - but after subtracting talent in the offseason and Dak getting injured I think we exceeded expectations.

We got our first playoff win on the road in over 20 years and it appears we’re closer than we were last year.

 

[KB1122]

We had a good season. We have a team that's mostly ready to seriously compete.

 

[MarcusRock]

The problem is the same fans that dumped on the team all year, the fans who just weeks ago said whoever we played in the playoffs would destroy us, the same fans who said TB and Brady would end our season…..they are the same fans who after a close playoff loss, want to say we should have won and we waisted another season with a SB roster. It’s comical how they change from week to week.

Emotions are a helluva drug.

 

[foofighters]

I’m not sure why Cowboy fans are so distraught over this seasons results. The over/ under was 10 1/2 wins . We surpassed those expectations. And we won our 1st playoff game on the road since 1992.

Most analysts had us struggling to make a playoff spot with so many unknowns after making several Cap moves in off season and the uncertainty of our OL.

There was hope that our defense could continue emerging under Dan after an impressive first year with Defensive Rookie of the year Micah Parsons.

And then with the preseason injury to Tyron just a couple weeks before regular season as then Daks injury in Week 1 most felt the season was over. All the while the Egirls were expected to make a surge after their draft which brought several top picks in while expecting Hurts to continue improving on his Rookie playoff season to compliment a top 5 defense .

What we didn’t expect was our backup QB to hold our team up from collapsing . And our defense emerged more than expected keeping our season alive .

What we also didn’t expect is former NFC powers to be down like LA, GB and TB which elevated the Cowboys from 5th-7th best in NFC to 3rd or 4th best.

I’d argue we surpassed expectations this season. But too many fans get too hyped up during the season buying in to the media hoopla. Shoot, I was impressed we probably had the 3rd best team in NFC. And that’s with a dysfunctional ownership, over hyped QB and not enough talent at key positions on offense .

This seasons upswing can be credited to an emerging defense and a backup QB which kept the season alive while Prescott was out. In years past our season would have been over in October.

The thing is, we had a good chance last week. A great chance. For whatever reason, our offense struggled plus made mistakes. We put ourselves in great position but I feel like left some out on the field last week. That's what's discouraging. It's a pattern, we get teased just enough and then here's the let down. Year after year.

 

[Cowboy_svt]

surpassing low expectations and coming short on high expectations all come to the same ending

 

[Doomsday77]

Could have won or should have won there's a difference. Knowing which team would show each week became the issue when trying to predict. In the end the prognosticators were pretty accurate as you mentioned 'Blues'. Easy to get your hopes up when you see them against TB. I felt like we could have won which makes for me, a pretty good year all things considered.

 

[jazzcat22]

They had a far better season than many fans on here predicted. As usual they predicted doom and gloom and a losing record.
It was a successful season but to some since we did not advance further, therefore it was not successful. I can understand that as well.

What will SF or Philly fans say when one of them get bumped off, was it successful for them?
Anyway, time to regroup. I still do not feel one way or the other overall, yes it was successful, but the FO must change their philosophy on team building. Jerry need to look at long term QB situation, what to do at RB. Zeke lost a step, Pollard broken leg. So draft a QB and a RB at some point. Draft a stud DT.
Upgrade the OL more.

 

[Creeper]

I have to agree. I expected maybe 9 wins and out of the playoffs. So getting 12 wins and a playoff win is way more than expected. At the same time, I find myself disappointed that they lost, or the way they lost. Perhaps I was expecting too much. First, I think SF is overrated. I think the Cowboys are the better team. I think we'll find out this Sunday depending on the Eagles 49ers outcome. If the Eagles blow out the 49ers, and I think they will if they go deep early and often, I will be even more convinced the Cowboys lost a great opportunity to make it to the NFCC.

