Is this when the Dallas Cowboys finally return to the Super Bowl?

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t reached a Super Bowl since 1995. With talent galore on both sides of the ball, there’s a real chance to return.

For the last 25 years, the Dallas Cowboys have been the biggest tease in sports. While they have been competitive in nearly every season, they just have never been able to get over the hump. It’s a team that continually has hopes of winning another Super Bowl, but they have failed to reach the NFC Championship game since the 1995 season has won a total of three playoff games during that time.

However, entering 2019 season, this appears to be the Cowboys’ most-loaded roster from top to
bottom. According to many, this could be the team that finally makes the leap and wins the Super Bowl.

On several popular betting sites such as Bovada, the Cowboys are on the shortlist of teams with
reasonable odds to win the NFC and the Super Bowl. It’s not hard to see why so many are believing that this is finally the year Dallas takes home their sixth-Super Bowl ring.

On offense, they have three-Pro Bowl offensive linemen (Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, and Zack Martin) in their prime of their career protecting 26-year old Dak Prescott. Prescott himself is coming off another Pro Bowl season and appears to be on the verge of becoming one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the league. Through 48 games of his career, Prescott has a record of 32-16 as a starting quarterback and a passer rating of 96. While it hasn’t always been pretty for him thorough his career, he has managed not to turn the ball over and find ways to win games.

Heading into Year 4, he’s poised to have the best season of his career.

Part of the reason for the optimism surrounding Prescott is his revamped receiving corps. Midway
through the 2018 season, the Cowboys made the bold move of trading for Amari Cooper, surrounding their 2019 first-round pick. That move quickly paid dividends for Dallas as Cooper caught fire in the second half of the season.

As great as Cooper has been, it’s second-year receiver Michael Gallup who was the star of training camp. Gallup caught 33 passes as a rookie, but he has appeared to make the leap and is now a legit threat opposite of Cooper. Dallas also brought back recently-retired tight end Jason Witten and signed veterans Randall Cobb and Devin Smith to help round out their receiving unit.

But it’s not just the offense that has talent.

On defense, Dallas is loaded at all three levels with Pro Bowl studs, second and third-year players and excellent depth. Pro Bowler’s Demarcus Lawrence, Jaylon Smith, Leighton Vander Esch, and Byron Jones are the four-core pieces to one of the best defenses in the league. Dallas is led by arguably one of the best defensive coaching staffs in the league with veteran defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli and passing-game coordinator Kris Richard.

It would be quite a surprise (and disappointment) if this team, given their talent and experience, didn’t finish inside of the top-10 in points and yards allowed.

But despite all of the talent on both sides of the ball, something just seems off with this team. Has the Ezekiel Elliott holdout combined with the other contract negotiations taken some of the luster off of the Cowboys?

It’s possible that the “disease of me” has taken over in Dallas as a number of their biggest stars wait for a contract extension, all while demanding to be the highest or one of the highest-paid players at the position. But this is Dallas we are talking about, after all. They are accustomed to the noise and drama surrounding the team. This isn’t anything unusual. It’s just a typical offseason for America’s team.

With all that said, Dallas is still the team to watch in the NFL. With so many moving parts on both sides of the ball, the season could be fantastic or it could be a train-wreck. And if either happens, they will continue to dominate the headlines and drive up ratings. So what are the possible outcomes for the Cowboys this season? How could things play out in Big-D? Here is a look at the best-case, worst-case and most-likely scenario for Dallas in the league’s 100 th season:

Best-Case Scenario: Super Bowl Champions

It’s not hard to make the case that winning the Super Bowl is in the range of outcomes for the Cowboys. Last year, they were just a few plays away from appearing in the NFC Championship Game, and their roster seems to be significantly better than what we saw at the end of 2018.

Considering we have seen them play and beat some of the best teams in the league like New Orleans Philadelphia, they certainly aren’t that far away.

With Dak Prescott at quarterback, the team has made it to the divisional round twice in three years, and they appear to be on the up-and-up as a franchise. Assuming a few players like Gallup, Vander Esch and of course, Prescott can continue to progress; there is no reason this team shouldn’t be a Super Bowl contender. If Dallas can stay (relatively) healthy, they should have no problem getting back to the Divisional round, at worst.

Worst-Case Scenario: Miss Playoffs

Considering that Dallas could start the season without Elliott, it’s not hard to envision a scenario in which they get off to a shaky start despite a reasonably soft schedule. And with the amount of talent in the NFC and brutal schedule for Dallas in the second half of the season, the Cowboys need to start hot to make the playoffs.

While missing the playoffs would be an utter failure for this franchise in a championship window, the worst-case scenario would be Prescott regressing like we saw in 2017 when Elliott was suspended. If that were to happen, Dallas could be entering the 2020 season wondering whether or not they should even pay Prescott any amount of money to be their starting quarterback.

Most-Likely Scenario: Wild Card Berth

While the goal for any team is to win the Super Bowl, making the playoffs, especially in the crowded NFC, isn’t a bad goal. Dallas is simply too talented not to win 9-10 games, but they appear to lack the elite coaching and quarterback play to make them the favorites in the NFC. Dallas is one of those teams that have shown they can hang with any opponent, but too many times, they lack the consistency to become a powerhouse in the conference.

Ultimately, how Dallas fairs this season will likely depend on how Prescott progresses. If they can
continue to protect him, he shouldn’t have a problem performing in Kellen Moore’s new offense. But if not, Dallas could be in for a long, disappointing season. Expect the Cowboys to continue to be one of the league’s biggest storylines from week to week in 2019.