2019 Cowboys: And Now for Something Completely Different...

TFisNEXT

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How much cap space do they have?
They still have between 20-21 million in cap space for 2019 after the Zeke deal. They can roll that over into 2020 assuming they don't use it all up on more signings. They were projected to have something like 66 million in cap space in 2020 before the Zeke deal so that number will come down some obviously. Although that 66 million doesn't include any potential "roll over" cap from 2019 which could very well be in the 15-20 million range.

The Cowboys have a lot of cap space initially due to Dak being so cheap and a lot of their defensive talent being on cheap rookie deals ...it's down the road where things could get tough. Dak and Cooper could require a combined cap hit of 50 million if they want to sign both...and I think both need to be signed. Zeke was the most expendable IMHO.
 

Super Nomario

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As always, let's see the terms. First of all, signing bonus money can only be spread over five years, so that sixth year is likely 100% non-guaranteed funny money. Second, keeping the next two years intact is a pretty sweet bargain for Dallas. It doesn't take the cap rising too much to make this deal look favorable for the Cowboys a couple years from now.
 

TFisNEXT

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As always, let's see the terms. First of all, signing bonus money can only be spread over five years, so that sixth year is likely 100% non-guaranteed funny money. Second, keeping the next two years intact is a pretty sweet bargain for Dallas. It doesn't take the cap rising too much to make this deal look favorable for the Cowboys a couple years from now.
Yeah this was actually pretty big. It keeps the 2020 cap number really good which allows them a lot of flexibility in the Dak/Cooper negotiations. The signing bonus on the Zeke deal was only 7.5 million....they will have the wiggle room to offer larger signing bonuses to Dak or Amari.
 

dcmissle

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As always, let's see the terms. First of all, signing bonus money can only be spread over five years, so that sixth year is likely 100% non-guaranteed funny money. Second, keeping the next two years intact is a pretty sweet bargain for Dallas. It doesn't take the cap rising too much to make this deal look favorable for the Cowboys a couple years from now.
Yup. The guaranteed money reportedly is $50 MM. That’s probably a fair deal all around considering his value in that offense.
 

TFisNEXT

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Already been mentioned above, but here's a quick rundown on the Cowboys cap situation...they are actually looking pretty solid. I still think there's probably better use of their money than Zeke, but they can afford him. Especially given the low signing bonus which allows them to cut bait pretty easily after the 3rd year of the extension.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/financials/dallas-cowboys-ezekiel-elliott-salary-cap
The deal for Elliott, the fourth overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, rewrites the record books. But unlike most deals of this magnitude, the Cowboys aren’t exactly hamstrung by their splash of cash.
The deal adds on to Elliott’s current rookie contract, which runs through 2020. The Cowboys had more than $86 million in projected salary cap space heading into the next offseason, money that presumably will be used to retain quarterback Dak Prescott long-term as well as wide receiver Amari Cooper, who is in the final year of a contract that will pay him $13.9 million this season.
 

Greg29fan

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I'm not a fan of it, especially since he had two years left on his rookie deal, but I also know how important he is to the offense, so it's a conflicting feeling.

Just have to hope he keeps producing and can maybe go an offseason without some screw up.
 

TFisNEXT

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I'm not a fan of it, especially since he had two years left on his rookie deal, but I also know how important he is to the offense, so it's a conflicting feeling.

Just have to hope he keeps producing and can maybe go an offseason without some screw up.
If they were going to keep him (and they almost certainly were), it's a pretty good outcome. For all intents and purposes, this is a 3 year extension at 16-17 mil per year once you take into account the signing bonus. Cap hit stays low in 2019 and 2020. They can cut the rope after the first 3 years with minimal hit.

Yeah, in an ideal world, it would be nice to let Tony Pollard run the ball for pennies on the dollar behind that elite offensive line, but this isn't an ideal world. We also don't really know what the psychological fallout would have been if they told Zeke to go pound sand. Dak absolutely loves him and they're gonna be investing in Dak too.
 

BigSoxFan

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If they stay healthy, Dak Prescott is going to lead the Cowboys to the Super Bowl out of the NFC.
I know the Giants suck but this Cowboys team looks great. It’s all about Dak. Cooper/Gallup/Cobb is a nice WR trio. Gallup especially looks to be making a leap. Zeke is obviously Zeke. Witten just knows how to get open despite being like 55 years-old. Line is very good. Defense is solid. It’s all really about Dak and health.
 

Greg29fan

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I thought the defense was really not very good yesterday - they got little heat on an immobile QB and Lawrence was pretty invisible most of the game. But I think they're better than that too, so there's probably room to get better.

