I'm not usually the most "glass half full" fan and most of you guys know that (all too well!), but in looking at this team, what they accomplished in 2016, their youth, and the players they're adding in both the draft and free agency, my hopes are SKY HIGH!
I'm just seeing signs for improvement and reasons for optimism each and every place I look.
I need a dose of reality from some fellow fans to tell me what I should be worried about. (Other than backup QB, that one might be legit based on the Romo, no-Romo beliefs)
But the more I look at this team, the more excited for what they can be in 2017 and beyond I get.
Someone talk me out of it!
I would never attempt to stifle your optimism. We are "past due" for some good fortune and success in the playoffs.
I think how someone would project us going forward depends on how you want to look at it. Reasons for optimism are:
1. If Dak plays as well as he did last year we are going to win a hell of a lot more games than we lose. He played other worldly for a rookie.
2. Jaylon Smith and Charles Tapper. These guys could very well set the world on fire.
3. Better depth all over the roster than we have had during Red's entire tenure.
4. A very good offensive line. If Collins kicks out to tackle that could well be an improvement over Free, the human turnstile.
5. Zeke is the best back in the NFL. He makes the rest of the offensive engine hum.
6. Heath will play better than the DB he replaced. Our rookie DBs carry pretty good credentials. We could easily be better on the back end.
7. Collins is stronger than he was last year with a full year in an NFL weight room. He will be a force on the DL.
8. I think that the Cowboys have been hiding their optimism about Tapper and Jaylon even though they ARE clearly expecting great things from both.
Reasons to wring your hands:
1. Last year we had a very good year in terms of lack of injuries and very good team health other than Romo. That is likely to regress towards the mean.
2. The secondary is inexperienced and the NFC opponents got better on offense, especially at wide receiver.
3. We let Leary go which was a huge mistake. It wouldn't have hurt much without Collins flipping out to RT. If Collins wins the RT spot, then we could be really compromised at LG unless Cooper regains his college form.
4. Dak had a great year and was very fortunate he didn't have more turnovers. Teams dropped several sure INTS. That isn't likely to happen as much.
5. Dak has been on the team a year. Maybe that is long enough to break him from all the good habits he shied last year as a rookie. The team has probably been brain washing him incessantly about throwing to a covered Dez because of course he's always open even when he's not. Don't worry about those ints. Just throw it to Dez to keep his head right.
6. We are still pissing off way too much cap room on under performing players and will begin to lose more good players. We are over paying Dez, Witten, Crawford, et. al.
7. We have a first place schedule.
8. We selected at the bottom of the draft. We didn't likely get as many hits as we think we did.
9. Taco was a reach. He isn't any better than what we already have on the roster. So we may have wasted our first round pick.
10. We got the bounces last year in a few games. We won't be quite as lucky this year.
