Disclaimer: It’s a slow news day and I’m running out of books to read, so take a moment to stretch your eyes…this is gonna be a long one. For those of you who intend to drop the “TL/DR” in my comments anyway, I’m not saying you are stupid for not wanting to read, but I will say that is a common denominator of stupid people.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Ring Side Seats concept, essentially this grants you (the reader) an opportunity to view the battle royale that internally and eternally rages between my inner-optimist, pessimist and realist, represented by Me, Myself, and I respectively.
ME
By now, most of you are completely up to date on why you should be optimistic for the 2019 football season. The Cowboys sport one of the best young and talented rosters in the league. The Cowboys dumped Linehan (this years whipping boy to justify Garrett’s continued employment) in favor of Moore (this years Red-Headed-Jesus). Dak reportedly has improved on his mechanics – specifically his footwork. Hold-out aside, it’s nice to enter a football season where Zeke isn’t fat. The receiving group overall talent and depth appears to be the best it has been in quite some time. Witten and Frederick are back in the saddle, so-to-speak. The defense that at times turned in elite efforts in 2018 has the potential to be even better in 2019. And Garrett, the original Red-Headed-Jesus, is in the last year of his contract…his back against the wall, armed with perhaps the best overall roster this team has sported since the early nineties, this seems to be the year we devoted fanatics find out what he really is about. After all, if he can’t get it done with this team, he can’t get it done with any team.
Does that about sum it up for everyone?
If it does, you haven’t the slightest idea how deep that rabbit hole really goes.
There are a number of moments in the history of the Cowboys where you can look back and say “It all started here…” followed be a date and a little context. For instance, I could say it all started in 1992, when with the support of his father (Jim Garrett – Dallas Cowboys scout 1987 - 2004) Jason was added as a Free Agent to the Dallas Cowboys. He was later released and added to the practice squad.
It wasn’t until 1993 that Garrett cracked the 53, becoming the 3rd QB on the roster behind Troy Aikman and Hugh Millen. Garrett’s career as a Cowboy was mostly a quiet one what with Future Hall-of-Famer and current game-analyst Troy Aikman being in the thick of his heyday.
But one instance in JGeezy’s career does stick out in particular for Cowboys fans and that was the 1994 Thanksgiving game against the Brett Favre-led Green Bay Packers. Still the backup to the backup, Garrett received this opportunity by merit of an injury to Rodney Peete’s sprained thumb, received in the previous weeks battle against the hated rival Washington Commanders. Garrett was not a professional caliber quarterback….even he admits that. But on that day, against that really good Packers team, Garrett completed 15 of 26 passes for 311 yards and 2 touchdowns in the second half for a comeback win; final scoreboard Dallas 42 Green Bay 31.
Flash-forward to November 8, 2010: Garrett has just been named as the interim head coach for the Cowboys, replacing the much-maligned Wade Phillips. The team in that moment in history has completely quit and it is painfully obvious to everyone, which is why Wade did not survive the season. As for their playoff chances, the season is already over. And the starting quarterback, Tony Romo, is out for the year. On the weekend menu is a good New York Giants team that is heavily favored to win.
Enters one John Kitna, an over-the-hill has-been, that has neither the wheels or the arm strength to scare a Pop-Warner defensive coordinator. What happen next folks is absolutely the reason why Jason Garrett is still your Head Coach:
Somehow, some way with a team that had quit, with a QB that was a shell of his former self (and that former self was never regarded as anything more than a bus driver), an offensive line that was old and failing, and a defense that was barely passable by anyone’s standard, figured out a way to dominate the Giants to the tune of 35 to 19. After going 1 and 8 to start the year, the Cowboys would finish the season 5 and 3, forcing Jerry’s hand to remove the interim status from Jason’s Head Coach title.
Now let’s flash-forward to August 2016:
Dak Prescott began his journey at the beginning of that fateful 2016 season as a bottom of the fourth compensatory draft pick, brought in to be fourth on the quarterback depth chart behind Jameill Showers, Kellen Moore and Tony Romo sporting the jersey #4 in honor of his mother who was born September 4th. Within a few weeks, Dak climbed past Jameill and in those same weeks, Kellen Moore had an offensive lineman fall in his lap, putting him out for the season.
On August 25th, the Cowboys faced the Legion of Boom in an exhibition contest. Within a few snaps, Romo was sidelined with what we would later learn to be the injury that ultimately ended his career. Dak was already turning heads up to this point, with good outings against both the Rams and the Dolphins, but at the time no one was respecting those defenses and Dak was being mostly overlooked. So, when Dak had to run in to replace Romo, on a 3rd down and 7, pretty much everyone was waiting for a layup play that would lead to either a field goal attempt or punt. Dak did not get the memo, quickly completing a pass to Beasley for a first down like he had been doing that his entire life.
