The week or so after a playoff elimination you gotta just ignore noise.
If something below drives you crazy just chalk it up as noise and let it roll.
Lets start with the basics.
Dallas went 13-6.
The offense was the 4th best in PPG and 11th best in YPG.
The defense was the 5th best in points ger game and the 12th best in yards per game.
It was a solid season that ended as a road dog in San Francisco.
But it felt like a bust for so many.
And it is a bit confusing why.
Dallas took a step back in talent intentionally last off-season.
They didn’t have a high draft and they didn’t spend any money in free agency.
They didn’t have miraculous or even good health.
So how do we keep being inundated with these Bobby Ricky, Super Bowl or bust fans?
The Dallas Cowboys are Dak Prescott. –for at least 12 more months.
Dak is about the 8th best QB in football.
Dallas is about the 8th best team in the NFL.
They are a top 10 organization but also likely about 8th overall.
Thats what falling in the division round equals out to.
Off-season questions:
Can Dallas keep it’s Coordinators?
Think the general consensus is they’d really, really like to keep Dan Quinn.
And that Kellen Moore would probably be wise to take a promotion elsewhere.
Moore’s offense has been plenty good as stated above but has fallen apart versus San Fran and the league’s best defense.
FWIW I think Moore would be open to any Head coaching job while Dan wants to find a place he feels he can win.
RB woes:
Zeke was wearing a nasty knee brace in the playoff game and well we saw what happened to Pollard was a big part of the game plan.
That TP injury is a very real one and it is scary to pay a guy big money at the position even if totally healthy.
It will take masterstrokes by Will McClay at RB.
I feel fairly certain you cna keep Zeke at a salary cap neutral point.
Meaning I think his pay cut and ability to reduce the year’s cap hit likely cost the same as it would be to cut him.
But any thoughts of franchise tagging TP gotta be up in smoke right? Right? 10M for an injured RB on a 1-year deal??
Scary stuff.
WR woes:
Dallas signed Gallup to a 5-year deal knowing he wouldn’t be 100% this year.
I just don’t know if they felt he would be 60%.
Gallup is more a WR4 than a WR2 right now.
Dallas having to go get TY Hilton was a pretty telling case.
NFL WRs are NOT hard to come by but Dallas crapped out with Tolbert being unplayable, Gallup being at hsi career worst and James Washingtion never making a single play of note.
This was a self-inflicted wound.
If you knew you were releasing or trading Amaari and they did, you have to handle it better.
Not keeping Ced Wilson was criminal. He would have been WR2 this year and took pressure off the entire group.
OL play:
The OL plan fell apart in pre-season.
And the team actually did a great job of shuffling and adjusting but losing your top 2 OT is tough and they were at best scrappy all year.
Tyler Smith will be a mauler and a long-term Pro Bowler imo.
But all eyes on Terence Steele in recovery.
Tight End:
Schultz is a solid TE but he is not elite.
Jake Ferguson had a concussion and didn’t do much late in the year.
Hard to say 1 playoff target and 1 playoff catch gives me any real feeling he can be TE1 next year.
Can’t say I love it here.
Edge:
Nothing much to say here.
Get Micah more rest in games and Edge is fine.
DT:
Dallas needs a run stuffer.
Resign Hankins and likely draft someone.
CB:
Diggs has to tackle better.
Bland looks like a long-term starter but he is CB2 or CB3?
Is Diggs, Bland and JLewis good enough?
Can team keep firing draft picks at CB?
Safety:
Chef’s kiss.
So many good players at good values.
QB:
This is going to take a miraculous needle threading as well.
Dallas is not paying Dak a 31M base next year surely but it is GTD and they aren’t releasing or trading him with 89M dead cap.
So they probably need to extend him but at current rate (40M AAV) not after a raise.
Let’s see if they can get this done.
And then they need to either pay Rush to return or find a back up.
As all these positions show, Dallas is a team in transition.
Cap is not as bad as it seems since they didn’t flex guys deals out in advbance as teams like the Eagles do but it will be tough to keep everyone and they will need to flex guys out just to keep a few of them.
It is good they can really draft because they have more holes than dollars.
All that said Dallas likely enters next year a top 10 team in talent.
It just may once again be near the bottom of that top 10.
Welcome to the silly season, welcome to Dallas.
