Cowboys: Dak returns

TFisNEXT

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I didn't see a 2021 Cowboys thread, so mods please delete in case I missed it.

Game 1 under their belt and as expected, they start the season 0-1.


But there was a lot of positive in this game for Dallas. The first is that Dak looked like he did not miss a beat from his scorching start in 2020 pre-injury. That was great to see. I think many expected at least a bit of rust having not played full game speed in almost a year but he was exceptional even though he was under pressure quite a few times. And he did it without his best offensive lineman in Zack Martin (COVID protocol, he will be back week 2). He nearly carried this team to an unlikely win last night.

Secondly, I also loved the offensive game plan. Kellen Moore had TB's defense figured out. He knew he couldn't really try and run it against the TB front 7 (esp with Zack Martin out) so he spread them out and exposed the weakest of TB's defense which is their depth in the secondary. It helps to basically have 3 probowl (nor near-probowl) caliber receivers, but he took advantage of the one on one matchup headaches that it creates for opposiing defenses. So great job by Moore on a well-called game.

Lastly, I was actually a little bit encouraged by the defense. Nobody had any delusions that this unit was going to be a strength of the team and nobody thought they were going to hold down the TB offense, but they looked hungry and swarmed the football well which helped cause a couple of those turnovers. I was hoping for a bit more pressure from the front 4, but TB's O-line is really good. Lawrence was double teamed a lot as well and he still made his presence felt a few times. If the rookies (and 2nd year players like Diggs) can keep developing, this unit will have some good games against lesser offenses.

On the flip side, McCarthy had some head-scratchers....particularly the 60 yard FG attempt at the end of the half. But he also probably should have gone for it on a couple other occasions deep in TB territory. 4th and 3 at the 13 and you could argue 4th and goal from the 3 as well. In this type of game against an elite team like TB, you have to put the game in the hands of your best players. You give the offense the chance to convert those IMHO.


Regardless, there is a lot to build on here and for now, the Cowboys look like the best of a weak division if they can stay relatively healthy on offense.
 

Greg29fan

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I guess I'll go glass half empty and say they just look like another Cowboys team that isn't coached well enough, doesn't execute well enough, or gets screwed by the officials just enough to lose.

When you are +3 in turnover margin, you have to win.
 

E5 Yaz

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I thought they played extremely well, except for the lack of a pass rush. I thought the offensive game plan, basically neutralizing the Tampa Bay front, was really smart, and they attacked the ball on defense.

People talk about the OPI non-call, but if Greg the Leg hits that 31-yarder, there's a good chance they win ... unless you think that final TB drive would end in a touchdown
 

Cotillion

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Non-cowboy fan, but Dak looked great last night. Didn't seem to have any of the hesitation or rust you would expect after a severe injury. So that looks great.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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I thought they played extremely well, except for the lack of a pass rush. I thought the offensive game plan, basically neutralizing the Tampa Bay front, was really smart, and they attacked the ball on defense.

People talk about the OPI non-call, but if Greg the Leg hits that 31-yarder, there's a good chance they win ... unless you think that final TB drive would end in a touchdown
I mean there are so many what ifs in a game. If he hits it, the Bucs don't fumble on the next play, directly leading to a Cowboy TD.
 

TFisNEXT

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I guess I'll go glass half empty and say they just look like another Cowboys team that isn't coached well enough, doesn't execute well enough, or gets screwed by the officials just enough to lose.

When you are +3 in turnover margin, you have to win.
Agreed you really need to win on that turnover margin, though it was more like +2 in reality. The hail mary pick at the end of the half doesn't really count. Also, if Zuerlein is on his game, they prob win. It was about the hardest road game you can get. Maybe KC is a little harder.

I think McCarthy sucks, but I'll give him at least a little bit of credit for allowing Kellen Moore to exploit that very good TB defense. I feel like in the past (esp under Garrett), we would have seen them futilely trying to run into the TB front 7 brick wall just to have "balance" instead of going right after their weakest links. But Moore wasn't afraid to throw it 60 times if that is what TB was going to allow and it worked. The Cowboys offense wasn't really stopped all night except when they stopped themselves (2 big Cee Dee Lamb drops plus a bad holding penalty).