Dak’s first season didn’t end the way we fans would have liked it to; but it will go down as one of the most enjoyable seasons as a fan of the Dallas Cowboys that I can remember in 40 years on this earth.
In the years that followed, one thing or another derailed the seasons, preventing the Cowboys from recapturing that magic of 2016. In 17, there were the injuries to Sean Lee and Tyrone Smith along with the 6 game Zeke suspension and all the drama that lead up to it. In 18, the lack of a premier receiving targets for Dak in due course led to a dismal 3 and 5 start and an in-game injury to Antwaun Woods opened the door for the Rams to run the Cowboys right out of the playoffs.
And now we are here, having come to what I believe may be full circle:
4 former Dallas Cowboys back-ups are responsible for what the offense will be in 2019; Garrett as Head Coach, Moore as Offensive Coordinator, Kitna as QB Coach and Dak as your Face of the Franchise. If Saturday’s contest against the Rams is any indication, pre-snap motion, creativity, and aggression will all be 4-quarter-mainstays going into 2019, something lacking in these parts for several years now. All of this will be supplemented by both polished (Witten/Cobb/Morris/the entire Offensive Line minus Connor) and budding talent (Dak/Zeke/Cooper/Pollard/Jarwin). And while the majority of my focus has been devoted to the offense thus far, please do not misinterpret that as me saying the offense is the straw that stirs this drink; at this point, nothing could be further from the truth.
The Cowboys very well may have the best young defense in the league. It is far from a foregone conclusion, mind you, but the potential is absolutely there. With the defense of 2018 maintaining what they had into 2019, which featured an aggressive and tenacious defensive line, supported by a dynamic tandem of linebackers shutting everything down that sought to expose the Cowboys perimeter backed up by a very stingy secondary, a sprinkle here and there of players like Robert Quinn rekindling his career, Taco removing the bust label, Xavier exercising the ghost of Earl Thomas and second year players like Dorance Armstrong taking the next step, the Cowboys could have a perfect storm of sorts forming right underneath are noses:
An offense that keeps the opposition guessing with a whole bunch of fast-moving parts, balanced against an unyielding and opportunistic defense.
Garrett knows this may very well be his last chance to further his legacy beyond being good but not good enough, as a QB, Offensive Coordinator and now Head Coach.
Moore knows the microscope is on and aimed squarely at him. The rest of his career in football very well could be decided within a few short months. Unfortunately for him, the hype-machine preceded his entrance and nothing short of witnessing offensive genius in action will be considered acceptable by the Cowboy watching masses.
Dak enters his fourth year. The game has slowed down. There are few things he hasn’t seen from opposing defenses 3 years deep into his professional career. The weapons and offensive line the front office has surrounded him with is considered to be among the best in the league, though, admittedly the receiving core has some proving to do. Zeke’s current holdout may just set the stage for Dak’s next dare-to-be-great moment.
In 2016, he could have been the first rookie QB to win a Super Bowl…swing and a miss. He was late to that train during Zeke’s suspension of 2017. And missed that opportunity again in 2018, having to try and carry a receiving core spear-headed by Allen Hurns. Maybe, just maybe, number 4 will be a charm (wink)…
And Marinelli/Richard may just be sitting on the best collection of young talent they have ever had the pleasure of presiding over…and that is saying a whole lot for both.
At this point, it is only a matter of putting it all together in time for the regular season. And if Zeke’s holdout should continue, I doubt very seriously that will save anyone’s job because every team in the National Football League is going to have to figure out a way to win without Zeke….the Cowboys may not be the exception to that rule.
MYSELF
I’ll start with the low-hanging fruit - In any conversation where you are deciding what is going to happen in the NFCE, it is always good to start with this little factual nugget:
No NFCE team has repeated as division champs since the Eagles did it in 2004…15 years ago. Part of this is a result of said teams having a first-place schedule, versus whatever schedule they had the previous year. A first-place schedule means that 2 games out of the 16 will be against the first-place contender of another division, whereas everyone else in the division will get to play against the team that placed as they did.
So, in 2019 the Cowboys get to play the Saints in their house and host the Rams (incidentally, the two teams that battled for the right to play the Patriots in the Super Bowl last year), while the Eagles get the Falcons and Seahawks, the Giants visit the Bucs / host the Cardinals and the Commanders get the Panthers/49ers. This significant variance in schedule could mean all the difference in how the seasons ends, since more often than not in the NFCE, the division winner is decided by no more than 1 game.
Another aspect of this phenomenon to consider is that when the Giants, Commanders and Eagles were putting together their perspective offseason plans, the question they all sought to answer coming into this season was how to beat the Dallas Cowboys. Free Agency, Draft, and other roster building measures were all done with that one goal in mind. Make no mistake, if those teams are prepared to beat anyone, it’s Dallas.
