Do you really expect this to be a good team?

[Hostile]

That's true. You don't have to be a great team. But I think you do have to be dominant on one side of the ball if the other side is mediocre. The Patriots had their offense, the Giants their defense.

I have serious doubts either side of the ball can carry the Cowboys this year. This is why I wanted an aggressive OL overhaul, because I think the offense could have done that with a legit line in front of Romo.

But your point is noted. I can't say this team is any worse than the Cardinals team that went to the Super Bowl a few years ago. Get in position, get hot at the right time, have a little luck. Stranger things have happened.

Exactly what I hoped for too. The Defense however, did get the overhaul it looks like. We can watch to see if Carter, Connor, Carr, Claiborne, Church and Crawford...all surnames starting with C...along with Lissemore give us the ability to hold late leads that we lost last year.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

The Giants in the trenches were better than the Cowboys. I don't see that changing, and it is probably the biggest reason for their SB win. Patriots offense will continue to be great as long as they protect him and start out aggressive on offense.

The OL of the Cowboys has not improved really. Think about how mediocre the Colts Defense was outside of 2 or 3 players in any given season, and how on the other side of the ball, Peyton and Co. were in the mix every single post-season.

 

[BIGDen]

I like to think I'm pretty objective, and when I look at the 2012 Dallas Cowboys, I see the ingredients for a very poor season. There are just far too many holes and unaddressed needs to think this team is going to compete for the playoffs. Both lines are more or less disasters at this point, the wide receivers are china dolls, and there's hardly any depth throughout the roster.

This is looking like a 6-10 kind of team to me and worse than the team I predicted would be 7-9 or 8-8 last year, which ended up being correct. I know that it's not a popular opinion, but what exactly do you see if you think this team will be better?

While I am very concerned about our OL, I do not see our D line as a "disaster" at all. I think guys like Hatcher, Lissemore, Ratliff (with limited snaps), Brent, Crawford, Coleman/Spears, Geathers can give us a solid DL with depth. Our interior OL and depth at certain positions are obvious concerns. However, EVERY team has at least a few concerns. IF the OL performs adequately, the defense improves as expected, and we remaim fairly healthy at key spots, we can contend. I'd say that 8 or 9 wins is a legitimate guess, but I see this team with the potential for a couple more wins than that. I'll go with 10-6 because of the players that we have at key positions (QB, LT, pass rusher, and CB), the younger talent on this team (Murray, Lee, Dez, etc), and the improved character/attitude of this team. I don't see us losing due to players quitting (Newman at times last year), bad attitudes, or being old and slow (Bradie and Brooking). Callahan should be an asset as far as developing our OL and helping with gameplanning/playcalling. The D should be improved with the added talent and being in the 2nd year of a complicated system. If the OL or injuries don't derail this team, I see no reason why they can't compete at the highest level.

 

[Mansta54]

The Giants in the trenches were better than the Cowboys. I don't see that changing, and it is probably the biggest reason for their SB win. Patriots offense will continue to be great as long as they protect him and start out aggressive on offense.

The OL of the Cowboys has not improved really. Think about how mediocre the Colts Defense was outside of 2 or 3 players in any given season, and how on the other side of the ball, Peyton and Co. were in the mix every single post-season.

Dude your BUMS will finish DEAD LAST as usual. And speaking of olines, yours is absolutely terrible. Bob Griffin won't make it through the first 6 or 7 games as he runs for is life. Y'all STINK as always!!!

 

[Prossman]

Yes this team will be better. Our Islb play outside of Lee was awful, carter and connor are a huge upgrade over brooking and james . Our corners are improved just with the addition of Carr , claiborne is a bonus. There are question marks but overall especially on defense this team has improved bigtime. The quwstion is how fast can all the new moving parts come togeather.

 

[Nation]

There have been 5 seasons where Romo has started ten or more games for the Cowboys and they have either made the playoffs or had a Week 17 win-and-in scenario in all of them. I expect that to be the case again this season.

 

[baj1dallas]

Don't understand how anybody could not be optimistic.

We have everything you need to be an elite team.

Great Quarterback - Check
Solid Running Game - Check
Solid Weapons - Check
Solid Defense - Check

The defense didn't show that they were solid last year. That's an assumption. The "weapons" and running backs haven't been able to stay healthy for most of their career. The QB is very good but not great and he hasn't shown that he can go a full season with no mistakes (well no QBs really do that). And you're ignoring a less than mediocre offensive line.

 

[BAZ]

There have been 5 seasons where Romo has started ten or more games for the Cowboys and they have either made the playoffs or had a Week 17 win-and-in scenario in all of them. I expect that to be the case again this season.

Thats an interesting take. I like it.

 

[lwehlers]

8-8 to 11-5. just depends on the injuries and what kind of start this team has. the oline is horrible and maybe worse then last year. the defense is somewhat improved at corner and maybe the dline will be a little bit better. also this team is just as good as the bears, lions, and falcons. just depends on what kind of start those teams have also. i do not believe this team is good enough to win the division. the eagles and giants are the best teams to win the division. we will be fighting for the second wild card to me.

 

[CATCH17]

The Giants in the trenches were better than the Cowboys. I don't see that changing, and it is probably the biggest reason for their SB win. Patriots offense will continue to be great as long as they protect him and start out aggressive on offense.

