Pre-preseason power rankings

[CowboyRoy]

If everyone is healthy then there is no way the Chiefs, Seahawks, Raiders, Vikings, or Commanders are better than us. Jacksonville actually looks like they could be a good team after being horrid for a long time. But that's just a could, not a currently are. Steelers are also starting to fall off.

 

[Jstopper]

I'll try, in no random order.

Pats, Steelers, Bengals, Chiefs, Green Bay, Cardinals, Seahawks, Panthers, Broncos. That's 9.

I think the Raiders will be better. They are a younger version of us with a better defense IMO. That's 10 teams. Vikings look better too so that's 11 teams you could argue could be better. Now it gets dicey. Jacksonville is loaded on defense and at the skill positions. They certainly could be better than us in 2016. So that's 12 teams. Skins won the division and improved this offseason and have a smart GM. They could certainly be better so that's 13 teams.

It's not hard to come up with 13 teams that could be better than us.

I mean realistically what are we? A potentially explosive offense led by a QB that is a question mark health wise and a defense that lacks real stars and talent and is counting on retreads and rookies and inexperienced guys to make major impacts early. This Cowboys team could be really good or be really mediocre. You just don't know.

What in the hell? The chiefs, raiders, Vikings Jaguars and Commanders are not better than us and I see no logical argument being formed to say otherwise. There are not 13 teams better than us in this league. Even the Steelers are arguable. Big Ben is going on 35 and he has been injured a lot recently same as Romo They are built very similarly to us. I know the 4-12 season sucked but come on now.

 

[Jstopper]

Yep and who are we trotting out at LB next to Lee? This team could very well go under 30 sacks again this year.

I have a strong feeling we won't be seeing you posting much during the season. Cause you're gonna get flamed when we're sitting near the top of the NFC

 

[Idgit]

They are only silly if they dont project what you want right?

No. They're silly because the rosters aren't set and when the games matter you've got records to tell you who's good and who's not.

How could you mess that one up? That was a slam dunk if I've ever seen one.

 

[Sydla]

What in the hell? The chiefs, raiders, Vikings Jaguars and Commanders are not better than us and I see no logical argument being formed to say otherwise. There are not 13 teams better than us in this league. Even the Steelers are arguable. Big Ben is going on 35 and he has been injured a lot recently same as Romo They are built very similarly to us. I know the 4-12 season sucked but come on now.

LOL. Whatever you say.

Maybe we are better than those 5 but the point is that you can definitely argue that we aren't better than those 5 for sure either. Shoot, the Chiefs and Vikings went 11-5 last year so it's not like they are chopped liver teams.

Take off the blue and silver goggles. This Cowboys team has WAY too many questions at this point to be stating that they are definitely better than teams like the Chiefs.

 

[Jstopper]

LOL. Whatever you say.

Maybe we are better than those 5 but the point is that you can definitely argue that we aren't better than those 5 for sure either. Shoot, the Chiefs and Vikings went 11-5 last year so it's not like they are chopped liver teams.

Take off the blue and silver goggles. This Cowboys team has WAY too many questions at this point to be stating that they are definitely better than teams like the Chiefs.

Take off your negative goggles. If our qb is hewlthy we are better than all those teams period. Romo won all his games last year besides his shortened thanksgiving game against the best team in the NFC. Our defense is better than the 2014 edition. The grass is always greener tho eh?

 

[Sydla]

Take off your negative goggles. If our qb is hewlthy we are better than all those teams period. Romo won all his games last year besides his shortened thanksgiving game against the best team in the NFC. Our defense is better than the 2014 edition. The grass is always greener tho eh?

It's not negative goggles. It's called reality. This team has so many holes that it's pretty impossible to say with certainty that this team is definitely better than say the Chiefs, who won 11 games last year or the Vikings, who also won 11 games last year.

You have no idea if this defense will be better than the 2014 one.

1) Our two best DEs are out for four games, on a team that already had serious pass rush problems.

2) We returned basically the same secondary that was like 26th in the league in opposing passer ratings. Oh yeah blame the pass rush. See #1.

3) LB depth is a concern and we don't have McClain.

The only thing you can point to with certainty IMO is that the interior DL looks strong and has depth. Other than that, it's questions all over the defense. Maybe they put it all together. But there is a decent chance our defense will be no better than last year's defense.

There are so many unknowns on this team that their win total could be anywhere from 11 wins to 6 wins IMO. And because of that, it's silly IMO to claim that the Cowboys are without a doubt much better than the Vikings, for example.

 

[CowboysRule]

It's not negative goggles. It's called reality. This team has so many holes that it's pretty impossible to say with certainty that this team is definitely better than say the Chiefs, who won 11 games last year or the Vikings, who also won 11 games last year.

You have no idea if this defense will be better than the 2014 one.

1) Our two best DEs are out for four games, on a team that already had serious pass rush problems.

2) We returned basically the same secondary that was like 26th in the league in opposing passer ratings. Oh yeah blame the pass rush. See #1.

