Dallas Cowboys: Dare we dream of the Super Bowl?

The doubts and answering the doubters

After all, these first three victories have come at the expense of the New York Giants, the Washington Redskins and the Miami Dolphins, who now hold a combined record of 1-8. As of last week, these teams held the bottom three spots in ESPN’s weekly NFL power rankings. Of course, the Cowboys should have beat them easily, goes the argument.

It’s a fair point. I too wonder how well Dallas will fare against the likes of the New Orleans Saints, the Green Bay Packers, the Los Angeles Rams, the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots, all playoff teams from last year who the Cowboys will face in the remaining regular season. These games will truly test the Dallas team before the playoffs begin.

But between the glory of these first three games and the reality check of the rest of the schedule, I’ve learned a few things about this team:

Dak Prescott is obviously much improved over last year. He’s a lot more accurate as a passer, quicker on his reads, quicker to throw the ball, and a lot less likely to be sacked. These are huge improvements. If this excellent play continues, he’ll be in the conversation for top-five QB at the end of the season, if not in the thick of the MVP race.

The offensive line is much better than last year, and though it has yet to reach its 2016 status of the Great Wall of Dallas, this unit is giving Prescott tons of time and creating huge holes for Elliot to run through. They’re clearly among the best in the league.

Zeke Elliot has always been great, but Dallas looked to be running him into the ground last year. They’re using him in much smarter ways this year. The addition of Pollard has made me positively giddy with the possibilities. And obviously, the receiver corps is excellent now.

Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and quarterbacks coach Jon Kitna seem to be behind a lot of this, and it leads me to increased confidence. So does the great Cowboys defense, with stars at every position grouping, a situation we haven’t seen since the nineties. I have hope that by the end of the season, the Dallas defense might be even better, a legitimate shut-down defense.

Dare to dream?

So do I dare to dream? Yes, I do. I dream of greatness. I dream of the Lombardy Trophy.

But that dream is tempered by certain realities. Jason Garrett is still the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He is still the architect of only two playoff wins in nine years, despite winning the NFC East three times. The team has not been to the NFC title game since the glory years of the nineties, even though they’ve had nine winning seasons and seven playoff appearances since then.

Might the coaching talent of Moore, Kitna, defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, passing game coordinator Kris Richard and the tremendously talented players themselves finally put America’s Team over the hump? Might Garrett himself have improved?

Yes, I do dare to dream. The question is, am I only dreaming? Or will I wake up on 2/2/20 to see the Boys of Blue and Silver on the field? Only the Shadow knows. And he’s not talking.