It has been said that the only numbers that matter in sports are wins and losses. While that is fundamentally true, no sports fan can deny the impact of individual numbers in the North American sports culture. Whether you play fantasy football, bet online, or just love crunching numbers, individual statistics are a major part of being a football fan. In keeping with that spirit, the following is a prediction of the Dallas Cowboys individual stats for the upcoming 2019 regular season.
DAK PRESCOTT
Will Dak Prescott throw for over 4000 yards? Dak Prescott averaged over 274 passing yards per game after the Amari Cooper trade. Average that out over a 16 game season and that would put him at nearly 4400 yards passing. With a new offensive coordinator in Kellen Moore, the offense should improve and 4000 passing yards in today’s NFL is easily attainable. Answer: YES
Will Dak Prescott throw for more than 30 pass TD’s? Even if you factor in Dak’s numbers after the Amari Cooper trade, he would have finished with 25 passing TD’s over 16 games. In the redzone, the Cowboys have Ezekiel Elliott as one option and Dak’s legs as another. I do expect Dak Prescott to score 30 or more total TD’s, but 30+ passing TD’s will be a difficult milestone to attain. Answer: NO
EZEKIEL ELLIOTT
Will Ezekiel Elliott rush for more than 1600 yards? Ezekiel Elliott has not played a full 16 game season in his entire NFL career. If the Dallas Cowboys clinch a playoff spot before the final week of the season they will rest the All-Pro running back. The Cowboys also drafted change of pace back Tony Pollard along with another former Buckeye Mike Weber to add depth to the backfield and lesson Zeke’s demanding work load. In addition to all that, he is in the midst of a holdout that could see him miss time or at the very least miss out on valuable first team reps with new OC Kellen Moore in command. Answer: NO
Will Ezekiel Elliott lead the league in rushing? Ezekiel Elliott should rank among the league’s leading rushers once again this season but there are some other dynamic young backs with improving offensive lines that could challenge him such as Saquon Barkley or Joe Mixon. Even if Zeke does play 16 games, it is very difficult to repeat as NFL rushing champion and Zeke should see less carries this season. Answer: NO
Will Ezekiel Elliott attain more than 2000 yards from scrimmage? Elliott will average more than 100 yards/game from scrimmage and he could very well flirt with 2000 total yards. Still, he should see less carries and the presence of Tony Pollard as a change of pace back, the addition of Randall Cobb, and the return of Jason Witten will take away some of the targets Zeke caught last season as the safety valve. I predict 1800 to 1900 total yards at most therefore just missing out on 2000. Answer: NO
Will Ezekiel Elliott score more than 10 rushing TD’s? It is mind boggling how often the Cowboys failed to hand Elliott the ball inside the 5 yard line last season. When they did, they often got cute and it contributed to the Cowboys having one of the worst redzone offenses in the entire league. That is something they will likely address this season and the result will be more rushing TD’s for Zeke. Answer: YES
AMARI COOPER
Will Amari Cooper catch more than 90 passes? Cooper was on pace to catch 90+ balls during his tenure with the Cowboys last season. This year he should see some extra attention and the Cowboys have added some weapons that may take away some of his targets. 80+ catches will be more attainable but 90 might be out of range for him. Answer: NO
Will Amari Cooper reach 1300 receiving yards? During his 9 games as a Cowboys last season, Cooper was on pace to get close to 1300 yards over a 16 game season. That included 2 games with inflated production against poor secondary play VS Washington and Philidelphia. Cooper will likely finish with closer to 1200 yards receiving. Answer: NO
Will Amari Cooper catch 10 or more TD passes? Throughout his career in Oakland, Cooper was never used as a redzone target. In a run first offense such as the Dallas Cowboys employ, he will not be the primary option there either. Ezekiel Elliott and Jason Witten will be used more heavily in that area of the field and Dak will also use his legs. Michael Gallup will also be a deep threat opposite Cooper and will poach some TD’s with Coop getting extra attention. All that translates into less TD’s for Amari Cooper. Answer: NO
DEMARCUS LAWRENCE
Will DeMarcus Lawrence have another 10+ sack season? Demarcus Lawrence just got a lucrative new contract. He is also returning from offseason surgery that will limit him in training camp. Both of those things usually signal regression but the Cowboys have added Robert Quinn on the opposite side and have also upgraded the interior pass rush. The additional help should give Lawrence enough opportunities to crack double digit sacks once again. Answer: YES
Will any other Cowboy player register more than 10 sacks? The Dallas Cowboys are deep on the defensive line and they like to rotate their guys. Just based on opportunity alone I do not think it is realistic to expect another player to get more than 10 sacks. Answer: NO
Some other predictions for Dallas Cowboys individual stats in 2019:
*Michael Gallup over 1000 yards receiving: NO *Jason Witten over 500 yards receiving: NO *Byron Jones 2+ interceptions: NO *Xavier Woods 2+ interceptions: YES *Jaylon Smith & Leighton Vander Esch over 100 tackles: YES
*All data and statistics obtained and verified from https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
**Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode