The Dallas Cowboys are coming off of a dominant win at home over a team which has been consistently in the playoffs over the past 4-5 years.
Their offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, pushing around professional defensive linemen as if they were high school athletes. Their running back, who now leads the league in rushing, continued to improve as Dallas took over the game with that same rushing attack.
Just a couple weeks ago they traveled to face a bad NFC West team, and after falling behind big early on, these young Cowboys rallied to win in exciting fashion.
Defensively, they are playing way over their heads. Ball control offense and timely takeaways on defense have the Cowboys rolling, but their biggest challenge will come this week. Now they must go on the road, to a place where they haven’t won in years, to face a team which has been a powerhouse in the NFC over the past few seasons.
If you’ve been paying attention to this team recently, you know that this scenario is exactly where our 2016 Dallas Cowboys sit at this point. But if you’d think back to October of 2014 for a minute, you’ll realize just how similar this situation is for the Cowboys.
The parallels between 2016 and 2014 are clear as day.
Two season ago the Cowboys had just defeated the New Orleans Saints in convincing fashion. Sure, hindsight tells us that the Saints weren’t very good that year, but at the time we still believed that Drew Brees and company were for real. Especially considering how Brees had haunted the Cowboys during their last few meetings.
On that day, Dallas rushed for 190 yards, with Demarco Murray accumulating 149 of those yards on 24 carries and scoring 2 touchdowns. Last Sunday, the 2016 Cowboys rushed for 180 yards, as rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott went for 134 and 2 touchdowns on just 15 carries.
In the end, both games resulted in dominant home wins over (what we thought/think are) quality opponents. Outsiders to the organization finally started believing the 2014 Cowboys could be for real after that win, and people are finally starting to believe these 2016 Cowboys could be for real after last Sunday.
Next, the Cowboys face(d) their biggest test.
Prior to dominating the Seattle Seahawks on their home turf in 2014, the Cowboys had not won in Seattle since 2004. This week, the Cowboys travel to Lambeau field, where they haven’t won since 2008.
The same way the Cowboys had to win in a place where their last two memories were a Tony Romo botched snap playoff loss and a blowout loss where Sean Lee was demolished by Golden Tate, they now must exercise their Lambeau Field demons where they were last seen being robbed in the 2014 playoffs and being blown out with Matt Cassel at the helm.
But just like in 2014, this Cowboys team has the ability to beat anyone. With the players they have on their offensive line and the explosive running back they have in the backfield, the Cowboys can take control of any game. They can control the line of scrimmage, and bully defenses just like they did in Seattle in 2014 and just like they did last week against the Bengals.
These Cowboys are good. And for any doubters who still haven’t accepted that this team is for real, the Cowboys will once again prove it this weekend, just as they did this very week two Octobers ago.
After 5 weeks it’s easy to see the 2014 Dallas Cowboys. I’d even venture to say that the defense is playing much like it did in 2014, but maybe even better. In 2014 they allowed 22 points a game. In 2016 they are at 18. They seem to be getting better pressure on the Quarterback and the secondary is playing better. The secondary especially doesn’t seem like a liability like it once was.
So far so good on the defensive side of the ball. There are still concerns, and at times they fall apart and seem to play how they were “expected” to, but overall they have done a really nice job.