What did you realisticly expect out of this season?

[fairviewfarmer]

When...

Romo went down.
K. Moore went down.
Rookie Dak thrown in the fire.
D. Law/R. Gregory suspension

I honestly expected a repeat of last year, but now it's just surreal. BUT A lot of football ahead of us...

First pick in the 2017 draft............. Looking back to the preseason now, makes me think that anything over 4 wins since then is just gravy. I'm just going to continue to enjoy the ride this year, no matter when and where it ends.

 

[Bleu Star]

Well... Since you asked, I will take this opportunity to Pat myself on the back.

When Romo went down and Dak took over in the preseason, I saw something special. I saw it in practically every single preseason game and ranted about it but, like most Ms Cleoish situations on this board, I was disregarded as outlandish.. I recall having no idea what I was talking about & that it was curtains without beloved Romo.

In Dak I saw a guy in the preseason that was unflappable and hitting his spots. I was legitimately excited about our future for the first time in a very long time. Those who know me can attest to all of this. Ms Cleo lives within. She completes me.

Many of my fellow CZers said "dude relax.. it's preseason" & to that I said ok just watch...

Fast forward 14 weeks and now we have this reflective thread.

That's cute.

Dak & Zeke forever homies.

 

[Macnalty]

When...

Romo went down.
K. Moore went down.
Rookie Dak thrown in the fire.
D. Law/R. Gregory suspension

I honestly expected a repeat of last year, but now it's just surreal. BUT A lot of football ahead of us...

Honestly a top ten draft pick when Romo got injured. I realized early on that top ten was out the window.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

When...

Romo went down.
K. Moore went down.
Rookie Dak thrown in the fire.
D. Law/R. Gregory suspension

I honestly expected a repeat of last year, but now it's just surreal. BUT A lot of football ahead of us...

Oh yeah I figured about 3-4 wins if we were extremely lucky.

That's what I figured the moment Romo went down.

Moore going down had no bearing. If he had to play I would have still said 3-4 at best. I have no faith in Moore as even a 3rd string QB.

 

[Joe Realist]

I thought 8-8 with Romo and 8-8 once he went down. Dak showed enough in preseason to show me he could at least go .500

 

[Doomsday101]

Coming out of the pre season I expected Dallas to win the East. I did not feel the east was that strong and a 10-6 record would win it. Looking at how things stand now, Cowboys will win the East and the NFC East is a lot stronger this season than I expected.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I expected an 8-8 record with Romo.


Although there was a part of me that kept saying ‘if we had a healthy Romo and Dez in 2015, we walk away with the division.’


So part of the 8-8 with Romo was being pessimistic because I fully believe we win the division EASILY with a healthy Romo and Dez last year.


When Romo went down, I was still thinking 8-8. I liked (and wrote about) how much I liked what we can do with the running game with Dak and EE in the backfield. It’s not so much about running the ball well as it is about the versatility of our run game…being able to run outside and inside zone plays, being able to run out of the shotgun and under center and having Dak being able to get a few carries. That opens up the passing game more than just being able to run well from under center behind Tyron.


I just didn’t like our defense. But the secondary has improved by leaps and bounds and Dak and EE have far exceeded my expectations.





YR

 

[robbieruff]

When...

Romo went down.
K. Moore went down.
Rookie Dak thrown in the fire.
D. Law/R. Gregory suspension

I honestly expected a repeat of last year, but now it's just surreal. BUT A lot of football ahead of us...

Yeah. Pretty much that. And lamenting that we'd likely be using a top pick on a QB next year. Great to be wrong huh?!!

 

[Baileyneverfailey]

Before Romo got hurt I expected maybe a 10 win season because I underestimated how much the offense could carry this defense. After Romo got hurt I figured the season was done. After Dak was playing so hot in preseason I thought maybe Dak goes .500 and Romo comes back and still gets them to 9 or 10 wins.

Definitely could've never predicted what we're seeing.

 

[SoBlue128]

I thought another top 5 pick and started drooling over the idea of finding a way to draft Myles Garrett

 

[gmoney112]

After seeing Dak in preseason, you'd have to be blind to not realize the guy was pretty special. I figured a playoff spot would still be a battle at that point, but it was definitely more optimistic.

Immediately after Tony went down? First thoughts were, most likely a 5-10 pick, and a long, long season.

 

[CATCH17]

I thought 8-8 with Romo and 8-8 once he went down. Dak showed enough in preseason to show me he could at least go .500

I don't know how you could come up with 8-8 before the year. I would say that would've been overly pessimistic with Romo at that time.


We were always going to be 3-1 at worst to start the season with or without Romo.

 

[Diehardblues]

After watching Dak in preseason my expectations went up and that was before I saw Zeke who didn't see much action in preseason .

My biggest concern was our defense.

I felt if our defense wasn't a disaster then we might could stay in contention in division until Romo returned.

That was also before we knew that our division was going to be up. I don't recall anyone predicting we'd have potentially 3 teams in the playoffs out of NFC East.

 

[JJHLH1]

Around training camp time I thought we would go 8-8. After watching Dak outperform every quarterback during preseason I thought, hmmmmmm, we might be better than that. But never in my wildest imagination would I have ever thought the Cowboys would be 11-1 with a very real chance to get home-field advantage. This has certainly been a season to remember.

 

[Joe Realist]

I don't know how you could come up with 8-8 before the year. I would say that would've been overly pessimistic with Romo at that time.


We were always going to be 3-1 at worst to start the season with or without Romo.

I was going with trends. 8-8 for 3 years, then 12-4, then 4-12. Seemed 8-8 was a reasonable.

 

[CATCH17]

I was going with trends. 8-8 for 3 years, then 12-4, then 4-12. Seemed 8-8 was a reasonable.

I guess that would be a theory without looking at the schedule.

If you looked at our schedule it would be difficult to not come up with 9 wins.

 

[tyke1doe]

I didn't really give it much thought, honestly. I did grimace when Romo went down. But I really didn't know what to expect - or at least I can't remember what I thought beyond, "Romo's injured AGAIN!"

 

[Virginia-Dave]

Realistically, after Romo went down, I had no idea what to expect out of this season. The last 20 years have taught me to prepare for the worst from this team, because something always seems to happen. After 12 weeks I'm finally starting to believe, but I still have my guard up, just in case disaster strikes again.

 

[Setackin]

4-12 or 6-10

 

[Doomsday101]

I guess that would be a theory without looking at the schedule.

If you looked at our schedule it would be difficult to not come up with 9 wins.

True but then who thought the East would be as tough as it is this season? Giants in any other NFC division would be leading at 8-4