Hidden in Plain Sight

[jday]

I find it fascinating that people still doubt the 2016 iteration of the Dallas Cowboys. I look at what they did in 2014. I look at what happened in 2015. I look at what they did to address weaknesses in the offseason, both via Free Agency and the Draft. And I cannot help but be absolutely ecstatic about the potential these Cowboys have this year. But when I stand up to say “Yay, the Cowboys are going to be watchable again” I do so to the chorus of “where’s our pass rush” “whose our backup QB, cause you know Romo can’t play 16 games, much less 19” and “we are going to have to average 30 point a game to account for that defense and post a winning record” etc, etc, etc. It is as though these Cowboys, who I believe will win the East handedly, are hiding their potential in plain sight. If you subscribe to any of the negative chants listed above, the following likely won’t change your mind, but you will at the very least be somewhat entertained…I think…no promises, of course.

The concept of football is simple; the schematic approach to how a coach wins is often not. But people have a tendency to make the concept far more complicated than it needs to be. Regardless of scheme, an offensive coordinator’s job is to force a defense into being proactive as opposed to reactive. The moment an offense forces a defense to be proactive they own them; they can essentially do whatever they want provided they have the tools to take advantage. The Cowboys, if anything, have the tools to seriously hurt any team in the NFL that takes a preemptive approach to taking away weapons.

For example, early in the season you can expect the typical blanket opposing defenses like to put over Witten and Dez, for what should be by now obvious reasons. However, the moment Zeke proves he can hurt a team and not just by moving the chains but by also taking it to the house from any point on the field, defenses will have to account for him; safeties will creep up into the box in an effort to shut him down. When you see defenses start creeping up, you can expect the Cowboys will switch gears and could very well pull away in the game…and keep the window for comeback closed as they stack touchdowns on top of touchdowns.

I’m not blowing anyone’s mind with that; I’m sure….that’s pretty basic stuff, right? I suspect what most people disregard or forget is just how rare it is to have an offense that stocked with talent. Romo/Dez/Witten/Williams/Beasley/the entire offensive line/and now what looks to be the most dynamic RB duo in the league – Zeke and Morris. I’m not disregarding Dunbar and Jackson, they will clearly have a role, as well; but there are only so many balls to go around in a football game and I doubt they will at any point be featured unless the Cowboys have a really bad string of misfortune. I am disregarding DMac because I doubt he will be on the final 53.

In today’s modern NFL, that is what it is all about. Force a defense to respect one or the other aspect of your offense and then hit them where it hurts repeatedly. Regardless of how you accomplish it, that is the overall goal of any offense in the NFL. And the Cowboys are better equipped to take advantage then probably 90% (possibly more, but I’ll error on the side of caution with my made-up percentages) of the league. That is the truth of the Cowboys that is apparently hidden in plain sight. The defense-wins-championship crowd refuses to see it because they believe you only win a championship with a championship caliber defense; never mind all the high-powered offenses that have won Super Bowl’s since the Super Bowl came into being (Saints cough cough Patriots cough cough Colts cough cough). So, if that is your stance, once again, I get it, I’m probably not going to change your mind, but just the same I will remind you there is more than one way to skin a cat. And since I hate cats, any way you do it is fine by me.

There has been a growing movement amongst the football watching world as of late that suggest passing efficiency is the most important stat when measuring the effectiveness of an offense overall. This crusade particularly gained steam when the Cowboys opted to draft Ezekiel Elliott with their first pick, rather than adhere to what many consider to be prevailing wisdom; which would have entailed either drafting Ramsey or trading back, pick up extra picks and drafting anything but a running back…preferably something on defense, because anything has to be better than what we already have…right? Afterall, DMac posted the fourth best running average in 2015, despite an otherwise down year for the offense as a whole…no reason to assume he could not duplicate those results…for the exception of potential injury and the fact that he really is not an ideal fit in the ZBS (Zone Blocking Scheme).

There very well may be truth to that, however, much to my chagrin, some have taken that belief a step further and assumed as a result that the running game and running back simply doesn’t matter…so long as you have an efficient passing game. That’s like saying the egg doesn’t matter, so long as you have the chicken. Or, the bullet doesn’t matter, so long as you have the gun.