3) LB depth is a concern and we don't have McClain.

The only thing you can point to with certainty IMO is that the interior DL looks strong and has depth. Other than that, it's questions all over the defense. Maybe they put it all together. But there is a decent chance our defense will be no better than last year's defense.

There are so many unknowns on this team that their win total could be anywhere from 11 wins to 6 wins IMO. And because of that, it's silly IMO to claim that the Cowboys are without a doubt much better than the Vikings, for example.

This defense will be better than last year, just like it has gotten better every year since being last. Lawrence being out sucks but Gregory did basically nothing last year. Crawford is a better pass rusher and he should be healthy this year. I believe it was his shoulder that was bothering him all last year. We returned our #1 corner to that secondary and moved our #1 pick last year to safety full time. But your right, that probably won't help at all...plus Claiborne is in a contract year so I expect a good year from him.

I think Hitchens can fill in fine for McClain. He struggled last year but I'm in the group that expects him to rebound now that he is getting the first team reps and concentrating on one position. Now if Lee goes down...we're screwed there.

 

[LittleLexodus]

I had a giggle at those rankings.

We are easily top 10.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I have a strong feeling we won't be seeing you posting much during the season. Cause you're gonna get flamed when we're sitting near the top of the NFC

Are we talking about the defense or the team overall. Try to stay on topic here. I have said nothing about how the team will perform overall.

 

[Sydla]

This defense will be better than last year, just like it has gotten better every year since being last. Lawrence being out sucks but Gregory did basically nothing last year. Crawford is a better pass rusher and he should be healthy this year. I believe it was his shoulder that was bothering him all last year. We returned our #1 corner to that secondary and moved our #1 pick last year to safety full time. But your right, that probably won't help at all...plus Claiborne is in a contract year so I expect a good year from him.

I think Hitchens can fill in fine for McClain. He struggled last year but I'm in the group that expects him to rebound now that he is getting the first team reps and concentrating on one position. Now if Lee goes down...we're screwed there.

Claiborne was essentially in a contract year last year and wasn't great. So not sure why we should expect him to light it up now in this contract year.

Scandrick is coming off a major knee injury. I really like Jones but he's playing FS full time for the first time. We really aren't sure what we have in him yet.

These highlight the point. If things do break right for us, we can be a pretty good team. But things easily could break wrong for us in a lot of key areas, yet people seem to want to ignore that as if it's not possible the pass rush could stink again and the secondary could let opposing QBs have a 97 QB rating against them.

Given this, I think it's foolish at this point to claim there is no way a Vikings or Chiefs team, for example, could be better than us. Maybe we will be. That's certainly a possibility. But I think there is serious bust potential with this team.

 

[CowboyRoy]

No. They're silly because the rosters aren't set and when the games matter you've got records to tell you who's good and who's not.

How could you mess that one up? That was a slam dunk if I've ever seen one.

Power rankings ARE stupid especially right now before training camp ends. But it does give an opinion of how good someone thinks a team can be. Dont we do that all day long on here?

 

[Jstopper]

It's not negative goggles. It's called reality. This team has so many holes that it's pretty impossible to say with certainty that this team is definitely better than say the Chiefs, who won 11 games last year or the Vikings, who also won 11 games last year.

You have no idea if this defense will be better than the 2014 one.

1) Our two best DEs are out for four games, on a team that already had serious pass rush problems.

2) We returned basically the same secondary that was like 26th in the league in opposing passer ratings. Oh yeah blame the pass rush. See #1.

3) LB depth is a concern and we don't have McClain.

The only thing you can point to with certainty IMO is that the interior DL looks strong and has depth. Other than that, it's questions all over the defense. Maybe they put it all together. But there is a decent chance our defense will be no better than last year's defense.

There are so many unknowns on this team that their win total could be anywhere from 11 wins to 6 wins IMO. And because of that, it's silly IMO to claim that the Cowboys are without a doubt much better than the Vikings, for example.

1) The only DE that will be out for 4 games is Lawrence. Gregory did absolutely nothing last year so he is not our 2nd best DE. He was outperformed by David Irving who will be our bright spot this year.

2) Scandrick our best corner was not here last year. Byron Jones was not a full time safety and he was a rookie. Definitely not the same secondary And again the pass rush will be better this year than last.

3) linebacker depth is better this year than it was last year. So idk where that is coming from. McClain with his suspensions injuries and games spent trying to get into shape is balanced out with Durant.

In addition to the fact that our defense will get a lot more chances to pin their ears back and get after the qb since Romo and the boys will actually be putting up numbers on offense unlike last year. We saw that this formula worked just 2 years ago and we are upgraded at lots of positions from there til now. So that may be your reality but this is mine. As long as Romo is healthy this team will not see less than 10 wins saying 6 wins is ridiculous imo when Romo already took the 3rd worst defense in history to an 8-8 record. But then again all teams success is predicated on the health of their franchise qbs.

