The Dallas Cowboys enter their bye week with a 5-1 record after reeling off five consecutive victories. While the record is great, there has certainly been no shortage of storylines and opinions from national outlets to all of us here in this community. The latter being the reason I wanted to bring up some things as we head into the bye week.
There is the good, the bad, the ugly, and some unknowns across this team. The bye week is downtime and offers the best time to take a step back and evaluate the Cowboys without the thought of an upcoming game.
I will get into some of my thoughts on this team and am extremely curious to hear the other side, some things I didn’t get into, and even learn a few things, which I greatly appreciate from you guys, as I do each comment section. Let’s get into some “bye week bite-sized bullets” in an ode to Zeke eating this season.
Dallas Cowboys special teams are at risk of costing this team a game
Let’s call a spade a spade. Aside from the blocked punt against the Patriots, this unit has been shaky more often than not. I get a pit in my stomach every field goal attempt we take. The misses simply can’t happen at the rate that they are. While Greg Zuerlein’s career average on field goal attempts is 82%, he is sitting at 80% this year, a number that would be 23rd in the league last year.
An even more unnerving number is the extra point trend. Throughout his career, he has been 96% on these. Even after the change in 2015 moving them back, he has still clipped at 96%. At 90% through this year, I worry a missed XP could prove crucial in all the wrong ways come January. This unit is my glaring area that needs to improve quickly. I don’t bring in another kicker… yet. But I would have the phone unlocked and the contact book open.
Cedrick Wilson should not lose wide receiver reps when Michael Gallup returns
This may come in as my unpopular take. I have seen both sides of this. Michael Gallup has proven a deep threat throughout his career and is undoubtedly talented. Gallup will absolutely contribute to this team this season and likely in very big, crucial ways.
This is more of a “Cedrick Wilson is in a groove right now and let’s not mess with it” type situation for me versus “don’t play Michael Gallup.” That statement comes from my playing experience. It didn’t have to be huge stats or crazy plays, sometimes a quarterback just has it going with his guy and it shouldn’t be messed with.
He has a special chemistry with Dak Prescott. All I needed to know was told to me when Dak trusted Wilson to haul in the most important completion of the game against the Patriots on fourth down to stay alive. You don’t go to someone in that situation unless there is a next-level trust there. Wilson has also ran the ball, thrown it, and 10 of his 14 catches, an astounding 71%, have resulted in a first down.
The next five weeks will determine a lot about this Dallas Cowboys team
The next five weeks for the Cowboys go: at MIN, DEN, ATL, at KC, LV. Nearly every team in this stretch is at least a .500 ball club, aside from Atlanta, who is 2-3 and playing the Dolphins this weekend and could very well be 3-3. This stretch is sneakily difficult and could show us who the Cowboys are.
Three of the games are the crossover games against the AFC West headlined by the matchup against the Chiefs. While these teams have these records now, they are a bit deceiving. Denver is reeling and Las Vegas is on a 1-2 skid. The Cowboys need to run through these five games at worst 3-2, if not 4-1. Gives me wins over Minnesota (it’s Kirk Cousins in primetime, c’mon), Denver, and Atlanta.
The Chiefs and Raiders become tossups. I would be pleased with a split there, but really like the Cowboys on Thanksgiving over the Raiders. That said, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have shown cracks in the armor. I’m not saying, but I’m not NOT saying…
I predict a 4-1 stretch run here by the Cowboys to continue separating themselves from the NFC East and inching closer to a higher playoff seed.
Dallas Cowboys stay quiet at the trade deadline
The Cowboys’ offense doesn’t seem to be overly interested in adding at any position. The skill positions are set and it wouldn’t make sense to offload assets for a rental player. As far as the offensive line, La’el Collins is slated to return and provide depth. I know there are grumblings of top-grading Tyler Biadasz at center, but I simply don’t see it happening. He is young, the Cowboys like to develop offensive linemen, and I see the trend continuing here.
Defensively, their safety moves happened last offseason and are proving fruitful. The linebacking group is very much set for now and playing at a higher level than last year. The defensive line has been over-performing even with the absence of Demarcus Lawrence and Neville Gallimore, each of who will be bringing reinforcements to the rotation upfront down the back half of the season.
It isn’t necessarily fun or going to draw headlines, but my gut tells me this team really likes who they currently have in-house and the production that they are getting across the board. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Ezekiel Elliott should be prepared to be a closer. Rest is his friend.
The Cowboys end their season with four of their final eight games on the road in fully outdoor stadiums. Three of these are at NYG, at PHI, and WAS, and toss in a trip to Kansas City as well. The Cowboys have been fortunate to avoid any bad weather and unforeseen circumstances slowing them down from utilizing whatever tactic they choose on offense.
That will likely change down the final stretch. When the weather changes and becomes unpredictable, the ground game travels no matter what. I would not be shocked to see the Cowboys slightly monitor Zeke’s pitch count and make sure he is fresh for the home stretch.
The Cowboys are fortunate enough to have Tony Pollard who has proven he can carry the load as evidenced by what he did when Zeke was out last season. Pollard put up 132 total yards and two touchdowns in Elliott’s absence. I would like to see him mixed in even more than he has been to give Zeke some rest, but also to make defenses respect his explosiveness and wrinkle in the offense even more.
The Dallas Cowboys are in a great spot as we wait through the bye week and have a favorable next five games. The schedule sets up for the Cowboys to position themselves for a run at the ever-important first-round bye as long as they don’t stumble against lesser teams. This team should come out healthy next week, fresh, and look to continue the success seen through the first third of the season.