The offense was unbelievable and Moore put their weapons in position to get the job done all day. Obviously the Giants are not very good, but if they can carry anything close to that through the season, they're going to be in good shape.
 

Bosoxen

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I thought the defense was really not very good yesterday - they got little heat on an immobile QB and Lawrence was pretty invisible most of the game. But I think they're better than that too, so there's probably room to get better.

The offense was unbelievable and Moore put their weapons in position to get the job done all day. Obviously the Giants are not very good, but if they can carry anything close to that through the season, they're going to be in good shape.
This pretty much sums it up for me. To expand a little bit:

I saw a tweet yesterday (can't seem to find it now) which was reiterated on The Ticket this morning which put some numbers to the stark difference between this year's offense (to date) and last year's. It was something like play action was used on 48% of snaps vs 25% last year and motion was used on 78% of snaps vs 45% last year (3 WR formations were used on a similar percentage of plays).

Also, Gallup's emergence was already covered but I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Randall Cobb. This is not to say that Cole Beasley wouldn't have thrived in this style of offense but there's no way he converts that third and long down inside the red zone. That conversion by Cobb, though generally unnecessary in a game like Sunday's, could be a difference maker in a tight game. I was pretty lukewarm on the Cobb signing - mostly because of his injury history - but I'm sold now. Then again, that play may have been the reason he's on the injury list this week so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

The city is abuzz because of that performance on Sunday and the sheepiest of the sheep are throwing out predictions like 14-2 and 16-0. Obviously it will never again be that easy, aside from maybe Miami, but even my cynical ass can't help but feel a little hopeful. Guess we'll see. Washington should also be a W but that defense will be a better litmus test for the new offense.
 
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Bosoxen

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I'm quite certain the offense will have already been tested repeatedly by then.
 

TFisNEXT

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I'm quite certain the offense will have already been tested repeatedly by then.
They'll face the Vikings two weeks before the Patriots game.

Hard to gauge who else will be a real defensive test before that. Not sure if we believe in GB's defense yet or if that was more futility on Chicago's part. Cowboys will play the Eagles too before that but they are tough more because of their offense rather than defense. Cowboys didn't have a lot of trouble moving the ball against Philly last year. Saints might be in the same boat...Houston moved it with ease last night.
 

Greg29fan

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Cobb has some sort of issue with his rib - doesn't sound serious but yeah he's obviously going to be a fixture on the injury report.
 

Bosoxen

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They'll face the Vikings two weeks before the Patriots game.

Hard to gauge who else will be a real defensive test before that. Not sure if we believe in GB's defense yet or if that was more futility on Chicago's part. Cowboys will play the Eagles too before that but they are tough more because of their offense rather than defense. Cowboys didn't have a lot of trouble moving the ball against Philly last year. Saints might be in the same boat...Houston moved it with ease last night.
Hard to quantify the effect but I count four top 15 scoring defenses from 2018 on the schedule before they play New England. Only two of them were in the top 15 in yards allowed so, like your Eagles example, the ball can be moved on them but it would be important to not settle for field goals. I think that's ultimately what's going to prove to be the biggest difference for the offense: minimizing the amount of drives that bog down on the opponent's side of the field.
 

TFisNEXT

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Hard to quantify the effect but I count four top 15 scoring defenses from 2018 on the schedule before they play New England. Only two of them were in the top 15 in yards allowed so, like your Eagles example, the ball can be moved on them but it would be important to not settle for field goals. I think that's ultimately what's going to prove to be the biggest difference for the offense: minimizing the amount of drives that bog down on the opponent's side of the field.
I'm really liking the Jarwin/Witten combo to help loosen things up in the red zone. Jarwin emerged late last year and adding the still-reliable Witten to the red-zone package should help. And Cobb/Gallup is superior to Beasley/2018-Gallup. Oh, and they also added Travis Frederick back to the line which can only help in the red zone.

Of course now that we're excited, we know this will mean they kick 4 FGs inside the 20 against Washington this week.

But in all seriousness, it's hard not to be excited when you look at both the development (Gallup and Jarwin) and what they have added compared to 2018 (Witten/Frederick/Cobb).
 

TFisNEXT

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Not sure I've seen a line like this in the NFL. I'm sure it's happened before, but I just don't remember one. I've seen 18 or 19 points before.

MIA @ DAL (-21)
 

DJnVa

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Not sure I've seen a line like this in the NFL. I'm sure it's happened before, but I just don't remember one. I've seen 18 or 19 points before.