Or I could put it like this. Attempting to build an effective passing game without an effective running game is like trying to build a skyscraper without scaffolding, with one exception – once the passing game is built and established, you are still going to want to run the ball. Why? To control the clock, ware down the opposing defense, and a handoff is the safest quarterback to player exchange available; after all, coaching a football game at any level can be described in many ways, but none more succinct than Risk Mitigation. You factor the risk involved with any given decision or play call, consider the tool’s (players) you have to get the job done, take in consideration team-specific-precedence (e.g. never, ever, ever, ever, ever punt to Tom Brady with time left in regulation and equal to or less than a touchdown lead…ever, ever, ever) and decide which option has the best odds of being successful. If a coach has a running game they can count on, play calling of a sudden becomes very simple.

So understand, I’m not saying passing efficiency is a useless stat; I’m merely pointing out that it can be very misleading. It’s very difficult to establish a good passing game with a good passing game. You don’t setup an uppercut with an uppercut. You set the uppercut up with the jab. In the NFL it can work both ways, which I fully expect the Cowboys to do throughout the season. Some games they will open up the pass using the run. In other games they may use the pass to setup the run. This will largely depend on what the defense attempts to take away from the outset. And to the veteran eyes of Romo and company, he will know before he takes the first snap exactly what the defense is attempting to take away; Romo read’s defenses like you are reading this…unless you are a slow reader...than he is a better reader of defenses than you are of words…

I understand our pass rush and run stopping may suffer. But one thing of note, before I stick a fork in my Friday Night Special: I see a lot of the Cowboys games playing out just like the first half against the Rams. Offenses will move the ball on this team. No question about it. But at the end of the day what really matters is the scoreboard. So while the Rams seemingly moved the ball with ease on the back of their running game last Saturday night, for some odd reason only one drive accompanied with all of those rushing yards translated to points in the first half. Therein, once again, is the issue I have with many people who are down on the defenses ability to shut down offenses. We don’t need them to shut them down. We just need our defense to reduce the opposition to bringing Field Goals to a Touchdown fight…that’s a fight these Cowboys can win.

Thoughts?

 

[Diehardblues]

I'm very excited about our potential on offense and just as concerned on defense .

If Romo, our offensive weapons like Dez and Witten stay healthy along with our OL and Zeke and Morris contribute it should be quite a show.

And after Daks performance I'm less concerned if Romo goes down .

That said our defense has many legit concerns . And this doesn't take into account the upgrades and progress our divisional rivals took in the offseason .

We're only discussing what we have done to improve but what about NY and Wash. Their defenses look much improved .

In the NFC, defenses have been dominated for several years with the only exception really the Packers but their best year they had a much better defense.

The good news is if our offense stays in tact we'll be contenders in division . But in the playoffs we'll need a better defense than we've seen around here in years in order to go as deep as we'd like .

 

[Sydla]

I find it equally fascinating that people are surprised that people aren't necessarily fawning over the Cowboys either. The team has some real questions that aren't made up nor can they easily be overlooked.

You mention 2014 as if that's the standard by which we should judge Cowboys teams. However, that 2014 season is the anomaly in the Garrett era. Why people automatically assume that's the real Cowboys and not the 8-8 versions we've seen more often than not in Dallas. 2014 was a season when everything pretty much broke right for the Cowboys. Can you count on that again? Who knows? And maybe the 2014 season is the real Cowboys team we should expect under Garrett. But there are enough questions about this team to wonder if 12-4 might be a too optimistic for this bunch.

Here's why I am not shocked that people don't have a big time bullish outlook on the Cowboys:

- Defense is highly questionable. There is a real lack of pass rush quality on this roster, at least on paper (and paper is what people are judging NFL teams by right now).
- The 2014 team was highly opportunistic in the turnover area. Part of turnovers can be somewhat luck. If luck isn't on their side this year and they struggle to turn the other team over AND can't get to the QB, you are going to have some real problems.
- LBs are a real question mark, especially if Lee happens to get hurt again.
- Romo's age and recent injury history has to be a factor in any analysis.
- Garrett is a mid-level NFL coach and I think his reputation league wide is just that - nice guy, average head coach. So if you are counting on your coaching staff to make up for some talent shortcomings, I wouldn't expect it.

Personally, I think this team can/will win this mediocre division with 10-11 wins. I think they'll play on WC weekend and either lose then or the following week as their flaws on defense - inability to get to the QB will haunt them again.