The Cowboys were in that game despite the Dak INTs. I think they should have won despite the officiating which I think heavily favored the Niners. I think they failed because their offensive game plan was not very good. I have seen too many analyses of the game where "experts" say the Cowboys should have been attacking the Niners outside the numbers. Going into the game I thought the Niners were vulnerable to the deep passes. I still think they are. The Cowboys hit on 1 but missed several others. With a better game plan and a slightly better performance from Dak, I think they win the game. If the Cowboys had the lead in the 4th quarter and Purdy had to throw the Cowboys showed they could dominate the 49ers OL. But, they didn't do what they needed to do so of course it is disappointing. Given the Cowboys CAP situation I think we will see a very different team again next year. This was an opportunity we may not get back. The Giants and Commanders are both on the upswing. The Eagles are already there.

 

[Diehardblues]

The thing is, we had a good chance last week. A great chance. For whatever reason, our offense struggled plus made mistakes. We put ourselves in great position but I feel like left some out on the field last week. That's what's discouraging. It's a pattern, we get teased just enough and then here's the let down. Year after year.

I agree. We put ourselves in good position . But so did SF.

We must also acknowledge our opponents position and effort as well. Sometimes as much credit goes to them as fault on our end .

 

[Diehardblues]

I have to agree. I expected maybe 9 wins and out of the playoffs. So getting 12 wins and a playoff win is way more than expected. At the same time, I find myself disappointed that they lost, or the way they lost. Perhaps I was expecting too much. First, I think SF is overrated. I think the Cowboys are the better team. I think we'll find out this Sunday depending on the Eagles 49ers outcome. If the Eagles blow out the 49ers, and I think they will if they go deep early and often, I will be even more convinced the Cowboys lost a great opportunity to make it to the NFCC.

The Cowboys were in that game despite the Dak INTs. I think they should have won despite the officiating which I think heavily favored the Niners. I think they failed because their offensive game plan was not very good. I have seen too many analyses of the game where "experts" say the Cowboys should have been attacking the Niners outside the numbers. Going into the game I thought the Niners were vulnerable to the deep passes. I still think they are. The Cowboys hit on 1 but missed several others. With a better game plan and a slightly better performance from Dak, I think they win the game. If the Cowboys had the lead in the 4th quarter and Purdy had to throw the Cowboys showed they could dominate the 49ers OL. But, they didn't do what they needed to do so of course it is disappointing. Given the Cowboys CAP situation I think we will see a very different team again next year. This was an opportunity we may not get back. The Giants and Commanders are both on the upswing. The Eagles are already there.

All good points .

What some haven’t expressed in their analysis of the game is how SF dominated late in 3rd and in 4th qtr with two long scoring drives. The last one running off almost 8 minutes before extending the lead to 7. And leaving less than 3 minutes to come back.

Those two drives not only regained the lead for them but in pounding the rock dominating style they are known for .

Our defense played well enough overall but that last drive was a championship caliber type drive killing the clock in 4th qtr and scoring .

Not to mention the two interceptions we dropped. The Diggs one was most painful as they went in to score afterwards.

For an offense that was struggling our defense could have certainly helped them with those turnovers. A defense which has led the league in creating turnovers didnt in our biggest game of the year.

 

[Surfguy]

It's fun to complain but who beat the most winning teams this season? We did...we did! We don't usually do that! We lost those big games! And, we won a playoff game! If Dak can stay healthy a full season, then I still expect great things. At least, in the regular season. In the playoffs, maybe not so much. But, no one is more determined than Dak at this moment...once he gets past this initial round of oh-boo-hoo and gets back to work. To say we are adrift without hope I don't believe is true. There's an ocean liner out there somewhere ready to pick us up. Somebody is going to see us!

 

[big dog cowboy]

I’m not sure why Cowboy fans are so distraught over this seasons results. The over/ under was 10 1/2 wins . We surpassed those expectations. And we won our 1st playoff game on the road since 1992.

Those weren't the expectations.

So no, the Cowboys didn't.

 

[RS12]

How can any fan have realistic expectations about a Jerry Jones owned/ lead team other than at some point they will let you down? Only variable is what point in the season it occurs.

 

[Creeper]

All good points .

What some haven’t expressed in their analysis of the game is how SF dominated late in 3rd and in 4th qtr with two long scoring drives. The last one running off almost 8 minutes before extending the lead to 7. And leaving less than 3 minutes to come back.