MIA @ DAL (-21)
Denver was -26.5 in like 2013, Pats were -20.5 once as well.
 

ZMart100

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The two leading point differential teams in the NFL are also the two teams that have played MIA. MIA is -92 through 2 games, the closest team are the Steelers who are -32. MIA might be the worst team since the '76 Buccaneers.
 

TFisNEXT

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Denver was -26.5 in like 2013, Pats were -20.5 once as well.
I looked that one up but didn't remember it. It was against Jacksonville but Denver only won the game 35-19 so they didn't come close to covering.
 

21st Century Sox

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Gallup to miss 2-4 weeks with meniscus tear. Shame, he was off to the races early. They can back fill, and with all the injuries this weekend, Dallas relatively unscathed.
 

Greg29fan

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Gallup to miss 2-4 weeks with meniscus tear. Shame, he was off to the races early. They can back fill, and with all the injuries this weekend, Dallas relatively unscathed.
Shame but I think they like Cedrick Wilson some and obviously Devin Smith came out of nowhere to have a nice game yesterday. Helps they have the human bye week this Sunday.
 

Bosoxen

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They got lucky on Antwaun Woods too. I thought he might be done for a significant stretch of time but it looks like he's just day-to-day.
 

TFisNEXT

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Use this week to get healthy....obviously Gallup will be out a bit longer, but these other guys that are marginal, no need to play them. It shouldn't matter against a team like Miami.
 

Greg29fan

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I'd like to welcome Kellen Moore, Dak Prescott, and everybody else on that side of the ball to the harsh world of reality cause that offensive display was a shit sandwich and cost them an entirely winnable game.

And now you've got a mad Aaron Rodgers coming to a place he owns.
 

TFisNEXT

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I'd like to welcome Kellen Moore, Dak Prescott, and everybody else on that side of the ball to the harsh world of reality cause that offensive display was a shit sandwich and cost them an entirely winnable game.

And now you've got a mad Aaron Rodgers coming to a place he owns.
That was one of the worst offensive performences I've seen in a long time from them. They even moved the ball better in that shit show against the Colts last year.

It isn't like they were going up against a juggernaut defense either. That defense has had all kinds of problems giving up big plays.
 

Bosoxen

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Midway through the 2nd quarter I asked my brother if Linehan was back running the offense again. They went back to that bland style of offense. Maybe the crowd noise was a factor. Maybe it wasn't. But it doesn't take a genius to see that the only successful drive they had was a result of throwing the ball downfield. Outside of that one drive, I'm not sure I saw a single pass longer than 15 yards until that desperation drive at the end.

That game was depressingly reminiscent of years past. Right down to the decent defensive performance undone at the end by the inability to get off the damn field.

Losing Tyron Smith to what looked like a high ankle sprain, at best, at the end was the cherry on the shit sundae.
 

BigSoxFan

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Midway through the 2nd quarter I asked my brother if Linehan was back running the offense again. They went back to that bland style of offense. Maybe the crowd noise was a factor. Maybe it wasn't. But it doesn't take a genius to see that the only successful drive they had was a result of throwing the ball downfield. Outside of that one drive, I'm not sure I saw a single pass longer than 15 yards until that desperation drive at the end.

That game was depressingly reminiscent of years past. Right down to the decent defensive performance undone at the end by the inability to get off the damn field.

Losing Tyron Smith to what looked like a high ankle sprain, at best, at the end was the cherry on the shit sundae.
I made a comment that it looked like the pre-Cooper offense. He really is such an important cog for them. Doesn’t look 100% healthy so teams can just focus on Zeke. Gallup’s injury really hurt last night.
 

Greg29fan

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It isn't like they were going up against a juggernaut defense either. That defense has had all kinds of problems giving up big plays.
The Saints defense was ranked 28th in DVOA coming in to last night, which is right about where the other defenses the Cowboys have played so far, so yeah that made it even more awful.

Why they decided to keep running Zeke on the dive right into the line and dinking and Dak'ing all night was the way to go, I'm not sure.
 

Bosoxen

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The Saints defense was ranked 28th in DVOA coming in to last night, which is right about where the other defenses the Cowboys have played so far, so yeah that made it even more awful.

Why they decided to keep running Zeke on the dive right into the line and dinking and Dak'ing all night was the way to go, I'm not sure.
Exactly. It's like they went back to the old game plan of playing not to lose. They should have been daring the Saints to put the game on Bridgewater's shoulders all night. Instead, they allows them to put the game in Kamara's hands and got roasted for it. They may have only allowed 12 points but they couldn't stop the opposing offense when it mattered most. And we've all seen that particular movie many times.
 

