<\/p>\n
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott applauds as he teammates warm up before an NFL preseason football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Phoenix.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Before everything went sideways for Deion Sanders in Colorado, he got so worked up over a win against TCU in his debut that he interrupted a question in the postgame presser to ask a sportswriter if he believed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve in what?\u201d the writer asked,\u00a0gobsmacked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t believe,\u201d\u00a0Deion answered. \u201cNext question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Coach Prime didn\u2019t ask me, but, for the record, I believe in God, family, the Golden Rule, a well-turned phrase and a sunshine ligustrum for your parched landscape. Pretty much everything else I take on a case-by-case basis. Believing in something is different from simply believing. The former is eternal; the latter implies only until we know better.<\/p>\n
The point of this long windup is to say that I haven\u2019t believed in the Cowboys since Jimmy Johnson packed for the Keys. Still don\u2019t. But, until they persuade me otherwise, I believe they\u2019ll find their way to the\u00a0NFC title game this season for the first time in more than 30 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n That is, as long as Jerry Jones makes a couple more moves to fix his defense before the trade deadline.<\/p>\n Now, I know what you\u2019re thinking: The lovely wife left you out in the sun too long, pal.<\/p>\n Many of you swore off the Cowboys as soon as Jones made it clear he wasn\u2019t kidding about the title he bestowed upon himself. You\u2019ve told me over and over they\u2019ll never win anything big with Jerry in charge. And for 30 years you\u2019ve proven to be correct. Congratulations. In my house, I\u2019m lucky to make it through the second course.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The problem in assuming the Cowboys will continue to wander the wilderness is that you presume a team needs a long runway in order to earn the right to play in a title game. You believe it requires years of sustained success, something Jerry is simply incapable of.<\/p>\n Maybe a long build-up was a prerequisite once, but not so much anymore. Just last season the Patriots went all the way to the Super Bowl after back-to-back four-win seasons. Not like this was a dying gasp from the old Brady\/Belichick juggernaut, either. The quarterback was in his second year; the head coach, his first.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not as if the\u00a0NFC is fraught with perils. Are there better teams than the Cowboys? On paper, sure. The offense is as good as anyone\u2019s<\/a>. They\u2019ve still got to prove the defense they\u2019ve played this summer wasn\u2019t a mirage. Christian Parker appears to be a significant upgrade<\/a> at defensive coordinator, but he\u2019s still making his debut as a DC. Seems to me that Jerry ought to give the new guy all the help he can get.<\/p>\n My guess is it won\u2019t take long before the Cowboys realize they\u2019re too thin at\u00a0cornerback <\/a>and wanting entirely on the edge. If you can\u2019t put pressure on the quarterback, your defense is toast. There\u2019s only so much scheming you can do.<\/p>\n The Raiders tried to trade\u00a0Maxx Crosby to Baltimore<\/a> last spring, only to see the Ravens nix the deal over concerns about a bum knee. Crosby has since looked his old annoying self. Even managed to get in a dust-up with Kirk Cousins near the end of a heated practice.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n What would it take to get a top-flight edge rusher? The Cowboys reportedly were unwilling to meet the Raiders\u2019 price of two\u00a0first-rounders<\/a> last spring. Will Vegas hold that line this fall? The Cowboys only have five picks in next year\u2019s draft as it is. Giving up a big piece of your future is a tough call, but that\u2019s the hard decision you might have to make if you want to jump your timetable.<\/p>\n By waiting until the deadline, Jerry could get a good idea of\u00a0Crosby\u2019s status and the impact of promising rookies such as Caleb Downs<\/a> and Jaishawn Barham<\/a>. The better the kids look, the easier it is to part with picks.<\/p>\n Jerry keeps teasing us<\/a> by saying he\u2019d be open to making a major move if he felt the Cowboys were close. Of course, he\u2019s said this kind of thing before. No use making the customers think the team\u2019s prospects are no good. Just the same, he seems to believe in the possibilities this season. For the first time in a long time, on just about any subject, I\u2019m inclined to agree with him.<\/p>\n The Eagles will once again be a formidable challenge<\/a>, and not just because they\u2019ve got the best general manager in the game.\u00a0Howie Roseman has built a star-studded roster, particularly on defense. But it remains to be seen how Jalen Hurts adjusts to a new offensive coordinator and system.<\/p>\n The hiring of John\u00a0Harbaugh in New York means no more freebies<\/a>, but the Giants are still rebuilding. The Commanders go as far as\u00a0Jayden Daniels takes them<\/a>, which isn\u2019t far if you can\u2019t get off the sideline.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Outside the division, can Sam\u00a0Darnold repeat in Seattle? Do you believe in Brock Purdy and Caleb Williams? If it weren\u2019t for Dak Prescott\u2019s contract, I\u2019d rather have him than any of the quarterbacks above.<\/p>\n The Rams remain the class of the\u00a0NFC, especially after the addition of Myles Garrett, and that\u2019s why I don\u2019t see the Cowboys making the Super Bowl. Eleven regular-season wins and a deep playoff push seems like their ceiling. If you still can\u2019t believe in the Cowboys, you can believe it\u2019s not the same ol\u2019 Cowboys. At least until they insist on proving otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott applauds as he teammates warm up before an NFL preseason football game against…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1028304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,11890,1596,358,330510,325232,344603,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1028303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-america","tag-commentary","tag-dallas","tag-texas","tag-tp-dak-prescott","tag-tp-dallas-cowboys","tag-tp-jerry-jones","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117169943382557939","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1028303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1028304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1028303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1028303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1028303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}