There weren’t many who predicted the Dallas Cowboys 2020 season would turn out the way it did. All other things aside, I am strictly speaking in terms of the team’s on-field performance. Most fans and experts predicted the NFC East division title would come down to the Eagles and Cowboys. That it ended up being the Washington Football Team beating out the New York Giants was a fitting end to this crazy year. The Dallas Cowboys 2020 season was one full of trails and adversity but now that it’s over, let’s take a critical look at the final product.
COACHING GRADE: D+
If you are like me, Mike McCarthy was not your first choice to become the next coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Even though I was disappointed in the hire, I was still optimistic that McCarthy could lead the Dallas Cowboys to a division title this year. There were some unique challenges that presented themselves to McCarthy but at the end of the day, the Dallas Cowboys 2020 season was a failure. The team finished 6-10 and had a losing record within perhaps the worst division in the history of the NFL. McCarthy deserves some credit for his team refusing to quit and fighting until the very end despite all of the injuries and in spite of how badly they struggled at times. Yet, McCarthy was directly responsible for some very questionable decisions; such as not throwing a challenge flag likely costing his team a win against the Giants, and a disastrous fake punt on 4th and 11 in his own territory against Washington. McCarthy was heavily criticised for sticking with a struggling Terrance Steele at right tackle and not being willing to move Zack Martin to that spot instead. His worst mistake however, was insisting on hiring his buddy Mike Nolan as defensive coordinator which turned out to be a failure of epic proportions. The only saving grace for this coaching staff was the fact that they had to endure four different starting quarterbacks, a revolving door of undrafted or practice squad offensive linemen, the worst free agent class in recent memory, and a shortened offseason with which to implement a complex new defensive scheme.
COWBOYS OFFENSE GRADE: B+
The popular expression used to describe this team prior to the Dallas Cowboys 2020 season was “Team 40 Burger”. I cannot with any degree of certainty properly identify the true innovator of the term but I believe it was from the lips of radio personality Jeff Cavanaugh of 105.3 The Fan on Radio.Com , where I heard it first. The idea behind Team 40 burger is that the Dallas Cowboys offense would be so high powered that they would put up 40 pts a game and overcome what was expected to be a very average defense. The movement gained steam after the Cowboys drafted CeeDee Lamb in the first round of the 2020 draft. They truly looked the part early on despite sporting a 1-3 record. Unfortunately, Dak Prescott suffered a season ending injury in week 5 against the Giants and the offense completely fell of the rails for several weeks culminating in the Ben DiNucci debacle in Philadelphia. Towards the second half of the season, the offense had a bit of a resurgence thanks to some continuity on the offensive line and a softer schedule down the stretch. I was quite generous with the offensive grade here awarding a “B+” but they deserve credit for being an above average unit across the board statistically while playing with third and fourth string offensive tackles, four different quarterbacks (2 of them having never before started an NFL game), and having to deal with the uncharacteristic fumbling issue that plagued Ezekiel Elliott this season.
COWBOYS DEFENSE GRADE: F
The Dallas Cowboys 2020 season was destined to fail because of the performance of the defense. Defensive Coordinator Mike Nolan had little time to implement his new scheme but by midseason it became clear that this could no longer be tolerated as an excuse. The second half of the season was an improvement but only by virtue of getting turnovers and playing against back up quarterbacks. The frequency of blown coverages in the secondary, misdiagnosed plays from the linebacking corps, and the complete inability to stop the run from the interior defensive line should have earned this team the nickname “The Doomed Defense” as the antithesis to the legendary “Doomsday Defense”.
COWBOYS SPECIAL TEAMS GRADE: C+
Special teams play started out pretty poorly to begin the Dallas Cowboys 2020 season. Greg Zuerlein was having some issues in the kicking game, punter Chris Jones continued his struggles from the previous two seasons, and John Fassel was proving to be too much of a wild card with his ill advised fake punts. As the season progressed, the special teams play improved dramatically. The return game and coverage game showed much improvement, Zeurlein settled down and finished the year respectably, and free agent punter Hunter Niswander was a huge improvement over Jones. Fassel had a few shining moments such as his excellent play design on his version of the famed “Memphis Miracle” play featuring C.J Godwin faking a hamstring injury and no one could forget the miraculous, helicopter style, onside kick in the comeback win against the Falcons. Overall, despite some terrible moments, the Dallas Cowboys special teams deserves a passing grade.
OVERALL GRADE: D
On the whole, the Dallas Cowboys 2020 season was without a doubt a failure. They only won 6 games and finished next to last in a very, very bad division. The extenuating circumstances such as the shortened offseason for the new coaching staff and the sheer volume of injuries are the only reason that the final grade is not an “F”. Despite the disappointing “D” grade, there are plenty of reasons to believe the team will improve significantly in 2021. Top of that list, is the expected return of starting quarterback Dak Prescott. That is, if Jerry and Stephen Jones are able to get a long term extension done, but that is another story and we will cross that bridge some other time….stay tuned.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso All Pro Reels https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode