Good, good, good. I knew it was a matter of time, but I didn’t expect this to happen anytime soon.
Over the past two weeks, Talking Heads on ESPN and other networks has been excited about the quality of the Dallas Cowboys against the Giants and the Jets. Your Week 3 tilt with the Cardinals should be nothing more than a formality en route to Dallas at 3-0. But, as I said a few days before this game, everyone had to stop crowning this team too soon.
Deep and lo and behold, a few days later, the Cowboys drove through Arizona with far too much confidence and were shot.
Every time I have to report the Cowboys, it’s like a dagger in the back to my 12-year-old self. Given that places like ESPN like Dallas have not disappointed their Fans for more than a quarter of a century, it’s up to me to curb the expectations of this team. Even if you win 12 or 13 games in the regular season, you will know the result when the playoffs take place.
This round partition ceiling is much closer than it seems.
Of course, you will hear a lot of excuses this week to protect the blow of a loss to the Cardinals. The calls that were missed or that didn’t go in favor of Dallas, and things like that. That doesn’t change the fact that the Cowboys lost by 12 points. Their excellent defense had more holes than Swiss cheese, as James Conner averaged seven yards per carry for the Cardinals.
We can’t blame Trevon Diggs for giving up with a health problem at the end of the Season. Moving forward certainly doesn’t help, but the Cardinals have stumbled on the fact that the Cowboys are leading the defense.
Dallas will probably win about 11 more games This year, but they need to tighten that race up quickly, with a trip to the Bay Area on the horizon. After a Week 4 clash with New England, Dallas is playing in a rematch of last year’s divisional game against San Franciso. So you know that Dallas is expecting a heavy dose of Christian McCaffrey. Then these weapons from the outside, Deebo Samuel (day after day after a health problem with the coast) and Brandon Aiyuk. And let’s not forget George Kittle in the middle of the field. It would be a challenge for the Cowboys with Diggs on the field.
So before you turn into Drake and put it all into your feelings, I’m not saying the Cowboys are over as playoff contenders. In fact, they could still win the NFC East and have a playoff game. What I’m saying is the same thing I’ve been saying for years: let’s cool down with the Super Bowl chatter. You know it, I know it…. that’s not going to happen. Whether you want to admit it doesn’t matter.