 

[theebs]

I didn't look at the ratings because this is nonsense.

I have to ask though because I keep seeing people everywhere saying this but what is so great about the jets? I thought fitzpatrick was lousy in December and honestly am surprised they are expecting so much of him. He played pretty erratic if not poor last year when they needed him most. Should have lost here in Dallas and was pretty poor against buffalo.

I think people pulling for the jets and the texans are going to have there bubble burst.

 

[Idgit]

Power rankings ARE stupid especially right now before training camp ends. But it does give an opinion of how good someone thinks a team can be. Dont we do that all day long on here?

We do. I guess we could make a good argument that what we're doing here in the offseason is stupid. Not sure I'd dispute it, either.

 

[CowboyRoy]

We do. I guess we could make a good argument that what we're doing here in the offseason is stupid. Not sure I'd dispute it, either.

100% completely in agreement. Most of what we all talk about is nonsense.

This is all pretty simple actually. The season is going to come down to one thing and one thing only. The health of Tony Romo.

If Romo is not healthy the season will be horrid and it will be another top 10 pick. If he is relatively healthy then we can go anywhere from 8-8 to 12-4. Maybe win a playoff game or possibly two. Personally I see little to no chance at having a shot at the SB.

Thoughts?

 

[Idgit]

100% completely in agreement. Most of what we all talk about is nonsense.

This is all pretty simple actually. The season is going to come down to one thing and one thing only. The health of Tony Romo.

If Romo is not healthy the season will be horrid and it will be another top 10 pick. If he is relatively healthy then we can go anywhere from 8-8 to 12-4. Maybe win a playoff game or possibly two. Personally I see little to no chance at having a shot at the SB.

Thoughts?

I'd agree with half of that. Even with a healthy Romo, if we can't pressure the other QB, we might qualify for postseason (it'll be close), but we'll have little hope of advancing beyond one or two games against playoff teams. We have to both pass well and stop the pass, and I don't have a lot of faith in our ability to stop the pass.

If Romo does go down, it'll be interesting to see if we have the same order of problems winning games. We'd be a bad team, but last year's problems were more than just losing the QB. We had so much discontinuity and there was discord surrounding Randle and Hardy and a handful of fluke plays. It felt more like we were a weak team that was also snake bit than we were just a bad team. Either way, though, we'd have a top 15 pick, for sure without Tony.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I'm fine with being ranked low. First, we were 4 and 12 and thus should not expect a high rank. Second, if we do put together a powerful team, we'll have the element of surprise.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I'd agree with half of that. Even with a healthy Romo, if we can't pressure the other QB, we might qualify for postseason (it'll be close), but we'll have little hope of advancing beyond one or two games against playoff teams. We have to both pass well and stop the pass, and I don't have a lot of faith in our ability to stop the pass.

If Romo does go down, it'll be interesting to see if we have the same order of problems winning games. We'd be a bad team, but last year's problems were more than just losing the QB. We had so much discontinuity and there was discord surrounding Randle and Hardy and a handful of fluke plays. It felt more like we were a weak team that was also snake bit than we were just a bad team. Either way, though, we'd have a top 15 pick, for sure without Tony.

Fair enough.

IMO, however, the backup QB's this year are worse then last year. And for me, the defense is worse than last year. The ONLY thing I can see that would help is the presence of Zeke Elliott and a stronger run game. And the presence of a healthy Dez.

 

[Idgit]

Fair enough.

IMO, however, the backup QB's this year are worse then last year. And for me, the defense is worse than last year. The ONLY thing I can see that would help is the presence of Zeke Elliott and a stronger run game. And the presence of a healthy Dez.

I agree with the backup QBs. I think we talked about this before, but for it being the #1 offseason priority and they did nothing to address it, that tells you all you need to know. Losing Moore compounds the problem. I don't fault them for a guy breaking bones, it happens. But if they'd brought in legitimate competition for QB2, we wouldn't be in this position. Dak is a QB3 candidate only right now as far as I'm concerned. If he does well in preseason, great. I still want him at QB3 and just developing until next season.

Defense is a bit different. You know I agree that we've got a lot of talent missing on that side of the ball and that we wasted chances to upgrade it for this season. But I do think we've got several young players just coming into their own right now (Lawrence, Jones, Crawford, Irving, maybe). A lot of times units can improve dramatically just by having young players get better. We can't assume that's happening just by what we see in camp, but I could see it happen. As much as I liked the Hardy acquisition last season, I could also see it being addition by subtraction getting him off the roster and a better leader like Scandrick back. I also think McClain being gone is a good thing, overall. I guess I think our overall talent is worse, but expect the unit to be as good or better because we've got younger, deeper, more flexible options available that we didn't have last year. Mostly I think the offense ought to have them in a lot more advantageous positions and they won't be playing from behind as much and might be playing with two-score leads much of the time. If that happens, they probably will look a lot better on paper.

We'll still need to upgrade the talent though. When we play other good offenses, that charade will be exposed.