Oil Can Dan

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Yeah, I thought it was more about the Dallas D than the Saints D. I know it's weird to point a finger at a D that only gave up 12 points but the Cowboys had the ball for less than 24 minutes. The offense didn't look good, but they didn't have a whole heck of a lot of opportunity because the Dallas D couldn't get off the field. The two lost fumbles didn't help matters though.
 

TFisNEXT

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Yeah, I thought it was more about the Dallas D than the Saints D. I know it's weird to point a finger at a D that only gave up 12 points but the Cowboys had the ball for less than 24 minutes. The offense didn't look good, but they didn't have a whole heck of a lot of opportunity because the Dallas D couldn't get off the field. The two lost fumbles didn't help matters though.
It goes both ways though....the offense looked absolutely horrible and couldn't sustain their drives all night. So they were barely giving the defense a rest. The Saints only ran 8 more plays than the Cowboys but Payton was intentionally bleeding the clock on pretty much every single play. They didn't run a single no huddle or hurry-up play with the lone exception of right before the 1st half ended. He wanted as few possessions as possible for each team.

When you gain 257 total yards and score 10 points against a shit defense while your own defense gives up only 4 field goals, it is very hard to pin that loss on the defense. So I won't do it. Was it frustrating a few times where they gave up some 3rd and 3s and 3rd and 4s? Yeah, but they also got plenty of big sacks on 3rd down including the final one that knocked the Saints out of FG range and gave the offense a chance only down 2 with 1:45 left.....then with that final chance they subsequently get sacked and bleed 25-30 seconds off the clock effectively ending the game.
 

Bosoxen

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then with that final chance they subsequently get sacked and bleed 25-30 seconds off the clock effectively ending the game
Speaking of which, it's time a real talk is had about Connor Williams. There's a weak link in that offensive line and he is it, without question. When an opposing team needs a stop or a sack, it almost always comes from across the left guard. I won't pin last night's loss on him but that was a huge play and if he doesn't get his shit together, he's going to end up getting Prescott killed.

He's simply not big enough to handle the bigger defensive tackles and appears to not be quick enough to handle speed rushers who move inside. So what, exactly, is his strength and role on that line?
 

TFisNEXT

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Speaking of which, it's time a real talk is had about Connor Williams. There's a weak link in that offensive line and he is it, without question. When an opposing team needs a stop or a sack, it almost always comes from across the left guard. I won't pin last night's loss on him but that was a huge play and if he doesn't get his shit together, he's going to end up getting Prescott killed.

He's simply not big enough to handle the bigger defensive tackles and appears to not be quick enough to handle speed rushers who move inside. So what, exactly, is his strength and role on that line?
Agreed. It seems a bit surprising that he's starting ahead of Xavier Su'a-Filo who played quite well last year. It almost seems like they want to give him the experience because they believe in him long term, but a few more awful plays like last night, and they need to bench him. Obviously I'm just speculating on the reason he's starting, but it's hard to believe he outplays Su'a-Filop in practice and then looks like dogshit during the games.
 

Bosoxen

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Agreed. It seems a bit surprising that he's starting ahead of Xavier Su'a-Filo who played quite well last year. It almost seems like they want to give him the experience because they believe in him long term, but a few more awful plays like last night, and they need to bench him. Obviously I'm just speculating on the reason he's starting, but it's hard to believe he outplays Su'a-Filop in practice and then looks like dogshit during the games.
Almost right on cue, there was talk yesterday of moving Williams out to tackle (as the swing tackle) while Smith is out. One of Su'a-Filo or Looney would take over at left guard. I've got no problem with that.
 

TFisNEXT

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What a shitshow game today. Penalties and sloppy with the football against a totally beatable GB defense. I couldn't believe they had like 220 total yards at the half with 0 points.

Garrett sucked too trying to kick a 54 yard FG late in first half instead of going for it on 4th and 5. What a loser move.
 

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Jerrah blasts "little darling" official for unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Garrett (which was for abusive language).

"Oh, I hope the little darling didn't hear something he hadn't heard before," Jones said. "We should all stop the wheel over that if he got [a penalty for] abusive language."
Garrett, of course, acknowledged his own fault and that he didn't handle the situation well. I'm just shocked Jones hasn't said some demeaning shit towards Sarah Thomas (yet).
 

lexrageorge

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Garrett slammed the challenge flag down in front of the official while berating the side judge. It was really dumb move, and a penalty would not be unexpected there.