3 specific reasons why the Dallas Cowboys could truly be better in the 2024 NFL season
How do you define "better" for a Dallas Cowboys team that's won 12 games in three consecutive NFL seasons? Simple: Better results in the playoffs.Cowboys fans are in for a long season as everything that happens between September and December will matter very little. The team has done its part showing that they can be […]
How do you define "better" for a Dallas Cowboys team that's won 12 games in three consecutive NFL seasons? Simple: Better results in the playoffs.
Cowboys fans are in for a long season as everything that happens between September and December will matter very little. The team has done its part showing that they can be highly successful in the regular season. But it'll be almost impossible to buy into the hype until the playoffs because that's where they've consistently fallen short.
That being said, what are the reasons why fans could expect something better when the Cowboys have gotten worse on paper? I can think of three specific ones.
1. Getting better run blocking up front from Cowboys OL
The Cowboys had their usual offensive line praise following the 2023 NFL season as Tyron Smith, Tyler Smith, and Zack Martin received All-Pro recognition. However, the unit was far from perfect and might've even been average at best regarding run blocking.
Tyron Smtih, for example, was one of the absolute best pass protectors in the league last year but he wasn't his former self when the Cowboys were trying to pound the rock and even displayed many mistakes on film. As for center Tyler Biadasz, he struggled moving defenders at the point of attack and becoming an impact maker for the team. We pointed to him as a spot on the lineup where Dallas could get better even before they allowed him to hit free agency.
Naturally, this led to a poor Cowboys rushing offense. Sure, Tony Pollard wasn't the same after his injury the year before, and the scheme itself could've been much more creative. But ultimately, it was also about the men up front.
All this being said, the Cowboys' biggest hope of getting better on offense has to be the potential for a better run-blocking duo. Cooper Beebe is serious about the job and he might be an upgrade over Biadasz as long as he learns the nuances of the position in time.
And while I won't bet on first-round rookie Tyler Guyton being a better OL than Tyron himself, I am not entirely sure if he's a clear-cut downgrade in the run game. Keep in mind, Guyton's athleticism and explosiveness could be fun to watch if he's pulling and leading the way for whoever's turn it is in the running back by committee.
2. Improvements from key playmakers
This could be an entire series of articles by itself (*takes note*) but there are several weapons already on the roster that should be better in 2024 than they were in 2023, each for different reasons.
- Jake Ferguson: It'll be his third year in the NFL but only his second as a starter and he was better than many expected this time around. As Ferguson continues to learn the intricacies of the position, he's expected to solidify himself as one of the league's finest at one of the most important positions in the sport. In 2024, he's likely going to become Dak Prescott's No. 2 target behind CeeDee Lamb.
- Brandin Cooks: The veteran wide receiver and Dak didn't find their rhythm until the second half of the season and even then didn't seem to be on the same page on vertical routes, one of the main reasons why Cooks was brought in. But now, they've had a full season of working together and Cooks has been No. 1 in practice amid CeeDee Lamb's holdout.
- Jalen Tolbert: The young wideout has had a slowed-down learning process going into Year 3 of his career. As a rookie, he struggled with learning the position and in Year 2, he had to learn a different offense following Kellen Moore's departure. After benching Michael Gallup in 2023, we might see the biggest jump of his career. The intriguing part here is that he's not guaranteed a starting role as Jalen Brooks and KaVontae Turpin will put up a fight for playing time.
3. A kinda better defense
This one is complicated: The Cowboys were the No. 1 defense in EPA/play during Dan Quinn's tenure from 2021-2023, per RBSDM. So how can we realistically expect the defense to be better without coming off as wildly optimistic?
Well, the thing is Quinn's defense was specifically vulnerable against Kyle Shanahan-esque offenses and teams that were willing to go big on Dallas and bully them in the ground game. The hope is for Zimmer's defense to be better in those situations even if that means having worse overall stats.
In other words, this unit will be judged by how it does against some of the top dogs in the NFC.