The defense isn't strong enough to make this team a serous contender right now, but who knows, if some of the young starters can measurably improve throughout the year and the offense stays healthy, the Cowboys could be more interesting later in the season.
 

Big McCorkle

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Agreed you really need to win on that turnover margin, though it was more like +2 in reality. The hail mary pick at the end of the half doesn't really count. Also, if Zuerlein is on his game, they prob win. It was about the hardest road game you can get. Maybe KC is a little harder.

I think McCarthy sucks, but I'll give him at least a little bit of credit for allowing Kellen Moore to exploit that very good TB defense. I feel like in the past (esp under Garrett), we would have seen them futilely trying to run into the TB front 7 brick wall just to have "balance" instead of going right after their weakest links. But Moore wasn't afraid to throw it 60 times if that is what TB was going to allow and it worked. The Cowboys offense wasn't really stopped all night except when they stopped themselves (2 big Cee Dee Lamb drops plus a bad holding penalty).

The defense isn't strong enough to make this team a serous contender right now, but who knows, if some of the young starters can measurably improve throughout the year and the offense stays healthy, the Cowboys could be more interesting later in the season.
McCarthy had some highly questionable fourth-down decisions yesterday (as do most NFL head coaches), but it's hard to see how he isn't, broadly speaking, killing it when it comes to Prescott. He has one of the best QBs in the NFL paired up with one of the best group of receivers in the NFL, and is making the choice to utilize both of them to their fullest extent. It goes back to last season before Prescott's ankle ended up in a shape that the human ankle is not supposed to end up in, where they had basically only those two things, a QB and WRs, and nothing else, and were leaning on those two things to keep them competitive and in football games. That should be a rather effective QB-Coach combo going forward.
 

21st Century Sox

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I was very surprised that the Cowboys played that well. The defense completely shut down any running game, and Dak was out of sight. They are going to roll up the points this year. If the defense plays like they did last night, the Cowboys should run away with the NFC East, which isn't really sayin much, but still....
 

Soxy

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I was very surprised that the Cowboys played that well. The defense completely shut down any running game, and Dak was out of sight. They are going to roll up the points this year. If the defense plays like they did last night, the Cowboys should run away with the NFC East, which isn't really sayin much, but still....
Eh, the secondary still looks like a mess to me. There's a chance the front seven will be good, but they better get a pass rush, because I don't trust the coverage.

The turnovers made them look better than they actually performed. The defense has to get some credit for those too, sure, but they'll probably need to do stuff like that to be competitive on defense. Sacks, turnovers, big plays. Teams can exploit that secondary and move the ball. Sure, they won't face Brady and the Bucs every week, but I thought they looked bad in the back end.

As I said in the game thread last night, if Dak is fine, then they shouldn't have to worry about the offense scoring points. McCarthy is the only guy who could screw that up, and he mostly got out of the way last night. The pitch to Zeke on the goalline may have been too cute by half, but he probably scores if the TE could have held his block at all.
 

TFisNEXT

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Eh, the secondary still looks like a mess to me. There's a chance the front seven will be good, but they better get a pass rush, because I don't trust the coverage.

The turnovers made them look better than they actually performed. The defense has to get some credit for those too, sure, but they'll probably need to do stuff like that to be competitive on defense. Sacks, turnovers, big plays. Teams can exploit that secondary and move the ball. Sure, they won't face Brady and the Bucs every week, but I thought they looked bad in the back end.

As I said in the game thread last night, if Dak is fine, then they shouldn't have to worry about the offense scoring points. McCarthy is the only guy who could screw that up, and he mostly got out of the way last night. The pitch to Zeke on the goalline may have been too cute by half, but he probably scores if the TE could have held his block at all.
I'd expect the pass rush to do fairly well against a lot of these inferior offensive lines. TB is really stout up front and one of their hardest matchups all season. Lawrence and Gregory should do well against the tomato cans.