The OL of the Cowboys has not improved really. Think about how mediocre the Colts Defense was outside of 2 or 3 players in any given season, and how on the other side of the ball, Peyton and Co. were in the mix every single post-season.

How does anyone know this? There hasn't even been a preseason game played.

I'd bet the interior of this line is better than last year if the 2 FAs we picked up stay healthy.

 

[punchnjudy]

I think it's possible they'll be a good team, but I don't expect it. That seems like a strong word for a team with this many question marks.

They have upgraded the secondary just by adding Carr, but we don't know how many growing pains the rookie will have. I think he'll be a quality corner, but a lot of folks thought Quentin Jammer was the cat's meow. We'll see.

Still have to replace Robinson's production from last year. That's not nearly as hard if Miles is healthy; Miles' health is probably one of the bigger factors in all this.

If Miles is hampered by injuries like he was last year and the OL doesn't improve, then I wouldn't expect much of anything, especially if they don't "strike gold" at the WR position again. Well, I would expect them to give up less late game leads, but I wouldn't expect them to have nearly as many.

Also remains to be seen how much more difficult this schedule will turn out to be if any. With parity being what it is, once you get past the top few teams matchups and strength of division often influence a team's postseason chances as much as their overall quality.

The flip side to all this is that if the OL plays significantly better and the key players on offense stay relatively healthy, then they should be a playoff/division contender.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Yes, absolutely. We were 7-4 at one point last year, and this team should be better. This team has a lot of talent and, most of all, a top QB.

I'd like to hear why we should be 6-10, unless you're expecting injuries to our best players.

We are only going to go as far as Romo takes us. He has to be upright and get snaps to take us any where.

 

[DFWJC]

I thought about Chicago. They could easily be better. But you could make the case the Cowboys are better than Atlanta. So I just put us in the middle.

7th, 8th, 9th. Somewhere in there.

I like the list including Chicago. Then, there is always at least one surprise team.
But that list does not exclude Dallas, imo. They could be almost anywhere in that mix, or behind all of them. That just captures my range of uncertainty.

I guess I'm very cautiously optimistic.

 

[jobberone]

Right now I'm more worried about the division. Right this moment I'd put us 3rd in the division behind NY and Philly. While all three may make the playoffs my guess is two. A winning record in the division will help a lot and if we can win in the division I suspect we'll be in the hunt Dec.

2-4 of last year's NFC teams won't be back.

 

[Wrangler87]

I think you're nuts if you think this team is a playoff team. If we could rely on having most of the players on the field for most of the season, it would be one thing. But this team is riddled with china dolls, other than Witten and maybe Romo. I would be suprised if either Bryant or Austin starts the first game. It's just a matter of which quarter of the Giants game that Murray gets hurt. Claiborne is already nursing minor injuries. Does anyone expect Lee to miss less than three or four games? Morgan?

I'm not trying to be negative, but this team has too many players with injury histories for me to predict them to finish any better than 8-8.

 

[bud42]

Are you kidding? We have no center and the guards are suspect! We will be last in the NFC EAST! I love the BOYS like you guys do. You can't put everything on the defense!

 

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

Are you kidding? We have no center and the guards are suspect! We will be last in the NFC EAST! I love the BOYS like you guys do. You can't put everything on the defense!

Wow.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I like to think I'm pretty objective, and when I look at the 2012 Dallas Cowboys, I see the ingredients for a very poor season. There are just far too many holes and unaddressed needs to think this team is going to compete for the playoffs. Both lines are more or less disasters at this point, the wide receivers are china dolls, and there's hardly any depth throughout the roster.

This is looking like a 6-10 kind of team to me and worse than the team I predicted would be 7-9 or 8-8 last year, which ended up being correct. I know that it's not a popular opinion, but what exactly do you see if you think this team will be better?

I love how every year before training camp with no injuries some start predicting huge years. Then the injuries mount up and you get the depression and some of the hypercritical stuff. Unfortunaely, I dont think you are too far off here. But lets face it, this team could go anywhere from 6-10 to 10-6 just about each year for the past 6 years. A four game swing usually depending on injuries. Its like this every year. Personally, I think this team is really a year or two away from having the capability of being a legitimate SB contender. I like what we have done the last two years turning things over and adding good young talent. And I think we had a GREAT offseason. But its going to take a year for this new young talent to reach its potential, get into the system and gain the experience it needs to legitimately give us shot to win big. And the injuries are already mounting up and alot of it is with the young guys. And it appears that Jones and Garrett will have to live through another year of pathetic Oline play before they will learn they need to legitimately address the Oline problems. Until this Oline becomes one of the better Olines, we can kiss any real chance of contending good bye. I believe the Defense is coming together. Everything is there to have a dominating offense. But they keep throwing dirt at the problem by signing backups and depending on the woeful Costa to anchor hte middle of the line. And lets face it, the NFC East is stacked and it makes our Schedule daunting almost every year now.

 

[cowboy_ron]

Are you kidding? We have no center and the guards are suspect! We will be last in the NFC EAST! I love the BOYS like you guys do. You can't put everything on the defense!

Suicide is the only answer ...jk

 

[Deep_South]

I've been ever the optimist, but this is just another year when the fans see the tragic flaw in the team and nothing has been done about it. So, I don't expect much.