Those two drives not only regained the lead for them but in pounding the rock dominating style they are known for .

Our defense played well enough overall but that last drive was a championship caliber type drive killing the clock in 4th qtr and scoring .

Not to mention the two interceptions we dropped. The Diggs one was most painful as they went in to score afterwards.

For an offense that was struggling our defense could have certainly helped them with those turnovers. A defense which has led the league in creating turnovers didnt in our biggest game of the year.

I see what you are saying, but if the Cowboys offense got the lead, those two drives would have been more passing and less running and I don't think Purdy would have stood up to the pressure. I also think both drives were aided by some non-calls on the 49ers. The 49ers were called only 3 times all game. I saw them guilty of a lot more than that and all were crucial plays. I don't mind not calling it tight in the playoffs, but call it even, that's all I ask. But I don't want to make it about the refs. It was more about the game plan on offense and the lack of adjustments on defense in the 2nd half. The 49ers changed the way they were running the ball in the 2nd half and they went to more quick inside passing. They also put extra guys on Parsons. Had Quinn adjusted by throwing more blitzes at Purdy I think they stop the 49ers more. Quinn let them use 3 guys to block Parsons on some plays. The few times they blitzed it worked.

The 49ers are a good team, but they are playing a rookie 7th round draft pick. In the first half the Cowboys defense played him perfectly. But in the second they adjusted and the Cowboys didn't.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

I’m not sure why Cowboy fans are so distraught over this seasons results. The over/ under was 10 1/2 wins . We surpassed those expectations. And we won our 1st playoff game on the road since 1992.

Most analysts had us struggling to make a playoff spot with so many unknowns after making several Cap moves in off season and the uncertainty of our OL.

There was hope that our defense could continue emerging under Dan after an impressive first year with Defensive Rookie of the year Micah Parsons.

And then with the preseason injury to Tyron just a couple weeks before regular season as then Daks injury in Week 1 most felt the season was over. All the while the Egirls were expected to make a surge after their draft which brought several top picks in while expecting Hurts to continue improving on his Rookie playoff season to compliment a top 5 defense .

What we didn’t expect was our backup QB to hold our team up from collapsing . And our defense emerged more than expected keeping our season alive .

What we also didn’t expect is former NFC powers to be down like LA, GB and TB which elevated the Cowboys from 5th-7th best in NFC to 3rd or 4th best.

I’d argue we surpassed expectations this season. But too many fans get too hyped up during the season buying in to the media hoopla. Shoot, I was impressed we probably had the 3rd best team in NFC. And that’s with a dysfunctional ownership, over hyped QB and not enough talent at key positions on offense .

This seasons upswing can be credited to an emerging defense and a backup QB which kept the season alive while Prescott was out. In years past our season would have been over in October.

All of the people on this board calling the team garbage right now were also picking them to win 9 or fewer games in the preseason record prediction thread and said there was no way they made the playoffs. By their metrics shouldn't this season have been massively overachieving? Instead they want to call this team massively overachieving and want to have it both ways.

In my mind this was a 10-12 win team going into the season and they pretty much met expectations.

The way the season ended was disappointing, but we have to keep things in perspective. I was happy to get a playoff win and play SF toe-to-toe. I think this team is going to be a contender for a few seasons here.

 

[JayFord]

this team despite the horrible loss to end the season put together an amazing season!

12-5 losing your starter for 5 games the backup winning 4 of those 5 was a great season

if any other team minus the chiefs had this kind of year everyone would be dropping feces all over the floor over this kind of year

 

[AsthmaField]

The problem is the same fans that dumped on the team all year, the fans who just weeks ago said whoever we played in the playoffs would destroy us, the same fans who said TB and Brady would end our season…..they are the same fans who after a close playoff loss, want to say we should have won and we waisted another season with a SB roster. It’s comical how they change from week to week.

Lol, bingo.

“No way we beat San Francisco! They’re just too good!”

Then, after a close divisional loss to a SF team that had more rest and time to prepare:

“How the hell did those idiots lose to San Francisco?!? Blow this thing up and start over!!”