I agree the secondary is the big weakness. Diggs looked pretty decent though, so if he can keep developing, they will be able to give Brown more help. The defense doesn't need to dominate though for the Cowboys to win the east. The offense should carry them to 10 wins if the defense is merely below average instead of a train wreck. They'll have to win their share of 35-27 or 31-28 type games but I think they will given the pretty easy schedule after week 2.
 

Soxy

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I'd expect the pass rush to do fairly well against a lot of these inferior offensive lines. TB is really stout up front and one of their hardest matchups all season. Lawrence and Gregory should do well against the tomato cans.

I agree the secondary is the big weakness. Diggs looked pretty decent though, so if he can keep developing, they will be able to give Brown more help. The defense doesn't need to dominate though for the Cowboys to win the east. The offense should carry them to 10 wins if the defense is merely below average instead of a train wreck. They'll have to win their share of 35-27 or 31-28 type games but I think they will given the pretty easy schedule after week 2.
I thought Lawrence looked really good the other night. If there's any hope to be found on defense, it's in that front seven.

Just looked at their schedule and they've got a pretty tough slate of road games outside the division: Bucs, Chargers, Patriots, Vikings, KC, Saints. No gimmes with any of those. LAC next week should be another shootout. Chargers are in a similar boat as Dallas, with a great looking offense paired with a suspect defense. First team to 40 wins.
 

TFisNEXT

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Pretty good win by the Boys yesterday. They still are making too many mistakes, but you'll gladly take the W on the road out west.

Run game was dominant with Zack Martin back this week. I also loved Parsons playing a lot of end with Lawrence and Gregory out. He was actually getting legit pressure throughout the game when he played end. His pressure (they called it a sack, but it prob shouldn't have been...but it was still intentional grounding regardless) on the Chargers' final series was critical in forcing the FG attempt.

I did not understand the ending sequence on offense even though it worked out. I'm fine with the run on 2nd and 6 there from the Chargers 40, but use your last time out at 30 seconds instead of running the clock all the way down. They could have easily gotten another 10-15 yards and spiked it if they run another play with 30 seconds left. But Z was up to the task, he nuked that 56 yarder. Prob was good from 65.
 

TFisNEXT

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Yeah I’m not surprised. He looked dominant at times yesterday which is really a testament to his athleticism considering he hadn’t played the position since high school. The dude just seems like a natural pure football player. He could be a big key to getting the defense back to merely mediocre instead of a sieve which would make the Cowboys a more interesting team since we know they have the offensive weapons.
 

SMU_Sox

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I will be listening to the Ticket all day Monday to hear the takes on Collins. Cowboys RT Collins apparently tried to bribe the drug test collector.

Per mouthpiece:

[media]
View: https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1442092069842006016?s=21

[/media]

5 game suspension is back on. This was about pot. He missed 7 tests. I hope it isn’t getting V&N to say I vehemently disagree with the leagues policy on pot and I hope in the future they NFLPA continues to work to on this issue.

As for the Cowboys I think the timing here stinks as they have to play the Panthers, Eagles, Vikings, and Patriots in the next 5 games and all of those teams have pass rushers who should be able to exploit the issue. Tough break but at least he will be back vs the Broncos who have one of the best pass rush tandems in the league.
 
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soxhop411

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I will be listening to the Ticket all day Monday to hear the takes on Collins. Cowboys RT Collins apparently tried to bribe the drug test collector.

Per mouthpiece:

[media]
View: https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1442092069842006016?s=21

[/media]

5 game suspension is back on. This was about pot. He missed 7 tests. I hope it isn’t getting V&N to say I vehemently disagree with the leagues policy on pot and I hope in the future they NFLPA continues to work to on this issue.

As for the Cowboys I think the timing here stinks as they have to play the Panthers, Eagles, Vikings, and Patriots in the next 5 games and all of those teams have pass rushers who should be able to exploit the issue. Tough break but at least he will be back vs the Broncos who have one of the best pass rush tandems in the league.
My favorite part of that ESPN piece
The NFL initially was preparing to suspend Collins five games for his actions, but the NFL Players Association -- aware of the intended five-game suspension -- helped negotiate a reduction to what would have been a two-game ban.

