The Dallas Cowboys finished 10-6 in 2018 and won the NFC East for the 3rd time in 5 seasons. Regardless of what happens in the playoffs this weekend, Jason Garrett has saved his job and the season can be considered a success for the majority of Cowboys fans. That said, at times it wasn’t pretty and the Dallas Cowboys grades for the season are a reflection of that.
OFFENSE: C-
The offense has been plagued with inconsistency and has been the weak link of the team for most of the season. There were some games, such as week 6 against Jacksonville and week 14 against Philadelphia, where they showed some explosiveness but for the most part the unit struggled all season long. The offense did what they needed to do during the stretch and the performance of Ezekiel Elliott alone gives them a passing grade overall, although barely.
DEFENSE: A
It is truly remarkable what Rod Marinelli and Kris Richard were able to do with a defense that had many question marks at several positions such as safety, cornerback and defensive tackle. The pass rush was not dominant but the front four consistently created pressure and got sacks when they needed them most. The cornerback play was outstanding and moving Byron Jones from safety to corner proved to be an ingenious move. At safety, aside from a few poor performances here and there, the play was above average. Xavier Woods is getting better and better overall. Woods has been very good in coverage and although he has been picked on by officials, he has delivered some timely hits to break up some potentially big plays. At linebacker the emergence of Jaylon Smith and rookie Lieghton Vander Esch has propelled the Cowboys defensive unit to one of the best in the league. Recent struggles aside, the overall body of work and having to compensate for a largely ineffective offense gets the Cowboys defense a well deserved A grade.
SPECIAL TEAMS: D-
The special teams play has left much to be desired this season. Brett Maher has made some big kicks but has been very inconsistent on makeable ones. He seems to struggle with kicks on the left hashmark and has missed some costly FG’s and PAT’s. Chris Jones is an excellent punter but he has not had as strong a season as he had a year ago. The Dallas Cowboys return game has been non-existent and the Cowboys have been losing the field position battle consistently this season because of it. Now that Tavon Austin is back from an extended injury, perhaps he can provide a boost for the return game in time for the playoffs.
COACHING STAFF: C
Reluctantly, I have to give top marks to Jason Garrett. I have been a long time critic of his because he has always appeared to be a stubborn, simple coach who lacks creativity. Garrett has stepped up this year and took a 3-5 team and lead them to 10 wins. One area where Garrett excels is at motivating his players and they responded with his job in jeopardy at midseason. Defensively, top marks go out to Kris Richard, Rod Marinelli and the rest of the defensive coaching staff. They have taken a defense that many considered mediocre or at best promising before the season began to a unit that many now consider elite. The coaching grade is held back mostly be the offense and secondly by the special teams. Scott Linehan is clearly not the right fit as offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. Unless something clicks in the postseason and he becomes either more creative or simply just learns to cater to the strength of this players than he may lose his job despite the Cowboys reaching the playoffs. As for special teams, the loss of Rich Bisiacca clearly hurt the Cowboys on special teams
FRONT OFFICE: A
The oft criticized Dallas Cowboys front office deserves some praise here. The hiring of Kris Richard was obviously a great move. The draft was yet another astounding success for the Dallas Cowboys as Lieghton Vander Esch, Michael Gallup, and Connor Williams have all been key contributors. The Cowboys did not spend big money in free agency but found some underrated contributors and much needed depth. By saving valuable cap space, they took a step towards being able to sign homegrown players like Demarcus Lawrence, Byron Jones, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. The most important role the front office played was midseason following the loss to the Titans. They recognized the error in hiring coach Paul Alexander and replaced him with Mark Columbo and then they spent a 1st round pick to acquire Amari Cooper. Many fans, including myself, were not thrilled about spending a 1st round pick for Cooper but the move paid off. The offense has improved since they acquired him and the Cowboys have turned the season around and made the playoffs.
OVERALL GRADE: B
The team’s overall grade is based on the regular season record, playoff berth and division title. There is room for improvement but the results speak for themselves. Now it is on to the playoffs and hopefully the Dallas Cowboys can avoid the “one and done” fate that many experts are predicting after drawing a Seattle Seahawks team that is physical, matches up well with Dallas and has an elite QB in Russell Wilson.
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode