2013 Dallas Cowboys Preview

-By: Nick Capodice

It’s always interesting in Jerry World. This year, I’m hearing a lot of positivity surrounding “America’s Team”. All offseason, I’ve kinda been on the fence about whether or not I believed in the ‘Boys. Maybe doing the work on this preview will finally help me make up my mind.

OFFENSE

When will Tony Romo come through in the clutch? He’s never done it before. In fact, not only does he not rise to the occasion, he often costs his team the game when it’s on the line. Then why I am still a believer in his abilities? I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you, but one thing’s for sure, if he’s ever going to succeed, this is the year.

Romo is surrounded by more talent than he’s ever had in Dallas, and that’s saying a lot. Dez Bryant is an animal. He’s got all the physical tools you look for in a wide receiver and possesses some of the biggest hands in the game. As long as he can stay out of the back of a police car, Bryant is poised to have a monster season. Miles Austin is healthy for the first time in a while and has looked great in the preseason. Jason Witten is still Jason Witten. He’ll act as Romo’s safety valve. Rookie TE Gavin Escobar will learn from the best while using his raw talent to help the ‘Boys offense this year.

DeMarco Murray is a dynamic runner, and he’ll help Dallas when he’s on the field, but no one realistically expects him to be on the field all that much. Good thing the Cowboys have the deepest stable of running backs in the NFL.

Tyron Smith is a talented left tackle that anchors a line that is a bit uncertain. Travis Frederick might have been the biggest reach in the 2013 draft, but that doesn’t mean he won’t succeed at center. He’s been having a pretty good preseason. I also trust Doug Free much more as a right tackle than I do as a left tackle. The recent signing of Brian Waters proves that the interior offensive line is still a work in progress.

The biggest reason I have confidence in the Dallas offense this year is the fact that Jason Garrett is no longer calling the plays. That’s not to say that he was a bad play caller, but Garrett proved time and time again that he could not handle the duties of the head coach while acting as the offensive play caller. He was the worst game/time manager of any NFL head coach. We expect his game management to improve now that he has no distractions (but who knows, maybe it won’t) and we expect the play calling to improve under an OC who can focus 100% of his energies on the game plan.

DEFENSE

In this day and age, the most important thing a defense can do is rush the passer, and no one gets after the quarterback like DeMarus Ware. George Selvie and Anthony Spencer aren’t too shabby either. Jay Ratliff’s status is currently up in the air and that’s not an ideal situation, but still, the Cowboys are going to have the ability to disrupt the pocket.

The best complement to an effective pass rush is a good group of corners, and on paper, the Cowboys have one. Brandon Carr can mix it up with the best of ‘em and on the other side, Morris Claiborne, entering his second year, is beginning to blossom into they type of corner a defensive coordinator will be willing to trust on an island.

While the corners can be very good, the safeties are going to be a glaring weakness in this defense. Currently the Cowboys only have three safeties on their active roster and none of them inspire much confidence – Will Allen, Barry Church, Danny McCray. Dallas is going to have to do something about this position.

The middle linebackers in Dallas can fly around. Justin Durant and Bruce Carter are going to see plenty of game action but the real star of this group is Sean Lee. Lee is one of the up and coming young players in the game. He’s an underrated tackling machine. Watch out for Lee this year.

CONCLUSION

So what can we conclude from all this? Dallas is very strong at some positions but (WR, OLB, CB) but very weak at others (S, G, game management). I guess that’s not much of a revelation.

However I think I was able to convince myself that if the always extremely competitive NFC East produces a wildcard team, that team will be the one owned by Skeletor himself, Jerry Jones.