Two big things going against us this year - injuries & turnovers

[zerofill]

I can feel it this time. There is no stopping us. We will destroy everything in our path on our way to conquering the division, and then the entire NFL.
We will blaze a path to the super bowl that is legendary... People 100 years from now will say, "Did you read about those 2022 Cowboys?"

Yeah that is what happens when you eat too late at night... you have the most goofy dreams that could never happen in reality.

 

[TequilaCowboy]

Watching Washington go down with Diggs in coverage made me think about two things going against us this year that will make it hard to repeat our winning record.

We were extremely lucky last year on injuries. No big names with season ending injuries. The worst I can think of is that period when both Tank & Gregory were out. Tyron went out but it wasn't for the usual reasons. Yeah, we had that small period where the C-Word took out players, but so did everyone else. The ONLY injury you could say in our favor was Zeke didn't play the same after he was hurt. But some will say that he was losing it before the injury.

We were just as lucky on turnovers last year. Yes, talent causes turnovers but you listen to any veteran player, and they'll also tell you it comes in waves and sometimes has a lot of luck involved. We were #1 in the NFL in turnover differential. Does anyone believe we'll have 26 interceptions again, including another 10+ from Diggs? It can happen. And we were only middle of the pack on forced fumbles so that can improve. But doesn't seem like average teams (which is how we ended) repeat that type of stat twice.

I'm pumped and hope for the best but also realistic that the odds are against us with this.

I would add:

1) Jerry is still here.
2) Stevie is still here
3) Rowdy is still here.

 

[rambo2]

Watching Washington go down with Diggs in coverage made me think about two things going against us this year that will make it hard to repeat our winning record.

We were extremely lucky last year on injuries. No big names with season ending injuries. The worst I can think of is that period when both Tank & Gregory were out. Tyron went out but it wasn't for the usual reasons. Yeah, we had that small period where the C-Word took out players, but so did everyone else. The ONLY injury you could say in our favor was Zeke didn't play the same after he was hurt. But some will say that he was losing it before the injury.

We were just as lucky on turnovers last year. Yes, talent causes turnovers but you listen to any veteran player, and they'll also tell you it comes in waves and sometimes has a lot of luck involved. We were #1 in the NFL in turnover differential. Does anyone believe we'll have 26 interceptions again, including another 10+ from Diggs? It can happen. And we were only middle of the pack on forced fumbles so that can improve. But doesn't seem like average teams (which is how we ended) repeat that type of stat twice.

I'm pumped and hope for the best but also realistic that the odds are against us with this.

The turnovers aren't luck. They happen because they are forced by the way they play defense and the way they are coached.

 

[erod]

Good teams absorb injuries. Bad teams don't.

That excludes quarterbacks obviously.

 

[john van brocklin]

Watching Washington go down with Diggs in coverage made me think about two things going against us this year that will make it hard to repeat our winning record.

We were extremely lucky last year on injuries. No big names with season ending injuries. The worst I can think of is that period when both Tank & Gregory were out. Tyron went out but it wasn't for the usual reasons. Yeah, we had that small period where the C-Word took out players, but so did everyone else. The ONLY injury you could say in our favor was Zeke didn't play the same after he was hurt. But some will say that he was losing it before the injury.

We were just as lucky on turnovers last year. Yes, talent causes turnovers but you listen to any veteran player, and they'll also tell you it comes in waves and sometimes has a lot of luck involved. We were #1 in the NFL in turnover differential. Does anyone believe we'll have 26 interceptions again, including another 10+ from Diggs? It can happen. And we were only middle of the pack on forced fumbles so that can improve. But doesn't seem like average teams (which is how we ended) repeat that type of stat twice.

I'm pumped and hope for the best but also realistic that the odds are against us with this.

Hope no one gets hurt, but it's a violent game.

 

[Swagger]

Every team in the NFL has injuries and manages them throughout the season.

The Cowboys didn't have long term injures to key players. For example in the play offs the Packers played the 49ers without Bakhtiari, Jenkins, Zadarious Smith and Jaire Alexander. Imagine the Cowboys facing the 49ers without Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, Micah Richards and Diggs!

The Bills were missing Tre White against the Chiefs and imo it cost them the game and arguable appearing in the Superbowl and even winning it. Legit shut down corner one of the elite players in his position.

All those players were long term injuries. Cowboys had guys miss a few games during a 17 game season but so did everyone. Gallup got injured long term but that was very late on and he isn't an elite player at his position.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Two big things going against us this year - injuries & turnovers

I still can't figure out why.

Because The Cowboys didn't get bit by the injury bug too bad and the defense actually forced some turnovers they are both suddenly going against the Cowboys this year?

Huh???

 

[Cowpolk]

We had lots of big injuries last year. Dak, Zeke, Smith, Lamb 2 games, Cooper 2 games, Gallup 6 games, Collins suspended 6 games, Lawrence missed 6 games, Gregory missed 7 games. Those are some heavy hitters missing time.

