“THIS IS OUR YEAR”:
Every year the Dallas Cowboys enter the season surrounded by hype and unrealistic expectations. To make things worse, Dak will get off to a hot start by beating up on a couple of bad teams, causing Cowboys fans to believe that for the first time since 1996, the Cowboys are going to the Super Bowl. Every year, the fans say “It’s our year” and every year, come January the Cowboys get smoked by a real Super Bowl contestant. “‘Dem Boyz” have lost to the San Fransisco 49ers in both of the last two playoffs.
IS THIS YEAR DIFFERENT?:
Per usual, the Dallas Cowboys entered this season with more hype than they deserved. And per usual, the Dallas Cowboys expanded that hype by destroying bad teams, as they routed both New York teams by a combined score of 70-10.
However, this season the short-lived hyped faded even quicker than usual. In week 3 the Dallas Cowboys lost to a tanking Arizona Cardinals team led by Josh Dobbs. Arizona dominated the first half and led 21-10 at halftime. Dak and the offense were dead in the second half as they failed to put together a comeback and the false hype was debunked.
Dallas thought they got back to business as they beat New England 38-3 the following week, but in week 5 they faced their first real test in the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers were responsible for ending the Cowboys’ previous two seasons, therefore, a Cowboys win would be sweet revenge, and a 49ers win would create a narrative that the 49ers own the Cowboys. Well, the 49ers do own the Cowboys. The Cowboys went into Levi Stadium and got embarrassed on national television, as the 49ers routed them 42-10. The Cowboys’ hype was already gone in October, four months earlier than usual.
The following week, Dallas played the bad and poorly coached Los Angeles Chargers team. Despite clearly being the more talented team, Dallas was barely able to fight off Los Angeles and escaped with a 20-17 win. Even though they were 4W-2L heading into their week 7 bye, the Dallas Cowboys weren’t viewed as a contender.
THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT:
After their week 7 bye, the Cowboys hosted the 3W-4L Los Angeles Rams. The Cowboys beat up on their weak opponent 43-20 and rose to 5W-2L. Dallas followed up their good week 7 performance by putting up a respectable fight against the reigning NFC champions, the Philadelphia Eagles but ended up falling short and losing 28-23. Cowboys fans felt better about their team after they destroyed the 2W-8L Giants, 1W-9L Panthers, and the 4W-8L Commanders, 49-17, 33-10, and 45-10.
The narrative across the NFL was that the 8W-3L Cowboys weren’t a real contender and had simply inflated their record and statistics by running up the score on laughable defenses. Dak Prescott did have 2,935 passing yards and 23 touchdown passes, but 2,408 of those yards and 19 of those touchdowns came against abysmal defenses.
*I would like to mention the incredible job Dak Prescott has done facing adversity. Dak recently lost his brother Jace to suicide. Jace was not the first loss in Dak’s life. In 2013, Prescott lost his mother, Peggy, to cancer. Sadly, it does not end there. Nathaniel Prescott, Dak’s father is sitting in jail after he was arrested for possession of marijuana. To summarize, Dak has not had an easy life, yet he continues to fight through adversity and be one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, one of the most challenging jobs in sports.
In week 13 the Cowboys faced a solid Seattle Seahawks team, a chance to begin debunking the narrative. The Cowboys did so in fashion. The Seahawks played a great game but each time they scored, Dallas fought right back. Dak finished the game with 299 passing yards and three touchdown passes as he led the Cowboys to an important 41-35 win. The win began to give Dallas some credibility but they had to prove themselves for real the next week, against the 10W-2L Philadelphia Eagles.
The Cowboys came into the divisional matchup and steamrolled Philly. Dak and the offense put up 24 points in the first half and never looked back. With 94 thousand fans in attendance, the Cowboys smoked the Eagles 33-13. The Dallas defense forced three turnovers while limiting Jalen Hurts to under 200 yards and no touchdowns. It was a dominant performance all around. The big-time win propelled the Cowboys into first place in the NFC East and the second seed in the NFC.
“THIS IS OUR YEAR” 2.0:
Now that the Cowboys have proven their ability to route strong teams just as easily as they route weak teams, they’re going to be a scary squad to face in the playoffs. Dak Prescott is putting up MVP-caliber numbers as he is top-5 in the NFL in passing yards (3,5050), passing touchdowns (28), and quarterback rating (107.5 *career high). Prescott isn’t the only Cowboy having an elite season. Daron Bland leads the NFL with 8 interceptions and broke the record for most interceptions returned for touchdowns in a single season. CeeDee Lamb is also putting up video game numbers. Lamb has already eclipsed the 1,250-yard mark with four games remaining. Lamb is also responsible for catching 8 of Dak’s 28 touchdown passes. Between knocking off top teams and putting up historic stats, this Cowboys team is legit. Between Dallas, San Francisco, and Philadelphia all being 10W-3L, it’s going to be a tight race for the top seed in the NFC. In my opinion, if Dallas can snag the number 1 seed and clinch home-field advantage throughout the entire playoffs, they will be the favorites to win the Super Bowl. Every team in the AFC is a bit shaky for their reasons, therefore if the Cowboys can get through the gauntlet in the NFC, for the first time since 1996, it’ll be “their year”!
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