 

[VACowboy]

We went 12-4 in 2014 with less talent on defense than we have now.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I find it fascinating that people still doubt the 2016 iteration of the Dallas Cowboys. I look at what they did in 2014. I look at what happened in 2015. I look at what they did to address weaknesses in the offseason, both via Free Agency and the Draft. And I cannot help but be absolutely ecstatic about the potential these Cowboys have this year. But when I stand up to say “Yay, the Cowboys are going to be watchable again” I do so to the chorus of “where’s our pass rush” “whose our backup QB, cause you know Romo can’t play 16 games, much less 19” and “we are going to have to average 30 point a game to account for that defense and post a winning record” etc, etc, etc. It is as though these Cowboys, who I believe will win the East handedly, are hiding their potential in plain sight. If you subscribe to any of the negative chants listed above, the following likely won’t change your mind, but you will at the very least be somewhat entertained…I think…no promises, of course.

The concept of football is simple; the schematic approach to how a coach wins is often not. But people have a tendency to make the concept far more complicated than it needs to be. Regardless of scheme, an offensive coordinator’s job is to force a defense into being proactive as opposed to reactive. The moment an offense forces a defense to be proactive they own them; they can essentially do whatever they want provided they have the tools to take advantage. The Cowboys, if anything, have the tools to seriously hurt any team in the NFL that takes a preemptive approach to taking away weapons.

For example, early in the season you can expect the typical blanket opposing defenses like to put over Witten and Dez, for what should be by now obvious reasons. However, the moment Zeke proves he can hurt a team and not just by moving the chains but by also taking it to the house from any point on the field, defenses will have to account for him; safeties will creep up into the box in an effort to shut him down. When you see defenses start creeping up, you can expect the Cowboys will switch gears and could very well pull away in the game…and keep the window for comeback closed as they stack touchdowns on top of touchdowns.

I’m not blowing anyone’s mind with that; I’m sure….that’s pretty basic stuff, right? I suspect what most people disregard or forget is just how rare it is to have an offense that stocked with talent. Romo/Dez/Witten/Williams/Beasley/the entire offensive line/and now what looks to be the most dynamic RB duo in the league – Zeke and Morris. I’m not disregarding Dunbar and Jackson, they will clearly have a role, as well; but there are only so many balls to go around in a football game and I doubt they will at any point be featured unless the Cowboys have a really bad string of misfortune. I am disregarding DMac because I doubt he will be on the final 53.

In today’s modern NFL, that is what it is all about. Force a defense to respect one or the other aspect of your offense and then hit them where it hurts repeatedly. Regardless of how you accomplish it, that is the overall goal of any offense in the NFL. And the Cowboys are better equipped to take advantage then probably 90% (possibly more, but I’ll error on the side of caution with my made-up percentages) of the league. That is the truth of the Cowboys that is apparently hidden in plain sight. The defense-wins-championship crowd refuses to see it because they believe you only win a championship with a championship caliber defense; never mind all the high-powered offenses that have won Super Bowl’s since the Super Bowl came into being (Saints cough cough Patriots cough cough Colts cough cough). So, if that is your stance, once again, I get it, I’m probably not going to change your mind, but just the same I will remind you there is more than one way to skin a cat. And since I hate cats, any way you do it is fine by me.

There has been a growing movement amongst the football watching world as of late that suggest passing efficiency is the most important stat when measuring the effectiveness of an offense overall. This crusade particularly gained steam when the Cowboys opted to draft Ezekiel Elliott with their first pick, rather than adhere to what many consider to be prevailing wisdom; which would have entailed either drafting Ramsey or trading back, pick up extra picks and drafting anything but a running back…preferably something on defense, because anything has to be better than what we already have…right? Afterall, DMac posted the fourth best running average in 2015, despite an otherwise down year for the offense as a whole…no reason to assume he could not duplicate those results…for the exception of potential injury and the fact that he really is not an ideal fit in the ZBS (Zone Blocking Scheme).

There very well may be truth to that, however, much to my chagrin, some have taken that belief a step further and assumed as a result that the running game and running back simply doesn’t matter…so long as you have an efficient passing game. That’s like saying the egg doesn’t matter, so long as you have the chicken. Or, the bullet doesn’t matter, so long as you have the gun.

Or I could put it like this. Attempting to build an effective passing game without an effective running game is like trying to build a skyscraper without scaffolding, with one exception – once the passing game is built and established, you are still going to want to run the ball. Why? To control the clock, ware down the opposing defense, and a handoff is the safest quarterback to player exchange available; after all, coaching a football game at any level can be described in many ways, but none more succinct than Risk Mitigation. You factor the risk involved with any given decision or play call, consider the tool’s (players) you have to get the job done, take in consideration team-specific-precedence (e.g. never, ever, ever, ever, ever punt to Tom Brady with time left in regulation and equal to or less than a touchdown lead…ever, ever, ever) and decide which option has the best odds of being successful. If a coach has a running game they can count on, play calling of a sudden becomes very simple.

