DALLAS COWBOYS
2007 RECORD: 13-3

Overview: Expectations in Big D are sky-high and no one is going to be happy with anything less than a Super Bowl ring.  The past two years have seen the Dallas Cowboys bow out of the playoffs before their time.  Two years ago it was Tony Romo fumbling a PAT snap; last year it was losing to the Giants, a team they scored 76 points against in two regular season games.  There is a whole lotta ego in the locker room, and one thing for sure is that the Cowboys will not have a quiet 2008.

Offense: There aren’t too many bad things to say about the NFL’s #2 offense except for the fact that when it counted last year they didn’t show up.  They have an elite wide receiver in Terrell Owens, an elite tight end in Jason Witten, a backfield that measures up with the best of them, a solid QB in Tony Romo and a good starting offensive line.  All looks good on the white-board.  Now to another story.  The Cowboys have only one proven wide receiver whose emotional past is not yet the past and is in a contract year, they have zero depth at TE and the OL, and their backfield consists of one tough runner (Marion Barber) and a rookie that wasn’t even the best RB on is college team (Felix Jones).  The Dallas Cowboys are one injury away from the entire deck of cards coming down.  They have been the healthiest team in the NFL over the past 5 years.  Answer me one question, does the combination of Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, Adam Jones, and Jerry Jones make you think good karma or bad karma?

Defense: The Dallas Cowboys gave up the second most points of their NFC East rivals, behind the New York Giants.  Statistically that may bode well for the Cowboys, but when you look at the numbers a different story is told.  The Giants had four games where they gave up 149 points (Cowboys twice, Green Bay Packers, and New England Patriots) and one game where 21 of the 41 points scored were not given up by the defense (Minnesota Vikings).  The point is, Dallas had the worst defense in the NFC East last year and the did NOTHING to fix it.  They have a safety in Roy Williams that can’t cover anyone in the NFL, and a group of linebackers that is led by the chronically concussed, and not good enough for the 1-15 Dolphins Zach Thomas.  No team did less than the Cowboys in the offseason to address their most glaring need.  Even Adam Jones has missed too much time to make the necessary difference in a bad secondary.

Rookies: The Cowboys drafted Felix Jones from Arkansas with their first pick and he will try to fill the hole left by Julius Jones’ departure to the Seattle Seahawks.  Felix was the other back at Arkansas playing behind the phenomenal Darren McFadden.  Jones is versatile yet questions remain due to his not being the premier back on his college team, but he should fit well into Dallas’ creative offense.  Mike Jenkins a corner out of South Florida was drafted to bolster the previously mentioned porous secondary.  The Cowboys better hope they don’t need him right away.
Prediction: I know they have a potent offense, and I know they went 13-3 last year.  But there is something about this Dallas team that makes me very uneasy.  It could be the combination of T.O. and Adam Jones in the same locker room, along with Tony Romo and his inability to do it in crunch-time, plus Jerry Jones and what is sure to be a ton of additional pressure that he will place on the team.  I also have concerns about the health of this club.  Dallas has done a remarkable job of avoiding injuries, but in the NFL it is only a matter of time.  The entire NFC East is better and Dallas’ defense is not.  I predict a 10-6 finish for the Cowboys in 2008.

View All of Dean Browski’s 2008 NFL Team Projections