Collins, however, appealed the suspension, and the appeal was heard by an arbitrator appointed jointly by the league and the NFLPA. The arbitrator not only rejected Collins' appeal but also ruled that, based on the evidence, the suspension should be increased back to the original five games.

Collins' lawyer is attempting an appeal of the arbitrator's decision, but league sources believe the suspension, which was announced Sept. 10, will not be reduced.
Dude got the suspension reduced and tried to get it reduced even more. But the arbitrator put it back to 5 games.
 

Harry Hooper

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This is a really weird story.

Schefter has this:

His representatives also have argued that under the drug policy in the new collective bargaining agreement, suspensions aren't permitted for missed tests.
The CBA drug policy as written talks only about suspending players who miss tests if they are already at Stage Two. A player at Stage One seems to be unaddressed. See p. 14 and Appendix E of this document.


Also,

A third missed test came on the day Collins underwent hip surgery in October. The league counted a positive test for codeine against him, but Collins was prescribed the drug after having the surgery.
If he missed the test, how did he test positive for codeine? Beyond that complication, why did it count against him if it was prescribed?
 

21st Century Sox

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I will be listening to the Ticket all day Monday to hear the takes on Collins. Cowboys RT Collins apparently tried to bribe the drug test collector.

Per mouthpiece:

[media]
View: https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1442092069842006016?s=21

[/media]

5 game suspension is back on. This was about pot. He missed 7 tests. I hope it isn’t getting V&N to say I vehemently disagree with the leagues policy on pot and I hope in the future they NFLPA continues to work to on this issue.

As for the Cowboys I think the timing here stinks as they have to play the Panthers, Eagles, Vikings, and Patriots in the next 5 games and all of those teams have pass rushers who should be able to exploit the issue. Tough break but at least he will be back vs the Broncos who have one of the best pass rush tandems in the league.
Collins would actually return the week prior vs Minnesota. He already missed last week, so he misses four more....Eagles/Panthers/Giants/Patriots.
 

Greg29fan

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Well, based on tonight they don't really have much excuse not to at least win the East. That was a pretty nice performance throughout and the defense keeps creating turnovers.
 

TFisNEXT

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Well, based on tonight they don't really have much excuse not to at least win the East. That was a pretty nice performance throughout and the defense keeps creating turnovers.
Yeah it is hard to see any other team in the NFC East being able to keep up with Dallas barring any catastrophic injuries. I thought Washington had potential to be a threat, but the Fitz injury is killing them in the short term, and their defense also looks like it has regressed badly since last season.
 

EP Sox Fan

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Have to think that Jabril is going to play a lot more snaps now that the Cowboys have cut Jaylon Smith. Apparently PFF had him graded okay in coverage but terrible everywhere else with the exception of leading the league in celebrations after meaningless plays. I was surprised that they released him. I have a friend who used to work for Cowboys and he was telling me he's a great guy off the field but that he was way too focused on his brand and not so much on football. He was a Jerry favorite and the thought was that insulated him from any accountability. I guess not.

This Cowboy team is actually fun to watch. When I see them actually make in-game adjustments it kind of blows my mind. Also, there were a lot of questions about their draft but it's looking pretty damn good now.
 

TFisNEXT

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The Jaylen release is a bit surprising but it’s not a 100% shock. It was well-known that he wasn’t playing as well last year and so far this season vs 2018/2019 when he was pro bowl level.

The fact that Parsons has been a total beast so far and Neal is coming off covid list made Jaylen somewhat expendable. Dan Quinn really seems to like LVE (Leighton Vander Esch) too and think he can get him playing in a Sean Lee type role.

As EP Sox mentioned above, Jabril Cox turned some heads in preseason and they think it’s time to get him more defensive snaps. He had mostly been just special teams thus far.

Long story short, the Cowboys had depth LB and Jaylen was a casualty of that given his slipping production and contract.