So understand, I’m not saying passing efficiency is a useless stat; I’m merely pointing out that it can be very misleading. It’s very difficult to establish a good passing game with a good passing game. You don’t setup an uppercut with an uppercut. You set the uppercut up with the jab. In the NFL it can work both ways, which I fully expect the Cowboys to do throughout the season. Some games they will open up the pass using the run. In other games they may use the pass to setup the run. This will largely depend on what the defense attempts to take away from the outset. And to the veteran eyes of Romo and company, he will know before he takes the first snap exactly what the defense is attempting to take away; Romo read’s defenses like you are reading this…unless you are a slow reader...than he is a better reader of defenses than you are of words…

I understand our pass rush and run stopping may suffer. But one thing of note, before I stick a fork in my Friday Night Special: I see a lot of the Cowboys games playing out just like the first half against the Rams. Offenses will move the ball on this team. No question about it. But at the end of the day what really matters is the scoreboard. So while the Rams seemingly moved the ball with ease on the back of their running game last Saturday night, for some odd reason only one drive accompanied with all of those rushing yards translated to points in the first half. Therein, once again, is the issue I have with many people who are down on the defenses ability to shut down offenses. We don’t need them to shut them down. We just need our defense to reduce the opposition to bringing Field Goals to a Touchdown fight…that’s a fight these Cowboys can win.

Thoughts?

If you don't understand why fans and media have concerns about this team then I have to question your ability to rationally analyze.

But let me give you two big highlights:

1. An offense that although its amazing it appears totally dependent on an old, bad back, bad collar bone, injury prone QB.
2. The defense hasnt been good for a while and we have little depth anywhere and huge problems with the pass rush and the LBer corps. And Carr is still a starting corner.

Now you have a tendency to have the cavalier attitude that "we will be fine" or "who cares" about many of these issues. Or I have heard you bring up several times that "this will be 2014 with a better defense on paper" mantra.

This is your weekly rant we discussed before where you basically say the same thing and people give you the same answers every time. I am beginning to think that you just like the attention.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I find it equally fascinating that people are surprised that people aren't necessarily fawning over the Cowboys either. The team has some real questions that aren't made up nor can they easily be overlooked.

You mention 2014 as if that's the standard by which we should judge Cowboys teams. However, that 2014 season is the anomaly in the Garrett era. Why people automatically assume that's the real Cowboys and not the 8-8 versions we've seen more often than not in Dallas. 2014 was a season when everything pretty much broke right for the Cowboys. Can you count on that again? Who knows? And maybe the 2014 season is the real Cowboys team we should expect under Garrett. But there are enough questions about this team to wonder if 12-4 might be a too optimistic for this bunch.

Here's why I am not shocked that people don't have a big time bullish outlook on the Cowboys:

- Defense is highly questionable. There is a real lack of pass rush quality on this roster, at least on paper (and paper is what people are judging NFL teams by right now).
- The 2014 team was highly opportunistic in the turnover area. Part of turnovers can be somewhat luck. If luck isn't on their side this year and they struggle to turn the other team over AND can't get to the QB, you are going to have some real problems.
- LBs are a real question mark, especially if Lee happens to get hurt again.
- Romo's age and recent injury history has to be a factor in any analysis.
- Garrett is a mid-level NFL coach and I think his reputation league wide is just that - nice guy, average head coach. So if you are counting on your coaching staff to make up for some talent shortcomings, I wouldn't expect it.

Personally, I think this team can/will win this mediocre division with 10-11 wins. I think they'll play on WC weekend and either lose then or the following week as their flaws on defense - inability to get to the QB will haunt them again.

8-8, 8-8, 8-8, 12-4, 4-12 the last 5 years. With that recent record how can anyone sit here with a straight face and ask any of us why we have reservations? Its laughable.

 

[CowboyRoy]

We went 12-4 in 2014 with less talent on defense than we have now.

The 2014 team has NOTHING to do with this 2016 team. Nothing what so ever. The comparison is foolish.

 

[Sydla]

We went 12-4 in 2014 with less talent on defense than we have now.

So what? 13-3 is what we should expect?

 

[LittleD]

I find it equally fascinating that people are surprised that people aren't necessarily fawning over the Cowboys either. The team has some real questions that aren't made up nor can they easily be overlooked.