But the first place tougher schedule will make it harder and the Eagles are better.

Pollard was also injured

 

[Cowpolk]

I can feel it this time. There is no stopping us. We will destroy everything in our path on our way to conquering the division, and then the entire NFL.
We will blaze a path to the super bowl that is legendary... People 100 years from now will say, "Did you read about those 2022 Cowboys?"

Yeah that is what happens when you eat too late at night... you have the most goofy dreams that could never happen in reality.

I blame melatonin

 

[The Ominous]

Penalties as well

 

[JoeKing]

Watching Washington go down with Diggs in coverage made me think about two things going against us this year that will make it hard to repeat our winning record.

We were extremely lucky last year on injuries. No big names with season ending injuries. The worst I can think of is that period when both Tank & Gregory were out. Tyron went out but it wasn't for the usual reasons. Yeah, we had that small period where the C-Word took out players, but so did everyone else. The ONLY injury you could say in our favor was Zeke didn't play the same after he was hurt. But some will say that he was losing it before the injury.

We were just as lucky on turnovers last year. Yes, talent causes turnovers but you listen to any veteran player, and they'll also tell you it comes in waves and sometimes has a lot of luck involved. We were #1 in the NFL in turnover differential. Does anyone believe we'll have 26 interceptions again, including another 10+ from Diggs? It can happen. And we were only middle of the pack on forced fumbles so that can improve. But doesn't seem like average teams (which is how we ended) repeat that type of stat twice.

I'm pumped and hope for the best but also realistic that the odds are against us with this.

You are saying 12-5, first round out will be hard to duplicate? ...and you attribute this to injuries and turnovers? I agree injuries are affecting our ability to be all we can be but that has to be overcome with better depth of the roster. We don't know yet what the identity of this team will be so it's too early in my opinion to say we can't overcome injuries and become a contender. This is true with turnovers as well. Yes, turnovers hurt us last year but we can overcome that with great coaching and attention to detail. Our fate is not yet written so these predictions of doom and gloom do not hold water with me. It's wise to be aware of these things and take action to counter them but it's wrong to think we can't do it.

 

[Oz-of-Cowboy-Country]

Yeah, because injuries and turnovers don't hurt other teams.

 

[75boyz]

Yep,
Most likely not gonna generate as many turnovers to lead the league in that category for a second straight year.

Also most likely not to be as healthy as the team was going into the playoffs as Swagger pointed out in his post the specific injuries to other playoff teams that Dallas did not have.

These areas of concern were blown opportunities in that Dallas had been a team allergic to creating turnovers for over a decade and maybe more like two.
The injury bug had also been a major obstacle for past Cowboy teams who had major personnel pieces hurt or missing for most of their recent playoff teams.

They did not take advantage of these missed opportunities.
These 2 areas of concern most likely won't be as favorable and will fall back to a familiar past pattern or somewhere in between.

I think that's what the OP meant.

Another blown opportunity.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Yep,
Most likely not gonna generate as many turnovers to lead the league in that category for a second straight year.

Also most likely not to be as healthy as the team was going into the playoffs as Swagger pointed out in his post the specific injuries to other playoff teams that Dallas did not have.

These areas of concern were blown opportunities in that Dallas had been a team allergic to creating turnovers for over a decade and maybe more like two.
The injury bug had also been a major obstacle for past Cowboy teams who had major personnel pieces hurt or missing for most of their recent playoff teams.

They did not take advantage of these missed opportunities.
These 2 areas of concern most likely won't be as favorable and will fall back to a familiar past pattern or somewhere in between.

I think that's what the OP meant.

Another blown opportunity.

Yes sir, eloquently said.

I'm not the negative type (well, maybe a little) but I am the realistic type.

 

[conner01]

Watching Washington go down with Diggs in coverage made me think about two things going against us this year that will make it hard to repeat our winning record.

We were extremely lucky last year on injuries. No big names with season ending injuries. The worst I can think of is that period when both Tank & Gregory were out. Tyron went out but it wasn't for the usual reasons. Yeah, we had that small period where the C-Word took out players, but so did everyone else. The ONLY injury you could say in our favor was Zeke didn't play the same after he was hurt. But some will say that he was losing it before the injury.

We were just as lucky on turnovers last year. Yes, talent causes turnovers but you listen to any veteran player, and they'll also tell you it comes in waves and sometimes has a lot of luck involved. We were #1 in the NFL in turnover differential. Does anyone believe we'll have 26 interceptions again, including another 10+ from Diggs? It can happen. And we were only middle of the pack on forced fumbles so that can improve. But doesn't seem like average teams (which is how we ended) repeat that type of stat twice.

I'm pumped and hope for the best but also realistic that the odds are against us with this.

I’m hoping we are much healthier this year
We had starters miss a whole lot of games last year
What we are likely to lose is the number of ints but you overcome that by playing better coverage. We also gave up some big plays and that’s were you make up for turnovers
Getting the ball back on an int is great but getting it back on a punt ain’t all bad either