The defense has been a pleasant surprise. Diggs is developing into a monster at CB and the Dline is getting excellent pressure even without DeMarcus Lawrence in there.
 

dcdrew10

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The Collins thing is getting even stranger. He's suing the NFL to end the suspension and if what he is saying the suit has any merit it's an overreach, even for the NFL; Collins reps are claiming that the NFL lied about Collins' previous discipline in the arbitration hearing:

As to the argument that the league misrepresented that Collins previously had been suspended four games, a league source with access to the relevant records tells PFT that Collins never had been suspended under the substance-abuse policy, before the current suspension. The hearing in his arbitration undoubtedly was transcribed, and the ruling allegedly cites the fact that Collins previously was suspended four games.
Collin's reps also pointed out that the NFL's statement misrepresented facts about the arbitration, including the number of arbitrators. I can't see how his legal team would lie about this and if it is true, why the fuck would the NFL lie about multiple things that are on the record? It seems really bizarre and seems like a step to far, even for the NFL leadership, which has made sport of pursuing hubris.
 

jsinger121

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Super impressed with the Cowboys yesterday being at the game outside of some of their penalties. This is the most talent they have had on offense since the dynasty years of the early to mid 1990's. Holy shit are they stacked. The only thing that would prevent them from a deep run is Mike McCarthy because if you flip flop the coaches yesterday that game is probably a 3 touchdown blowout for Dallas. Man are they fun to watch on offense.
 

TFisNEXT

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Super impressed with the Cowboys yesterday being at the game outside of some of their penalties. This is the most talent they have had on offense since the dynasty years of the early to mid 1990's. Holy shit are they stacked. The only thing that would prevent them from a deep run is Mike McCarthy because if you flip flop the coaches yesterday that game is probably a 3 touchdown blowout for Dallas. Man are they fun to watch on offense.
Yeah McCarthy is really bad, but some of yesterday's inefficiency was the offense committing two blunders down near the goalline. The Dak INT in the end zone and then the futile sequence that resulted in Dak's fumble trying to get into the end zone on 4th and goal. If Dallas converts those opportunities then they win the game running away. I suppose some of that is on McCarthy, but he usually gives Kellen Moore autonomy on the play calling and despite being on the 1, the Cowboys should have called at least one play-action there. BB was loading up against the run all game long and the Patriots had no answer for the play-action yesterday.

To be fair though to Dak, he pretty clearly scored on 3rd down. Dallas probably should have challenged that given the overhead view, but I guess since you couldn't definitely see the ball they figured it wasn't worth it. But the entire upper half of Dak's torso was beyond the goalline on that overhead view.

The number of penalties was inexcusable though. That is a bad reflection of the head coach when a team commits that many penalties.
 

jsinger121

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Yeah McCarthy is really bad, but some of yesterday's inefficiency was the offense committing two blunders down near the goalline. The Dak INT in the end zone and then the futile sequence that resulted in Dak's fumble trying to get into the end zone on 4th and goal. If Dallas converts those opportunities then they win the game running away. I suppose some of that is on McCarthy, but he usually gives Kellen Moore autonomy on the play calling and despite being on the 1, the Cowboys should have called at least one play-action there. BB was loading up against the run all game long and the Patriots had no answer for the play-action yesterday.

To be fair though to Dak, he pretty clearly scored on 3rd down. Dallas probably should have challenged that given the overhead view, but I guess since you couldn't definitely see the ball they figured it wasn't worth it. But the entire upper half of Dak's torso was beyond the goalline on that overhead view.

The number of penalties was inexcusable though. That is a bad reflection of the head coach when a team commits that many penalties.
Dallas would win the Super Bowl probably if BB was coaching them. That's how good they are on offense and they have some really good defensive pieces as well. I have to give Jerry credit. He's done a very good job drafting at times and they haven't all been high picks either outside of Elliot and Micah Parsons.
 

Greg29fan

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Sounds like they avoided another Gallup-type calf strain w/Dak (which was my concern last night). Also, Collins is out of NFL jail.

 

TFisNEXT

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I gotta say, I was surprised how good Cooper Rush looked. I wasn't expecting Brandon Weeden levels of incompetency from the backup, but I didn't expect the offense to roll for over 400 yards when the Vikings were clearly selling out to stop the run. But the Cowboys had 341 net passing yards. Dual 100-yard games from Cee Dee Lamb and Amari Cooper...and that was a sweet TD grab by Cooper at the end even with his hammy not 100%.

Dak and Michael Gallup are likely back next week. It will be fun to see what the offense can do once those two get back in rhythm.
 

Greg29fan

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Mike McCarthy has many and obvious warts that everybody knows and understands, but there's a 100% chance the previous coaching regime loses than game by going too conservative. This group trusted the backup QB, played to win, and they were rewarded with a victory on the road against a team that was healthy and had their starting QB.
 

Oil Can Dan

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I was impressed with how ferocious the Dallas D looked, especially the front four. It was clear Minnesota had no confidence that they could block those guys. Seemed like three out of four passes were thrown behind the line of scrimmage.

That offense with that defense? Trouble for anyone...
 

Mystic Merlin

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Randy Gregory has looked really disruptive in the games I have watched, including the Pats and Vikings games. With Lawrence going down, it’s huge for them to have a guy with his athleticism step up as a key pass rusher.
 

BigSoxFan

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This year feels different. This offense is loaded and there are multiple playmakers on defense. If Dak’s calf injury isn’t a long term issue, I feel like Cowboys have a great shot at the NFCCG. Going to be a gauntlet in the NFC playoffs though.
 

TFisNEXT

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This year feels different. This offense is loaded and there are multiple playmakers on defense. If Dak’s calf injury isn’t a long term issue, I feel like Cowboys have a great shot at the NFCCG. Going to be a gauntlet in the NFC playoffs though.
Yeah the Cowboys picked a hell of a year to be really good. In other years they'd prob waltz to the NFCCG but this year the NFC is utterly stacked.
 

BigSoxFan

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Yeah the Cowboys picked a hell of a year to be really good. In other years they'd prob waltz to the NFCCG but this year the NFC is utterly stacked.
Good news for Cowboys is that they’re set up to be really good for a while. Dak is entering his prime. Zeke is in his and they have Pollard as a backup. Cooper is in his prime and CeeDee is still a couple years away from his. Parsons and Diggs are cheap for a few more years. It’s all set up nicely. Jerry letting Steven get more involved in personnel was the smartest thing this guy has done in a long time.
 

TFisNEXT

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Good news for Cowboys is that they’re set up to be really good for a while. Dak is entering his prime. Zeke is in his and they have Pollard as a backup. Cooper is in his prime and CeeDee is still a couple years away from his. Parsons and Diggs are cheap for a few more years. It’s all set up nicely. Jerry letting Steven get more involved in personnel was the smartest thing this guy has done in a long time.
Yes the Cowboys’ exceptional drafting in the past 7-9 years has been because of Stephen Jones and Will McClay taking over.
 

TFisNEXT

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Looks like Tyron Smith will miss this week with an ankle sprain. But with La'el Collins back, it's not an unmanageable blow. They are just going swing Terence Steele over to Tyron's left tackle spot and Collins will plug back into his starting RT spot. Steele played so well when Collins was out that they didn't even put Collins back into the RT spot against the Vikings when he was back from suspension.

Dak is back this week, but CeeDee Lamb is questionable with a mild ankle sprain, though both the coaches and Lamb don't sound concerned about it. So he's probably playing. They could activate Michael Gallup this week if Lamb can't play, but it sounds like reading the tea leaves they want to give Gallup another week. A luxury they have being stacked at WR. Cedric Wilson has been playing very well, so they are prob pretty comfortable him being a WR2 for a week if it came to that.
 

TFisNEXT

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It was an unmanageable blow.
I was trying to think today if I can think of the last time the Cowboys played a game so far below their baseline level. Getting absolutely beat down by an inferior opponent. At home no less.

It’s hard to think of it. Today was worse than the 2019 Jets loss. Maybe 2014 opening day at home vs 49ers?