You mention 2014 as if that's the standard by which we should judge Cowboys teams. However, that 2014 season is the anomaly in the Garrett era. Why people automatically assume that's the real Cowboys and not the 8-8 versions we've seen more often than not in Dallas. 2014 was a season when everything pretty much broke right for the Cowboys. Can you count on that again? Who knows? And maybe the 2014 season is the real Cowboys team we should expect under Garrett. But there are enough questions about this team to wonder if 12-4 might be a too optimistic for this bunch.

Here's why I am not shocked that people don't have a big time bullish outlook on the Cowboys:

- Defense is highly questionable. There is a real lack of pass rush quality on this roster, at least on paper (and paper is what people are judging NFL teams by right now).
- The 2014 team was highly opportunistic in the turnover area. Part of turnovers can be somewhat luck. If luck isn't on their side this year and they struggle to turn the other team over AND can't get to the QB, you are going to have some real problems.
- LBs are a real question mark, especially if Lee happens to get hurt again.
- Romo's age and recent injury history has to be a factor in any analysis.
- Garrett is a mid-level NFL coach and I think his reputation league wide is just that - nice guy, average head coach. So if you are counting on your coaching staff to make up for some talent shortcomings, I wouldn't expect it.

Personally, I think this team can/will win this mediocre division with 10-11 wins. I think they'll play on WC weekend and either lose then or the following week as their flaws on defense - inability to get to the QB will haunt them again.

I know you know this...Lawrence will be back after game 4. I think the middle of the DL will be better than advertised. If the backend of the
defense holds up the DL will get some pressure me thinks.

 

[SHAMSzy]

Tldr.

My two cents -- Cowboys win the East with healthy Romo. Beyond that depends on our coaching, overall health, and development of younger players.

 

[Sydla]

I know you know this...Lawrence will be back after game 4. I think the middle of the DL will be better than advertised. If the backend of the
defense holds up the DL will get some pressure me thinks.

Lawrence played 16 games last year and with Hardy opposite him and they only managed 31 sacks. They've added Thornton, who is more a run stuffer than a penetrator in the interior. It remains to be seen if Crawford can be that interior guy that wreaks havoc in the backfield.

This team has to figure out a way to get 8-9 more sacks above 31 to be above league average. That's not an easy thing to do, especially when you are counting on some real projects.

I honestly don't know how any Cowboys fan that is honest with themselves can look at the defensive front and think there are no real big questions there.

 

[Idgit]

It doesn't surprise me at all how people view the team. It's a function of how things are presented, and most people don't look beyond that.

It's also hard to grasp that you can take a good team, remove 5-6 key players, and end up with a bad one. It seems more likely you'd get a mediocre one, but last year's team was really bad, overall.

That said, I think we've taken an old roster that had gotten bad in 2010 and built it back into a team capable of contending the last three seasons (2014, 2015, 2016). This year will tell whether we've really done that or not. Certainly 2015 was a disaster, but we did have a talented roster put together. Had Dez and Romo stayed in the lineup, who knows how things might have turned out. It's very likely we'd have won the East the 2nd year in a row by a couple of games, and possible we'd have gotten hot at the right time and been competitive in the post-season. As it was, we couldn't get the year over quickly enough.

 

[Diehardblues]

I find it equally fascinating that people are surprised that people aren't necessarily fawning over the Cowboys either. The team has some real questions that aren't made up nor can they easily be overlooked.

You mention 2014 as if that's the standard by which we should judge Cowboys teams. However, that 2014 season is the anomaly in the Garrett era. Why people automatically assume that's the real Cowboys and not the 8-8 versions we've seen more often than not in Dallas. 2014 was a season when everything pretty much broke right for the Cowboys. Can you count on that again? Who knows? And maybe the 2014 season is the real Cowboys team we should expect under Garrett. But there are enough questions about this team to wonder if 12-4 might be a too optimistic for this bunch.

Here's why I am not shocked that people don't have a big time bullish outlook on the Cowboys:

- Defense is highly questionable. There is a real lack of pass rush quality on this roster, at least on paper (and paper is what people are judging NFL teams by right now).
- The 2014 team was highly opportunistic in the turnover area. Part of turnovers can be somewhat luck. If luck isn't on their side this year and they struggle to turn the other team over AND can't get to the QB, you are going to have some real problems.
- LBs are a real question mark, especially if Lee happens to get hurt again.
- Romo's age and recent injury history has to be a factor in any analysis.
- Garrett is a mid-level NFL coach and I think his reputation league wide is just that - nice guy, average head coach. So if you are counting on your coaching staff to make up for some talent shortcomings, I wouldn't expect it.

