This year’s bye could not have come at a better time for the Dallas Cowboys in the eyes of many fans and pundits following that Week 6 massacre at the hands of the Detroit Lions. Surely, if you ask any of the players, they’d probably want to get right back on the field to get that nasty taste of 47-9 out of their mouths. Nevertheless, the players and coaching staff need a minute to reboot and figure things out.
So, as we’ve reached Week 7 with Dallas taking a much-needed rest, we’ll examine how the 3-3 Cowboys have looked overall and their realistic chances of making a postseason run. Although sitting at .500 during the bye isn’t the worst position, it also isn’t the greatest, especially considering Dallas’ schedule the rest of the way.
Are the Cowboys real contenders?
Many times, breaking down a team that has won just as many games as they’ve lost can be tough to decipher. The phrase, “You are what your record says you are,” comes to mind when thinking about the Cowboys. Those infamous words were uttered by former head coach, Bill Parcells.
Looking back at what we’ve seen out of Dallas thus far, that phrase doesn’t fit this team. They might be worse than their 3-3 record as we approach the halfway point of the season. Other than beating the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas beat down Cleveland to open the season and their other win was over the New York Giants.
When Dallas faced better teams like Baltimore and Detroit, we saw just how flawed this team is. Then there was the Week 2 demolition derby against New Orleans that looks worse on the Cowboys with each passing week. The Saints have not won a game since they put the boots to the Cowboys, 44-19.
Although Dallas’ record says they are still in fairly decent shape, their play on the field says Jerry Jones’ team is in big trouble. That was clear in his interview earlier this week with the team’s flagship radio station, 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. Jones pretty much threatened to replace the hosts because they weren’t asking softball questions.
“This is not your job,” Jones began his tirade. “Your job isn’t to let me go over all the reasons that I did something and I’m sorry that I did it. That’s not your job. I’ll get somebody else to ask these questions.”
“I’m not kidding. I’m not kidding. You’re not gonna figure out what the team is doing right or wrong. If you are, or any five or 10 like you, you need to come to this [NFL owners] meeting I’m going to today. There are 32 teams here. You’re geniuses. Y’all really think you’re gonna sit here with a microphone and tell me all of the things that I’ve done wrong without going over the rights?”
Jones has a right to be upset but taking that anger and frustration out on the radio guy isn’t the answer nor is it right. He should be made at himself as the person who put this team together and hired the head coach and staff. That’s who should have received that blistering rant because they simply have not produced to the level expected.
Searching for hope in a sea of mediocrity
Not all is lost for Jones’ Cowboys but they’re quickly approaching the point of no return. Hopefully, they will use this time off to get healthy and address some of the flaws that have been glaring. The lack of a running game and the inability to stop the run are probably the two biggest issues we’ve seen.
It’d be wise to figure it out soon because Dallas plays San Francisco after the bye and the 49ers will be coming off a matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. So that game with the Niners could be of the utmost importance to them and the Cowboys, especially if SF stumbles this week against KC.
After Week 8 it doesn’t get much easier for Dallas as they go from the Bay Area to Atlanta, then back to Big D for Philly and Houston. Then they finish this tough stretch of games with a trip to the nation’s capital to face the Washington Commanders. It isn’t farfetched to say the Cowboys could be completely out of the playoff mix after these next five games.
Dallas really could lose all these games and be on their way to a top-10 draft pick next spring. Cowboys fans will continue to be optimistic but with each week that passes, the optimistic outlook begins to fade just a little bit more. The bottom line is the Cowboys are not contenders. Not in the sense of being a viable Super Bowl contender. At this point, it’s hard to see how they even make the playoffs based on how they’ve looked this season.