For the first time under Jason Garrett, the Cowboys have begun the season 3-0. On one hand, this is great news for Dallas, but on the other, this could be another instance of history repeating itself.
Since becoming head coach in 2010, Garrett has led the Cowboys to a 80-59 regular season record, highlighted by the 13-3 campaign in 2016 — which was when Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott were rookies. However, the team has only three total playoff appearances during his tenure, and it has lost in the Divisional Round all three times.
If you’re Garrett, simply making the postseason isn’t enough when you’re coaching the team that claims to be “America’s team.” All in all, Garrett is on the hot seat and will be fired if the Cowboys don’t make the NFC Championship.
The Jones family expects greatness. Each year, the ultimate goal is to win a championship, and any result besides that is a failure.
That’s more prevalent now that they have a core. And they added to the potent offense when they acquired Amari Cooper in last year’s midseason trade with the Oakland Raiders, but he will be a free agent after the season.
He sets this team over the edge. He gives Prescott a weapon to throw the ball to, and he needs to be double-teamed, which either means another receiver is open or there’s one less player in the box to stop Elliott.
So Jerry Jones has given Garrett all the tools to win a championship, and the players on this team won’t be around forever — we think of Elliott as being young, but in reality, he’s in his fourth year in the league, and running backs typically don’t have long careers.
It’s a similar situation with Prescott. He’s not too young, either, and though he might have a few more playing years than Elliott, it definitely isn’t much, and there’s no way he’ll be better in 10 years, without his star running back.
All in all, this is the season for Dallas. It has all it needs to win a Super Bowl, and plus nobody is running away with the NFC East anytime soon.
It doesn’t look like the Cowboys will have problems beating the Giants or Redskins, but they may struggle to overcome the Carson Wentz-led Eagles, who have more playoff experience, dating back to 2018, when they beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
