Blogging The Boys
Things are not going well for the Dallas Cowboys. After eight games, the team has only three wins. Their chances of making the playoffs grow slimmer with each week. Besides their inability to win back-to-back games, they have multiple things working against them. For starters, 13 of the 16 NFC teams (81%) also have at least three wins, so it’s a packed house when it comes to teams vying for a playoff spot. Second, the Cowboys have a brutal stretch of games in late November/early December when they’ll square off against tough opponents:
Week 12, November 23rd – Eagles, 6-2
Week 13, November 27th – Chiefs, 5-3
Week 14, December 4th – Lions, 5-2
Week 16, December 21st – Chargers, 5-2
Making matters even more difficult is that all of those teams have good offenses that should have a field day against this Cowboys defense. It’s not hard to see that a losing season could be on the horizon for this team, and that any shot at a real playoff run is slipping away.
Last week, the sentiment was slightly different, with some fans holding on to a glimmer of hope. There were many discussions about making a big trade to acquire a difference-making defensive player who might be able to help save the season. For many fans, the “win now” plan would have looked something like this:
It’s becoming clearer that there is no great savior out there. The defense’s problems won’t be remedied by one player, and the best thing for them to do is to save that draft capital and look for their solutions next year. Plus, in a week, we learned that the Raiders have no desire to trade Maxx Crosby. We also watched the defense get torched by the Broncos’ offense. Even the great offense we’ve seen all year sputtered, where they quickly found themselves in a hole they could never get out of. Things couldn’t have gone much worse.
So, obviously, they need a new plan. This plan should be centered around fixing the defense and maximizing the window where they have good quarterback play. This is tricky because it requires both patience and a willingness to be assertive. But there’s a path where they can make great strides in accomplishing such, and it could go a little something like this:
Yes, this was also part of the “win-now” plan, but there really shouldn’t be any scenario where he is not a part of their future. They used a third-round pick to get him, and he’s been nothing short of fantastic since stepping on the field. The alternative is to use draft capital for one of the top collegiate receivers, but that’s a risky thing to do for two reasons: (A) you never know what you’re going to get, and (B) they need those premium draft resources for defense. Take the sure thing that is Pickens. He possesses a skillset that is not readily found, and when you have something...
