How bout them, Cowboys! Dallas is coming off their best game of the year beating their divisional rival 41-21. Everyone can talk about how overrated Dallas is. Haters will criticize Dallas but there is really nothing to discredit them.
People hate Cowboys fans for believing in their team but you can’t blame them. Everything has seemed to just come up in Dallas’s favor. The team has been looking at the top of their game and has a huge momentum boost coming into an easy half of their schedule.
Why is this year so different? Just last year this team looked terribly but how did they improve so much in such little time?
The name of the game is defense. Just one season ago, this defense was just letting teams toy with them. The easy answer is the draft. Jerry Jones is no fool. He understood the assignment in the draft and got defensive playmakers.
Here was the draft haul by Dallas in 2021:
- Round 1, pick 12 (from PHI) – Micah Parsons, LB, Penn State
- Round 2, pick 44 – Kelvin Joseph, CB, Kentucky
- Round 3, pick 75 – Osa Odighizuwa, DT, UCLA
- Round 3, pick 84 – Chauncey Golston, DE, Iowa
- Round 3, pick 99 – Nahshon Wright, CB, Oregon State
- Round 4, pick 115 – Jabril Cox, LB, LSU
- Round 4, pick 138 – Josh Ball, OT, Marshall
- Round 5, pick 179 – Simi Fehoko, WR, Stanford
- Round 6, pick 192 – Quinton Bohanna, DT, Kentucky
- Round 6, pick 227 – Israel Mukuamu, CB, South Carolina
- Round 7, pick 238 – Matt Farniok, G, Nebraska
As you can clearly see, the defense was the name of the game! 8 out of 11 of their picks were defensive players. Although the top 2 DBs were picked before them, it panned out just fine. Micah Parsons has been an unstoppable force, Osa Odighizuwa had his first sack on Monday and looked fierce, and those other players will have their time to shine.
Along with a breakout year from Trevon Diggs (who leads the league in interceptions), this defense has been looking the best it has been since 2018!
Dak Prescott has been showing out. He is the heart of the Cowboys and allows his other playmakers to shine out! Ezekiel Elliott, Tony Pollard, Amari Cooper, Ceedee Lamb, Cedrick Wilson, Dalton Schultz, and Blake Jarwin are looking back to normal thanks to Prescott’s fantastic play!
Due to his fantastic play, Dallas is 5th in YPG, 10th in passing, 4th in rushing, and T-6th in PPG!
The only downfall of this team has been Greg Zurlien. If Greg Zurlien made his kicks, Dallas could have potentially been 3-0 but let’s not talk hypothetically.
Can the Cowboys go on a hot streak to get their win total high? They can look amazing on paper but can they put wins in the win column? In their next ten matchups, six of them are against teams with a losing record. It may be a little early to tell how good some teams are but I think some teams already know how bad some of these teams will be. In the NFC East, you can never tell how it will pan out.
So, is it really the Cowboys’ year? There is enough reason to believe that they can do what seems impossible. Could they show everyone that they are truly America’s team? Is this the team that could bring home the Lombardi to Arlington? There is no way to say for certain but what I can say is… HOW BOUT THEM, COWBOYS!
