Saddled with the patriotic responsibility of monitoring a slow-dripping inbound telemarketing sales line, I have some spare time on my hands. With the recent signing of Dez and the reduction of time from Hardy’s suspension, the Cowboys seem to have everything going their way. Am I the only one who finds that to be disconcerting?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to shift the overall mood of the board back to the doom-and-gloom days of just a year ago (couldn’t if I was trying, right?), but this Cowboys team always seems to do better when the expectations are low. When expectations are high, the Cowboys of the last decade have notoriously failed to come even close to meeting them. It seems to never fail.
With that in mind, and boredom as my motivation, I thought it would be a good idea to dig up some reasons why the nation’s high expectations for the Cowboys this year may be ill-founded.
My first stop should be obvious; no more Demarco Murray. I agree with the sentiment that he left yards on the field. I agree Philly paid him too much money. I agree that Randy Gregory was a steal where the Cowboys were able to get him in the 2nd round and given their apparent need for a pass-rush the Cowboys would have been foolish to pass him up. And, finally, I agree that by the 3rd round all of the difference making running backs who would be considered an upgrade over what the Cowboys already have had been taken.
What I don’t agree with is the idea that a combination of JoRan, DeMac, Dunbar, and/or Williams somehow replaces what Demarco Murray produced. Granted, he wasn’t the fastest guy…what burst he had was over quickly and often led to him being dragged down from behind….often times by guys that had no business running down an NFL runningback…but I digress. What Demarco Murray did do made a whole lot of difference to this entire football team.
Demarco straight up punished defenses. He set a tone. When the Cowboys needed that 1 yard, Demarco got it. And it made all the difference in the world to all three phases of the football game to the Cowboys. Demarco may never be the same guy he was in 2014, but nevertheless, that guy very well could be severely missed in 2015.
Injuries. Need I say more? Probably not, but again I’m bored so here goes.
I’m not sure exactly when it started, but it seems for the Cowboys of the last half-decade, injuries to starters has notoriously topped the list of excuses for perennial contention failure. Admittedly, part of this has been due to the Cowboys front office gambling on talented players with spotty injury history, Sean Lee and Demarco Murray being prime examples. With that said, I am sure I will not be alone in the act of holding my breath as the injury list comes out each day from training camp to the end of the season, wherever that may be.
Some may say that injuries will not be as much of an issue as it has been in previous years because the Cowboys have improved depth.
Oh really?
If so, name the starter you would be comfortable with being replaced and by whom?
Sure, La’el Collins looks to be a great get for the Cowboys, all things considered, but as a rookie there is no guarantee he is the second coming of Zach Martin. The same could be said of Randall Gregory and Byron Jones. Again, they look to be solid players, but looks can be deceiving as many of us learned from the acquisition of Morris Claiborne. So I understand many of you wouldn’t mind seeing the Cowboys field their shiny new toys in lieu of starters like Mincey, Carr, and Free/Leary, conventional wisdom tells us at the moment the Cowboys have almost as many question marks in their depth as they did last year, though I’m sure they feel considerably better about it just the same.
Regression. Coming into last year, there were absolutely no laurels to rest on for anyone. The nation and fans-alike had already written the Cowboys off as 8 and 8 or less and many were leaning towards a year of epic failure.
At the time, I contributed a thread of a different sort sighting the Cowboys had question marks, but it wasn’t hopeless. My intent, is somewhat the same with this contribution, only now I am asking Cowboy nation to put the glass of blue and silver koolaid down for a second and not allow their hopes to get too high… especially before the season has even began. Many of the same questions from last year still haunt the Cowboys.
But the one new one that could sneak up on us is players not working like they did entering 2014. In 2014 their mission was simple. Prove the football-watching nation wrong! Now, unlike last year, they are proven. They will not sneak up on any team. And every team the Cowboys face this year will likely have that date circled.
The question is, did all 53 players that eventually make this team continue to work like everyone still didn’t believe? Because if they didn’t, we may see regression. We may see players report to camp overweight. A few players got shiny new contracts; will they continue to work and perform like they are still chasing the money? A few players got older; can they maintain at a pro level?
Regression in some form or another happens to ever team every year, be it due to aging, sophomore slumps, contractual contentment, pure laziness or other. It is one of the secret ingredients to the parity of this game. But the Cowboys have a history of regressing in particular following great years. Having gone 12 and 4 last year, the Cowboys could be due for another dose of relapse.
Schematic Effectiveness or lack thereof. Last year, Jason Garrett’s vision for how this offense should and could work was fulfilled. What he has preached from the moment he took the Head Coach whistle took shape and the Cowboys in many games embarrassed the opposition….dominated them even.
How the Cowboys performed last year, made many organizations sit up and take notice. Some of these teams will make the attempt to copy what the Cowboys did. Other more established organization will probably stay true to their scheme, however, they will be looking to implement slight changes in an attempt to thwart the Cowboys attack…and, it should be noted, some will succeed in doing just that. It is the reality, nature and beauty of football; no one scheme is perfect and unbeatable. Every approach has its pros and cons.
So while on paper, the Cowboys roster looks set to improve on the execution of last year’s scheme, dependent on how other teams respond to last year tape could mean a step in the wrong direction for this year’s iteration of the Cowboys.
While I am sure there are new and creative ways the Cowboys could find to epically fail, I’m pretty sure the most likely culprits of 2015 have been covered in the previous. Again, this is not intended to depress anyone…just trying to keep the board grounded in their expectations…that and as I mentioned repeatedly before, I’m bored…
That usually spells trouble we'll have to wait and see if the Cowboys can buck this trend.