Personally, I think this team can/will win this mediocre division with 10-11 wins. I think they'll play on WC weekend and either lose then or the following week as their flaws on defense - inability to get to the QB will haunt them again.

Agreed!

Everything fell right in 2014. No key injuries, led league in rushing, defense near top of the league in turnovers.

I'd say that was about as much as we could have expected for 2014 with that defense.

For some reason we have this pretense that without a great defense we are still serious Super Bowl contenders who usually there is a consistent playoff performances to support such rhetoric.

All we have is one season in the last 6 where everything aligned for us. And some are feeling that is more of the expectancy we should have.

This is why not everyone is giving us the respect some Cowboy fans are seeking plus not knowing if Romo can hang for the season .

For me, it's wait and see before I build up more of these lofty expectations . Let's see what we have, build some momentum and gain confidence before boisting . This era we've performed much better as underdogs or under the radar. Seems everytime we felt we were trending up we've collapsed.

Why can't we get excited without these expectations?

 

[UTmodisette]

The 2014 team has NOTHING to do with this 2016 team. Nothing what so ever. The comparison is foolish.

Ya Dallas really misses guys like Mincey, Anthony Spencer, Bruce Carter, Henry Melton, and George Selvie

 

[Sydla]

Ya Dallas really misses guys like Mincey, Anthony Spencer, Bruce Carter, Henry Melton, and George Selvie

What's this got to do with his point?

People just assume this is a basic formula. This defense is more talented than the 2014 one, ergo, this defense should be much better resulting in a better season than 2014 (or as good).

It doesn't work that way.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Ya Dallas really misses guys like Mincey, Anthony Spencer, Bruce Carter, Henry Melton, and George Selvie

The 2014 team had Romo for 15 games. The defense was 2nd on the NFL in turnovers. You cannot by any stretch of the imagination repredict these things or assume they will happen again. Schedule was different, NFC East was different, teams are all different, ect....ect.....

And although Mincey and Selvie may not have been pass rushing demons they were solid players and played well against the run. These young DE's have no history of that. Its is a big unknown. And we all know that Lawrence is gone for the first 4 games.

2014 was a dream season in just about every way. In case you havent noticed, this year isnt going that way to date.

The ONLY comparison you can rationally make with any real confidence is that the run game with Zeke and the depth should be as effective as Murray was. And honestly.................that is saying a lot still within itself.

 

[Diehardblues]

The 2014 team has NOTHING to do with this 2016 team. Nothing what so ever. The comparison is foolish.

There are some common ingredients.

2014 is the Cowboys model for success this era.

Now whether we can duplicate that remains to be seen. But apparently is the mind set not only from our front office but many fans.

 

[Diehardblues]

What's this got to do with his point?

People just assume this is a basic formula. This defense is more talented than the 2014 one, ergo, this defense should be much better resulting in a better season than 2014 (or as good).

It doesn't work that way.

What's interesting is our front office formula duplicating our success in 2014 reflects our lack of priority on defense.

If you look around the NFL and NFC particular most of the top teams who are contending for Super Bowl have built great defenses with the exception of Green Bay who rely on who I think is the best QB in the NFL.

And the Packers lone ring with Rodgers was with their best defense .

Again ,interesting that the Cowboys model is quite different from teams in NFC with more proven success in recent years.

 

[DallasCowboys2080]

Record wise the Cowboys are a mediocore team right now. No dispute about that whatsoever. Garrett led Cowboys are a mediocore team. No dispite. You can't argue against math. It's like 12-4 and 4-12 work to neutralize or cancel each other out. If 4-12 was an anomaly and you don't think 12-4 was than that's on you. If you think 12-4 is really the Cowboys and not 4-12 than that's on you. Math says they are somewhere between that....hence mediocre. So untill they come out out this season and tip the scale either way lower than mediocre or higher than mediocore we are still medicore. Expecting more or less is just that expectations but there is no expectations for being a .500 ball club. That's the straight forward cold hard truth.

We are .500 Champs right now untill someome dethrones us from such a position.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

It's difficult to repeat what made a team successful in a season.

Consider the 1992 and 1993 iterations of the Cowboys. They were both super bowl winning teams, but they faced different struggles.

I doubt it will be 2014 all over again even if Elliot has a good season.