The case against and for the Cowboys winning the East

[speedkilz88]

Our big problem was run D towards the end. Especially against the 49ers. I'm hoping we're better there.

Is Joseph not better than Anthony Brown? IT would be nice to get him out there if he can play.

Brown will move to starting nickel back over Lewis.

 

[BourbonBalz]

Junior Jones got it all wrong when he said you don't win Super Bowls in the offseason. He should read the Art of War by Sun Tsu. "The battle is won before it is fought". And for we fans " When soldiers fail to follow orders, blame the Generals".

Anyway, I see the offseason like a golf tournament. You cannot play defense. You have to go out and play your best game because there is nothing you can do about how your opponents play. The Cowboys did not play their best game in the offseason but the Giants and Eagles played very well. There has to be consequences for having done a bad job of preparing for the next season while your opponents improved.

I think the Eagles are going to be the team that will give the Cowboys the most problems but the Giants have improved on the OL a lot this year. If they can open some holes for Barkley they can take a lot of the pressure off Jones. But the Giants have to lose their best CB, Bradberry, because they cannot afford to keep him and pay their rookie draft picks. That hurts their defense.

The Eagles season all depends on Hurts. If he improves his throwing at all, the Eagles could take the division. But remember, the Eagles won 7 of their last 10 games last year by running the football. The still have the best offensive line in the division and the best front 7 on defense. I do not count them out. I don't expect Jordan Davis to make a major contribution this year, few rookie DTs do, but the Eagle are getting Brandon Graham back and that is going to help their pass rush a lot. I am picking the Eagles to win the division in a close fought battle with the Cowboys and Giants.

As for the Cowboys, I think the losses of Cooper, Collins and Gregory are going to be greater than we are expecting. I think the loss of Gregory in particular is going to show in 2022. He is a disruptive force on defense and I have serious doubts that Fowler or Sam Williams can replicate Gregory's style of play. Sure Gregory made some mental errors but I still think he more than offset those mistakes with positive plays. I think Cooper will be missed too. I am not a great fan and was fully in favor of trading Cooper this offseason, but I expected they would fill his shoes with a comparable talent. They didn't. Finally, La'el Collins was one of the more physical offensive linemen on the Cowboys. I have doubts that Steele will be as good as Collins. I hope I am wrong. We'll see.

But getting back to Sun Tsu, hoping is not the same as preparation. The Cowboys seem to be crossing their fingers and hoping things work out when they should have shored up their biggest holes with a little more certainty. The Cowboys did nothing this offseason to convince me they are fielding a better team than the 2021 team.

Gregory’s style of play is to rarely be on the field. He’s the most overrated player in Cowboy history.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

The defense is going to have to get better than what we saw last season because it obviously wasn’t good enough. After what I saw against San Francisco in the playoffs I don’t have confidence in either side of the ball right now, especially with the players we’ve lost. If it wasn’t for all the takeaways we got we wouldn’t have gotten some offenses off the field. We couldn’t beat playoff teams and the defense played a part. Our defense didn’t get it done at all in the playoffs. We’re going to have to be better defensively because our offense may not be as good. Our OL and WR group is a concern. We’ve lost three starters on offense and a key role player. We’re going to be starting this season with only one starting WR from last year. We’re going to have to see if the loss of Gregory is going to have any negative affect on us. We have some young players that are going to have to step up. If we struggle offensively it’s going to put more pressure on our defense. We have to get more physical! I don’t see where we’ve improved ourselves in the trenches unless some of these young players we drafted end up making a significant impact.

I understand all of this but how do you come to the conclusion that the Eagles will be better? They’ve done nothing to fix their secondary issues. I love their off-season I just see a gap still present though it’s been shortened.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Brown will move to starting nickel back over Lewis.

Based on how they paid Lewis and Brown I’d say Lewis would be priority.

 

[KJJ]

I understand all of this but how do you come to the conclusion that the Eagles will be better? They’ve done nothing to fix their secondary issues. I love their off-season I just see a gap still present though it’s been shortened.

I said I thought Philly is clearly the better team if Hurts can put it together. That’s a big if! I’m basing it on how they came on at the end of last season and we faded, plus they had a solid off-season and we didn’t. Their backups put up 26 points against our starters in the season finale. We’ve lost some very good players. We’re not as talented as we were and we struggled against good QB play last season. If Hurts can become a viable QB this season that will give them the edge, unless the the Cowboys are better than expected. AJ Brown is going to add a lot to their receiving corp.

 

[speedkilz88]

Based on how they paid Lewis and Brown I’d say Lewis would be priority.

Brown aav is 5.17 million
Lewis aav is 4.5 million

Brown has started over Lewis (both outside and in slot) every year since they've been in the league under two different coaching staffs - 3 different DCs.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

It's still the Cowboy's division to lose but if Hurts shows any improvement, the Eagles will be right there. In other words, with the exception of the QB position, you can argue the Eagles talent level is right there with the Cowboys.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I said I thought Philly is clearly the better team if Hurts can put it together. That’s a big if! I’m basing it on how they came on at the end of last season and we faded, plus they had a solid off-season and we didn’t. Their backups put up 26 points against our starters in the season finale. We’ve lost some very good players. We’re not as talented as we were and we struggled against good QB play last season. If Hurts can become a viable QB this season that will give them the edge, unless the the Cowboys are better than expected. AJ Brown is going to add a lot to their receiving corp.

Oh I’m well aware of what you said. I’m speaking even if Jalen Hurts is better….I still don’t see it. Their issues in the games when we faced them was their defense and secondary. Jalen had some big games against some teams but the Cowboys defense for the better of him. To me in order for them to take the next level they need to feed Sanders more and be a run first team. They spent 100 million of their resources on a receiver.

Brown aav is 5.17 million
Lewis aav is 4.5 million

Brown has started over Lewis (both outside and in slot) every year since they've been in the league under two different coaching staffs - 3 different DCs.

Yeah but Is Anthony Brown under contract for next year? Lewis just got extended last year.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

It's still the Cowboy's division to lose but if Hurts shows any improvement, the Eagles will be right there. In other words, with the exception of the QB position, you can argue the Eagles talent level is right there with the Cowboys.

I’d take the Cowboys secondary over there’s and linebacker for sure. Defensive line they get the edge. I like our quarterbacks, running backs….they got offensive line. Think with Aj you have to give them receiver now with a unhealthy Gallup. Tight end…I think you may have to give that to Cowboys. Schultz was more productive.

 

[Daillest88]

Hell everywhere I’ve seen people are all over the eagles and think there gonna win the east… when cowboys aren’t picked that’s when they usually win it… really believe jalen Tolbert gonna shock a lot of people. How tall is ? 6’1 or 6’3?

 

[Hawkeye0202]

I’d take the Cowboys secondary over there’s and linebacker for sure. Defensive line they get the edge. I like our quarterbacks, running backs….they got offensive line. Think with Aj you have to give them receiver now with a unhealthy Gallup. Tight end…I think you may have to give that to Cowboys. Schultz was more productive.

IF you exclude the QB positions...it's close but as a poster mentioned, they CAN NOT win with their running game.

 

[plasticman]

In 2021 the Cowboys played almost all season without their starting defensive line.

The projected starters were Lawrence, Hill, Gallimore and Gregory. The line was manned by rookies and there were always 2 to 3 rookies on the line early in the season. the Cowboys lost Cox early and then Jaylon Smith's began to deteriorate after never fully recovering from his injury. The exciting new rookie CB, Kelvin Joseph never got on track. Even the backups like Urban were lost to injury.

As well as Parsons played last season, he will know far more about the NFL game this year.

Meanwhile on offense, the new age of Jarwin never materialized, Gallup was out, then in....then out again. The offensive line was weakened by Tyron's health issues, William's penalties, and Collin's stupidity.

The Cowboys were never able to build the proper momentum.

However, this season, the Cowboys defensive draft class last season enters this year with a years experience under their belt. Add to this the fact that they will have the same DC from the previous season. These two facts point to a far improved defense. Pollard is in his contract year and you can bet he is going to want to put on a show. Zeke knows this is his final chance. The offensive line will be helped with better quality backups and a year of playing together with Steele and Biadasz. This familiarity will be vital to the line improving this season.

Despite the diagnosis that .Dak had recovered from his injury, there was no way he could have the confidence to treat his ankle as if it were 100%. He looked tentative. such an injury takes more than one year to recover from. He will be far more confident this season. In addition, Lamb will be the undisputable #1 WR and I believe he is going to embrace that role..

The Eagles improved more than the Cowboys but that gap was so wide that one offseason will not close that gap. They have serious questions at critical positions. Rookies are not plug and play, it takes at least one season to acclimate in most cases.

If the Cowboys are just able to stay healthy and avoid any unnecessary drama they should end up in the NFC championship game.

 

[speedkilz88]

Yeah but Is Anthony Brown under contract for next year? Lewis just got extended last year.

They both signed 3 yr deals but sure Brown's is done a year before Lewis'. But if Joseph wins the outside role they will play the better player in the slot which is Brown.

 

[KJJ]

Oh I’m well aware of what you said. I’m speaking even if Jalen Hurts is better….I still don’t see it. Their issues in the games when we faced them was their defense and secondary. Jalen had some big games against some teams but the Cowboys defense for the better of him. To me in order for them to take the next level they need to feed Sanders more and be a run first team. They spent 100 million of their resources on a receiver.

Yeah but Is Anthony Brown under contract for next year? Lewis just got extended last year.

When we first faced them last season we were playing our best football. We played them in week three and were hitting on all cylinders. The Cowboys aren’t the same team they were then until proven otherwise. They’ve come down and aren’t as talented. It’s going to be difficult for the Cowboys to shake off what happened in the playoffs last year. They could very well enter the 2022 season with a hangover. Philly was playing better football at the end of last season than we were. The arrows appear to be pointing down on the Cowboys. We’ll see how it plays out this season.

 

[Blackrain]

Trenches who's got the trenches doesn't matter how good your quarterback is if you can't protect him and he's continually starting series behind the chains as a result of penalties your destined to fail.

Unfortunately the eagles have a good offensive line They can run the ball and protect their quarterback we have a question mark but not to fear we've drafted the college holding champion to be our Savior

On defense they used to first round pick and added Jordan Davis the player we should have traded up and gotten but Don't worry we made it a point to use a fifth round pick on John Ridgeway.

Hey anything can happen but the eagles have improved in my opinion and when Fletcher Cox and Jordan Davis tee off against our offensive line we will see where we're at.
The winner of that battle wins the division I believe

 

[Bobhaze]

They say records are made to be broken and the longest time without a repeat division winner is the NFC East. The Eagles were the last to repeat in 2004 when they won it for the 4th time in a row.

Since 2004, no East team has repeated and the Cowboys have won 6, the Eagles 5, the Commanders and Giants 3 each with the Giants being the most distant winner in 2011.

Since 2017, no East champ has advanced beyond the division round and the last 3 lost in the Wild Card round. There have been 2 NFL champs in this time frame, the Giants in that 2011 season and the Eagles in 2017.

So, does the NFC East Curse remain for another season with another division champ and if it does, which NFC East team wins it in 2022? Or will the Cowboys break the 17 year Curse and repeat as East champs?

This post is not about the against or for, this thread is.

The Cowboys have more than the NFC East history to overcome. We haven’t even made the playoffs in back to back seasons in 15 years (2006-2007) and even worse, we haven’t won the division back to back since 1994-1995. So there’s that.

I certainly hope we break the 15 and 27 year respective droughts. But this off-season has not made this team better on paper. We can always be surprised by some players. Again, I hope so. But to believe this team is “clearly” the best team in the NFCE requires a thick blue tinted set of fan glasses.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

We finish 2nd or 3rd in the division with D.C. running away with the division esp with their easier schedule and Wentz who will have a positive impact on their offense.

Our issues will be once again the OFFENSE who will struggle to score TD in the Redzone and score the 1st 3 Quarters.

Get your excuses ready as it's gonna worse before it gets better for us!

 

[StarOfGlory]

I’d take the Cowboys secondary over there’s and linebacker for sure. Defensive line they get the edge. I like our quarterbacks, running backs….they got offensive line. Think with Aj you have to give them receiver now with a unhealthy Gallup. Tight end…I think you may have to give that to Cowboys. Schultz was more productive.

Nah, I'll take their tight end. Better blocker, faster, and had to try to be productive with a lesser QB. They know how good he will be, that factored into trading away Ertz.

LB, secondary, QB, RB, punter is us. They have O Line, D Line, TE, WR, kicker. But their WR's are mitigated if Hurts doesn't improve. That factor alone has me still saying that we are the team to best in the division. But if Hurts makes a Josh Allen-like improvement, it's bye bye division.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

They both signed 3 yr deals but sure Brown's is done a year before Lewis'. But if Joseph wins the outside role they will play the better player in the slot which is Brown.

I agree. I just think Lewis is the better slot corner.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Trenches who's got the trenches doesn't matter how good your quarterback is if you can't protect him and he's continually starting series behind the chains as a result of penalties your destined to fail.

Unfortunately the eagles have a good offensive line They can run the ball and protect their quarterback we have a question mark but not to fear we've drafted the college holding champion to be our Savior

On defense they used to first round pick and added Jordan Davis the player we should have traded up and gotten but Don't worry we made it a point to use a fifth round pick on John Ridgeway.

Hey anything can happen but the eagles have improved in my opinion and when Fletcher Cox and Jordan Davis tee off against our offensive line we will see where we're at.
The winner of that battle wins the division I believe

Eagles had a great offensive line last year and it still meant nothing for Hurts. You can't make a quarterback a great player. You just can't. You can give him all the weapons in the world....but at the end of the day Jameis Winston will continue to be Jameis Winston and Jalen Hurts will continue to be Jalen Hurts. You can't hide bad QB play.