Written by T Gordon Mayhall, Jr
We really had an incredible off-season, probably one of the best we’ve had in…I don’t know…26 years? Which is how many days will be left when I finish penning this piece. Please don’t think I haven’t seen flashes of greatness in these 26 years, but one way or the other, we were never able to put all the pieces together to get back to the Super Bowl, but I’m on the verge of going full “preseason Irvin” because of how excited I am for the Dallas Cowboys 2020 season. I only say that, since every year he hasn’t been a Cowboy, he’s been the analyst that has told us how good the Dallas Cowboys would be each preseason, and then the first to tell us how bad the Boys are playing that year. “Preseason Irvin” has hardly ever made it through to the postseason… lol.
Before we all go full “Preseason Irvin” on this thing, it’s necessary to put a realistic evaluation into the upcoming season… as of me first putting pen to paper it’s 27 days to the season opener of the Dallas Cowboys 2020 season. This is the first time in a few years where we haven’t begun the season against the New York (fa)Giants. So it’s difficult to ensure that season opening victory…*wink, wink.
This year we open up against the Los Angeles Rams, so who knows how things will go. Sure we walloped them pretty good last year, and it didn’t feel like they improved through the draft or free agency, above all they don’t have Todd Gurley in the backfield. However, Jared Goff has shown flashes of greatness, and Sean McVay shows competence, so our opening week is going to be a proving ground. Their defense is definitely their strongest point, and it’s going to be a necessity to establish the run game early, with hopefully a tandem attack of Zeke and Pollard to open up the passing game. If we can do that, we may actually get a chance to see if our three WR1’s can actually ball out against a tough secondary. That defense will be our first test with the strengths lying in Edge Aaron Donald and corner Jalen Ramsey. Win, lose or draw though, our rivals will still downgrade the outcome citing weak competition.
Week 2 however will definitely test the mettle of this defense, facing the Julio Jones and Matt Ryan led offense. Oh…and this team does have Todd Gurley, not to mention one of the most underrated receivers in the league, Calvin Ridley. (*tangent: Ridley is my dark horse this year in fantasy, I expect WR1 numbers from here on out.) Laquon Treadwell, another underrated receiver, only adds to that deep threat big play offense of which we can expect stiff competition. Our secondary is going to need to hold coverage long enough to ensure our Edge rushers time to sack Matt Ryan, while that rebuilt interior with our star linebackers will need to shut down that run game, and maintain the flats against well timed screens.
I could go on and on with my predictions, but I want to get back to the basis of the title. What can we, as Dallas Cowboys fans, expect from this season.
Foremost, if you haven’t already please check out Dak’s press conference from yesterday.
If you’re not sold on Dak yet, I urge you to watch closely this year. I think we’re going to see the culmination of several years of hard work and growth blossom before our eyes. I fully expect him to showcase not only his arm strength, but his football knowledge, and ability to spread the ball around with consistency.
Ezekiel Elliott, complimented by Tony Pollard, has the potential to light it up another season. If our offensive line finds their rhythm, along with the right mix of interior OL, we can expect many fast breaks, quick screens, jukes and hurdles. I think Zeke can see the endzone at least 15 times this year, minimum.
Our OL this year has a lot to prove with the loss of Travis Fredrick. However we still have some tried and tested veterans with Tyron Smith, Zack Martin and La’el Collins. I believe Joe Looney will do exactly what he did in 2018 and step up to lead. Connor McGovern still has the potential to step into that role as needed. We can only hope that Connor Williams made great improvement in the offseason, but I’m most excited for the Rookie tackle from Mexico Isaac Alarcon… we might not see much of him this year, but being able to grow under Smith and Collins is only going to keep our tackle position sturdy for years to come.
Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb along with Blake Jarwin and Blake Bell will definitely be a sight to behold, as we get to see those Dak mechanics unleashed. There is a lot of hype and expectation with this group, and I can’t fight it. We can hope that Coop’s prediction is true, about having 3 x 1k receivers, but we must remain realistic here. The reality here is… that it’s impossible to argue the plausibility of that expectation.
The defense, even with the loss of Robert Quinn and Byron Jones is a vast improvement. Part and parcel to the free agency acquisitions, and of course a top notch draft class.
Our LB core is the tightest it’s ever been with our battle tested veteran Sean Lee sticking around another year. To serve as a mentor to Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, we could have the best LB tandem for years to come.
Our Edge rush and DL also suggest high hopes and potential, with the most recent acquisition of Everson Griffen, and the addition of Gerald McCoy, Dontari Poe, and Aldon Smith, we may have a hard-core defense that could wreak havoc in the backfield this season. I fully expect DeMarcus Lawrence to eat well this year. In addition to that added talent, we can’t forget Antwaun Woods, Tyrone Crawford and what we can hope is a budding season for Trysten Hill. The rookie Neville Gallimore has a lot to prove, but he seems hearty and ready to go.
The weakest point on defense that I can see would be in the secondary, and not because I think we are weak at those positions, but because of how long this group has played together. I fully expect Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to become a leader to this young group and my hope is that either Anthony Brown, Chidobe Awuzie, or Jourdan Lewis, if not all three, find their voice in coverage this year. Who knows what kind of playing time can be expected with this deep secondary, including the rookies Trevon Diggs and Reggie Robinson III along with the veterans Daryl Worley and Darian Thompson thrown into the mix. A lot of tough coaching decisions will have to be made week to week, but if we can line up our best weapons against theirs, I think we can be ball-hawks.
Our special teams lay in the foot of Greg Zuerlein, and the running of Lamb and Pollard. Those feel like safe bets to me, however that has tended to be our Achilles heel in years past. I think this year we’re in the good hands of our Special Teams Coordinator John Fassel.
Which brings me to coaching…Mike McCarthy has done an amazing job of filling in the gaps this year with tried and tested coaches. I won’t harp much more on this just because I’m excited with what the future holds. One of my biggest gripes in our past coaching has always been time management (ie not using timeouts to give our offense extra time for a comeback victory, or leaving too much time on the clock for the Brady’s, Rodgers’ and Wilson’s of the league to snatch victory from the jaws of their defeat.). My hope is that Coach Mac has figured a better way to utilize our teams time wisely, because all the pieces are there.
So to answer the question what should be expected for the Dallas Cowboys 2020 season…I’d love to say, “the Dallas Cowboys will be the next Super Bowl champs”, but I don’t want to sound foolhardy. So I’ll simply say this, “the Dallas Cowboys will be the next Super Bowl champs”…I love being foolhardy, because I love “Preseason Irvin”. Go Cowboys #DC4L
*Photo by Joe Glorioso All-Pro Reels https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode