2009-2010 Dallas Cowboys Prediction and Preview

Last Season -

The Dallas Cowboys entered last season with high expectations after dominating most of the NFC the prior year in 2007. However, the Cowboys return to glory was not to be. Instead the team struggled with off the field issues and their reputation for playing horrible in the closing weeks of the season continued. Dallas lost 3 out of their last 4 games including a huge blowout in week 17 by Philadelphia 44-6 when playoff hopes where on the line. The Cowboys late season destruction has become their only consistency. Even the offense did not have the season they expected. After ranking 3rd in the NFL in total offense over two years ago, the Cowboys failed to finish inside the top 10 in the NFL. Sure the offense was not necessarily bad, but they were not what the world expected. Ironically the defensive side of the ball was pretty solid. The Cowboys defense has long took the majority of the blame for the team not reaching championship level. However the defense posted a top 10 defense allowing only 294 yards per game. Dallas also maintained one of the better pass defenses in the NFL ranking 5th holding teams to 187 yards per contests. The defense main problem was they gave up too many scores allowing 22 points per game. Partial blame for the scoring defense may lie with the offense who gave up over 30 turnovers with a -11 turnover margin. The Cowboys ended the season with so many wondering what went wrong. Dallas will enter the 2009 season looking to leave those past memories behind and get back to being amongst the NFC contenders.

Off Season -

The Dallas Cowboys gave up their first round draft pick last season when they traded for WR Roy Williams from Detroit. Williams was not near as effective when getting to Dallas as they had looked, but look for him to be a bigger target in 2009. The Cowboys were also a part off some other unmentionable trades that allowed them to be the busiest team on the board on Day 2. Dallas selected 12 players on day two adding a load of depth to the lineup. Dallas selected outside linebacker Jason Williams with the first pick in round 3. Williams has a lot of unseen talent that we predict will become obvious in a few seasons. However, as the Cowboys normally do with their young defensive guys you will likely only see him on special teams for most of the season. Dallas added Robert Brewster on the offensive line from Ball State. There are a lot of unknowns about how much skill Brewster may possess, but as expert have stated he understands the game extremely well. We could go on and describe more of the Cowboy’s selections, but there were not any well known proven names since they did not have a pick until the 3rd round. Perhaps more importantly was the Cowboys off-season transactions. The Cowboys ran trouble maker Terrell Owens out of town. Owens was blamed for much of the internal conflict that supposedly held the team back. The Cowboys also lost defensive end Chris Canty spent many years making plays on the defensive front. Dallas signed defensive end Igor Olshansky from San Diego to come in and fill the empty void. Olshansky is a big guy that really plugs up holes in run defense, but does not post impressive numbers.

2009 Preview -

Coach Wade Phillips will get one more opportunity to turn this unit into a Championship caliber team. If there are any downfalls, we expect Jason Garrett to take over the role from the offensive coordinator. Garret and the offense had a down year last season compared to recent stats, but we expect everything to get back in the right direction. Expect WR Roy Williams to be a big part of the new offense and perhaps even more attempts in the running game behind Marion Barber and Felix Jones. Barber is a solid runner, but Jones will very impressive last season before being injured. These two backs could work out to be a very nice looking duo in the backfield. Outside of Tony Romo avoiding interceptions, Jason Witten will remain one of the most important aspects of the offense. If Witten can continue to get open, it will really help the rest of the receiving unit. One of Coach Phillips major roles in Dallas was to turn the defense around considering his strong defensive roots. The defense has slowly progressed every season and we believe they will again in 2009. Along with Olshansky, Dallas also signed Keith Brooking at the linebacker position. This 2009 unit is starting to look like a really good roster after some positive moves over the off-season.

2009 Prediction -

We would like to think this talented team could turn everything around in 2009, but they had a ton of problems at the end of last season. Will Roy Williams be the offensive threat they really need? What we know for sure is the defense will be fairly good and the Cowboys running game could be on the verge of breaking out. However, we still question if they have what it takes to put the big numbers up on offense as they did so well in years past. Perhaps the best looking thing about their new season is their new 1.1 billion dollar stadium. Unfortunately could be same old story in the latter part of the season, unless that running game we warn about breaks out with Jones and Barber.

Pick - 2nd in NFC East (10-6 overall)