Admittedly the Cowboys do have a young and talented roster…and that means absolutely nothing in the NFL. Because at the end of the day, youth and talent plays a ridiculously small part in deciding who wins. Part of that is the result of the salary cap preventing teams from collecting and stockpiling talent like the NY Yankees / LA Lakers. But the other part of that is a good ole life lesson: Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard.
Now…I’m not saying the Cowboys haven’t worked hard…we have come a long way since Camp Cupcake. But make no mistake, 31 other teams are working hard right now as we speak. If the Cowboys fall into that rut again of thinking they can out-talent and overwhelm the opposition, they are in for a very rude awakening.
Whether or not the Cowboys still makes the playoffs, hinges on things outside of the players and coaches’ control. The ugly truth is if Zeke’s holdout continues into the regular season, the Cowboys chances to make the playoffs reduce to some place between slim and none. I really like Pollard and I do believe he is more than just a Web / Change-of-Pace Back. But he’s not built to be a bell cow. If he came with instructions, you would see a warning in bold letter’s:
Not Intended for Prolonged Use.
As a back up to Zeke, Pollard has the potential to be great; a few more touches per contest then what he got against the Rams this past Saturday might be ideal. But anything beyond that for an entire football season would likely end with him on IR.
Last year’s defense was so good and the hype coming into this season is so real, that as a Cowboys fan I can’t help but think that maybe we are in for a massive disappointment. It never seems to fail with these here Cowboys. In the years we expect a parade in the following years February, the Cowboys notoriously disappoint and underperform. Every year has it’s own set of reasons and excuses, but the last time the Cowboys had a good year in an odd year was 2009, when they finished 1st in the division at 11 and 5. Since, the odd years have not been kind:
2011: 8 & 8
2013: 8 & 8
2015: 4 & 12
2017: 9 & 7 (Zeke’s suspended/Tyron & Lee injured)
It’s a depressing truth to accept, I know….especially at this point in the season where for most hope springs eternal. But facts are facts. The Cowboys are poised and setup to fail at an epic level. The positive vibes and ardent belief in this team that is currently being shared by the masses is going to turn into a vile and hostile cesspool of poisonous hate the first time the Cowboys lose…and don’t be surprised when it happens right here in Dallas on Sunday Night football, September 8th against the New York Football Giants.
I
As the designated voice of reason in my otherwise schizophrenic concept, I feel the need to open with the most important consideration that all football fans should embrace before delving into the regular season:
It ain’t that serious. Football is just a game. Outside of being a member of the 12th man at home games and the assistance you provide to pay those player salaries through the purchase of tickets and team paraphernalia, what our team accomplishes is not a reflection of you. It is not something we should pride ourselves in because we really have done nothing other than develop a weird connection to laundry that happens to meet a certain color scheme. When a guy wearing that color scheme carries a ball across a line, we lose our freaking minds….or at least, I’m guessing from an alien’s perspective that’s exactly what it looks like.
Football is entertainment and that is all it is…and for us, that’s all it will ever be.
Part of the reason I don’t contribute as I used to is because I started sounding like a broken record. One chorus line in my annual song and dance is Journey over Destination. If you remain a fan long enough, this evolution will probably happen all by itself as it did with me. When it hits you, it will strike with the power of a thousand slaps upside the head.
There was a time in my fandom I notoriously and religiously rode the hype wave in every early fall only to see my hopes dashed and destroyed against the rocks of reality in December or January.
I’ve been a fan my entire life but didn’t really start paying close attention and learning the game until around 2003 when Parcells was hired. Up until about 3 or 4 years ago, the week following that game where the Cowboys got ousted again, was a very sad week…not just for me but for everyone I encountered…family, friends, enemies…didn’t matter. I was distraught and beyond cheering up. Seven months would go by slowly but surely mending my wounds and I would re-inter the fray surer than ever that this was the Cowboys year. Wash, rinse, repeat.
If you can relate to the above in any way, do yourself a favor and accept the following: The Cowboys may never come close to sniffing a Super Bowl again. That is the reality of this sport. If you are in it for that desired destination, I won’t say you are in it for the wrong reasons, but you are setting yourself up for massive and miserable failure. You can blame the owner. You can blame the coach. You can blame the players. But at the end of the day, the only person at fault for your misery is you….it is completely and one hundred percent self-inflicted.
So, rather than hinging all of your hopes and dreams on to that desired final destination that you otherwise have no control over, instead embrace the pageantry and mystique of each game. Revel in the accomplishments and understand that with each setback and challenge, comes growth for this young team along with it’s young offensive coordinator, who will have is own set of growing pains. Accept this now or let it beat you down later. Your choice!
Thoughts?
