Over the last few years, the Dallas Cowboys have boasted one of the NFL’s most talented teams. But despite winning 12 games in each of the last three regular seasons, they have gone home early in the playoffs on the regular.
This hasn’t been a good offseason for them. They have lost a number of key contributors on defense, as well as starting running back Tony Pollard and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.
Meanwhile, quarterback Dak Prescott, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and pass rusher Micah Parsons are all looking for massive contract extensions.
To make matters worse, more than one other team in the NFC has improved or is expected to improve this coming season. The Philadelphia Eagles, in particular, have added star running back Saquon Barkley to an already talented cast.
Craig Carton said on “The Carton Show” that the Cowboys will not finish first in the NFC East in 2024.
In fact, he said they will be lucky to win 10 games, and that if they do reach the 10-win mark, head coach Mike McCarthy will win the Coach of the Year award.
Last season, Dallas got dismantled in the wild-card round of the playoffs by an ascendent Green Bay Packers squad, falling behind 27-0 late in the second quarter before bowing out 48-32. Green Bay is one team on the rise that Dallas will need to fend off this fall and winter in order to make the playoffs again.
The team hasn’t made any real improvements this offseason. It doesn’t have a quality, reliable starting running back (no, the returning Ezekiel Elliott doesn’t count), and it lacks depth at defensive end and linebacker.
The Cowboys are starting to take on the appearance of a top-heavy team that doesn’t quite have the supporting cast needed to win lots of games and go far in the playoffs.
Furthermore, they have to deal with the fact that Prescott simply doesn’t have what it takes to play well in the playoffs. Once again, he shrunk in the postseason in January, throwing two early interceptions in the wild-card round against the Packers. Two of the three touchdown passes in that game came in garbage time when the outcome had long ago been decided.
If the Cowboys fall short of expectations again, as Carton said they will, perhaps Prescott will be wearing a different team’s uniform in 2025. If they don’t give him an extension soon enough, he will become a free agent next spring, and at that point, one could perhaps make an argument that they would be better off by letting him go.
Needless to say, the 2024 season will be a make-or-break kind of year for the Dallas Cowboys.
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