The word bold and the Dallas Cowboys go hand in hand. From flashy draft picks to fancy helicopters, Dallas is always in the news. This year in particular reached new highs and lows in that category.
It has been a complete roller coaster.
Tony Romo got hurt… again. Three defensive starters are currently suspended. And rookie Dak Prescott has shined. If one offseason can be so crazy, it can be both fun and scary to try to predict the future.
Here are my bold predictions for the Cowboys this season.
Ezekiel Elliott Will Lead the League in Rushing
In 2015, Dallas was without arguably its two best players. Tony Romo played in a total of four games. Star wide receiver Dez Bryant played in nine, but was realistically healthy for none.
Despite this, Darren McFadden still finished fourth in rushing. Fourth! And this was all without starting a whole season. If McFadden was lead-dog from week one last season, he could have pushed for the rushing title. Just imagine what a superior talent like Ezekiel Elliott can achieve.
The talent and upside are there for this young man. Against Seattle’s acclaimed starting defense in the preseason, he looked poised and explosive. But his situation may trump all.
We’ve all heard plenty about the offensive line. But, he plays for a team that has a dynamic rushing attack and the actual desire to run the ball heavily. In a pass-oriented league, that is almost non-existent these days. If Dallas has any success this year, running Elliott effectively is clearly plan A.
He will get the carries, and he has surrounding talent on offense. I expect Ezekiel Elliott to have one of the greatest rookie rushing seasons in league history.
Dallas’ Secondary Will Produce Two Pro-Bowlers
2009 was the last year that a Dallas Cowboy made the Pro-Bowl (actual votes). That year featured two players, Terence Williams and Mike Jenkins. Seven years is a long drought, but this secondary is ready to make some significant strides.
In spite of the flack this defensive unit has received, I still have big expectations for their secondary.
Byron Jones quietly had a solid rookie campaign, flashing a lot of what the Cowboys hoped he’d be as a first round selection. He is a complete, versatile talent, possessing tremendous closing speed. He demonstrated plenty of this in the preseason this year.
Orlando Scandrick remains one of the most underrated corners in the game. Very few defensive backs have the ability to go inside and cover slot receivers like Scandrick. Healthy and with a lot to prove in 2016, expect him to return to 2014 form.
Mark Sanchez Never Takes a Snap
Dak Prescott will have his ups and downs, but I expect enough production from him to hold down the starting job. Barring injury, this is Prescott’s chance.
Mark Sanchez will remain strictly a clipboard holder as Prescott is given a full opportunity to shine. Cowboys Nation is praying that Prescott is the real deal, and the organization will let him play for the majority of the season to get their answers. When Tony Romo comes back from injury, I fully expect him to resume starting duties. Unless Prescott is playing at a consistently elite level, Tony Romo gets one more crack at it.
Jason Garrett Coaches His Last Season in Dallas
I really hope this one isn’t true, because by default, this means the Cowboys will have another bad season. The mediocrity of Jason Garrett’s tenure as head coach cannot be denied. Specifically, this team has proven time after time totally inept without Tony Romo. I expect improvement this season with Prescott, but I’m still not convinced this team can win without Romo.
Is a record of… let’s say 6-10 enough to keep Garrett around? Dallas still has enough to compete for a division crown.
How much longer can we sit here and blame backup quarterbacks for losing? Dak Prescott has looked great, and he has the talent to win in this league, but it’s time for this coaching staff to start producing wins without number nine. Not to mention the Dallas Cowboys’ 2016 schedule is pretty favorable.
Garrett needs to produce wins now.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
Nothing about the Cowboys isn’t bold, and I expect the trend to continue this season. Maybe Prescott is the second coming of Russell Wilson and Tony Romo comes back to lead the Cowboys to the promised land. But even I can’t go there. Here’s to dreaming.
Bold will always be relevant in Big D.
Man I hope you’re wrong about Jason Garrett. I really think he has done a great job in creating a consistent environment. He has the trust of the owner/GM and has built a communication structure with Stephen and Will McClay that will benefit this team and gives us a glimpse of what the future holds post Jerry.
I hope he’s wrong too. Lot of people get up in arms over the 8-8 seasons, but not me. I’m more worried about the increasing character issues on this team. The more they happen each year, the more I wonder if Garrett isn’t doing something we don’t see that’s allowing these issues to crop up. That’s my only concern with Garrett, though I believe he has created a consistent environment and believes highly in having the Right Kind of Guys. Tough to know. Definitely don’t like seeing players having repeated drug issues year after year.
Thanks for the input guys. I obviously hope I’m wrong too for the reasons listed above, but I think it is at least worth having a conversation about. Most head coaches would not have lasted this long with the record he has had during his tenure. It’s at least fair to say that, and that can be backed up when you look around the league. Also, the team could not close out games last year, and a lot of that could fall on coaching. I wrote about that last month. Sometimes last year it felt like we were the only team in the NFL that couldn’t win without their starting QB. At a certain point, when do we stop blaming it all on the actual starting QB that we throw out there, and start to put more of the blame on the coaching staff? That’s my main gripe with him. Romo has covered a lot up over the years.
He was also stripped of his play-calling duties before the 2014 season, which just happened to be the best this offense has looked in the Romo era.
Also, I agree with Bryson on his point. But I guess we really have no way of knowing what impact he does or does not have on that aspect of the team. I will just say it comes across as kind of phony when Garrett preaches “right kind of guy” and the team is then fined in the off season for having too many players suspended for issues relating to their poor character. But again, not saying that is his fault either.
Good discussion guys.
I get that too. I think he has done the best job of managing Jerry Jones of any head coach in the Jones era that has kept his job.
Campo, Phillips, and Gainey were too soft.
Parcells and Jimmy were to tough.
Garrett is just right and happens to be one of Jerry’s guys from the Super Bowl era. Much like Kubiak is Elway’s guy.
I think Garrett is going to be here for a long time. They are still building something and at some point it’s going to deliver.
To your comment on the RKG talk. I’m with you in that it seems hypocritical to preach RKG and then sign a guy like Greg Hardy. Problem is that the coach is rarely going to have the final say on the construction of the team. Usually he will play the players he’s given.
Still good stuff man.
I think the prediction on ANY Cowboys HC is problematic BECAUSE of the Owner/GM situation. Garrett is clearly the most tenured HC of this Jerruh reign since ’89 BUT…you can’t argue .500 record is the definition of Mediocrity. BUT..is that because of the (lack) of talent? Were we fans spoiled b/c romo willed his teams to achieve higher than the talent around him? I am absolutely convinced if we consider Garrett’s tenure a failure it is because he lacks a fundamental understanding of and appreciation for how to build a top tier defense. I wish he had forced his will on Jerruh and Jerruh Jr. to go get better talent for our defense.
Ethan, thank you for the comment, you bring up some great points. It’s tough to place blame on Garrett for not building a better defense over the years. I would personally place that blame on the front office. I fall somewhere in the middle on Garrett overall. On one hand I agree with your point about the talent on the roster over the years, but I also place a decent amount of blame on Garrett as well. What bothers me about him is that it’s hard to take him seriously as times. For instance, he preaches “Right kind of guy” philosophy, yet the team is constantly dealing with players with character issues, particularly over the last year. He also lost play-calling duties before 2014, the one season we happened to go 12-4 afterwards and reach a near elite level offensively. Hard to ignore the 1-11 record without Tony Romo last year as well. When do we draw the line and place some blame on the coaching staff when they look like the worst team in the league without number 9? This season could dictate his future, that’s all I’m saying here.