Honestly, I couldn't see how this years team could not be better than it was in 2014. My rationale was...
I had watched Elliot play a good bit over his college career and he looked like a special RB to me, tailor-built for sticking his foot in the ground behind the Dallas OL. I had never seen a back see and explode through holes like Zeke did at Ohio State, and I thought with Romo and Dez healthy, Elliot could lift the Dallas O to another level. I thought getting Lee and OScan back on the field together for the first time in three years was significant, that TCrawford and TMcClain would improve just by being healthy and Thornton was a huge upgrade over Hayden. Carr moving back to the right side where he excelled in KC was reviving his career and a healthy Claiborne was having the best camp of any Cowboy. Add in Jones focusing on a single position in his second full camp and a rookie CB showing up in camp and preseason games--it blew my mind the way the "experts" were predicting historically bad defense in Dallas and discounting the Cowboys as contenders because of it. Was no one paying attention?
I'm an optimist, but I always wait through at least a couple of regular season games before I let myself make any judgements or get emotional. I was doing that in the preseason and feeling pretty darn good about finding a quality backup QB and maybe Romo's replacement, and then Romo went down. I liked what I saw in Dak, but he was a rookie, right? My optimism revised itself as I went into hope mode and everyone wondered how long it would take Tony to heal and what our record would be when he got back.
So, what were/are my expectations?
Parity rules in the NFL. Four playoff teams miss the postseason every year, so all things considered, including everything above, Dak's performance in the preseason and the state of the division, I was thinking 10-6, NFCE championship and a 3-4 seed in the playoffs. But the team's outlook has obviously changed since then. The schedule gets a little tougher in the second half, but the Dallas Cowboys are a good team playing power football. They are 7-1 with a game and a half lead on the NYG in the division. And something seems different. I don't know where it's coming from (youth?), but this team has quiet swag, and unlike the recent past I don't spend the hours before a game wondering which Cowboys team will show up. We still have a rookie QB, who I think is THE MAN, but conservatively this kind of feels like 12-4 and home field through the playoffs.
