The splashy NFL franchise is the gift that keeps on giving in many ways, but in other ways, it can feel more like the curse that keeps inflicting pain. Almost against any sort of logic, the Jerry Jones-owned team rises in value, year by year, while not achieving anything on the field to warrant its growing value. To be fair, head coach Mike McCarthy has coaxed two consecutive 12-win regular seasons, along with one playoff game victory, which his team won last year. That's a start, right?
That’s good, but it’s nothing the team hasn’t done a few other times in the nearly three decades it’s now been since the Cowboys last finished the season as the undisputed titans of the sport. In the here and now, however, the fact is that the Cowboys have the look of a team that should make some winning noise in 2023. With training camp in California well underway, now is a good time to see what some of the people who follow the team the closest think about the season ahead. Fans will get their first glimpse of what the team (sort of) looks like when the Boys play their first preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday at 4 p.m. on CBS.
Stop us if you think you’ve heard this one before, but the Las Vegas oddsmakers like the ol’ cowpokes. BetMGM has the Cowboys listed with the sixth best odds to snag the Vince Lombardi Trophy at +1500, just ahead of the New York Jets and their new star QB, Aaron Rodgers. The sportsbook also has star defensive end Micah Parsons as its favorite to be named NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Even some local experts can’t help themselves from feeling some kind of hope about the home team heading into the new season.
David Mino, host of 1310 The Ticket's 1–3 p.m. show, admits he’s a Cowboys optimist and that staying hopeful breaks his heart at the end of each season. In fact, he’s not all that sore about the way the 'Boys were bounced from the playoffs last year by the San Francisco 49ers, a team that’ has ousted Dallas in the playoffs two years running.
“The team this year has higher expectations, which they should,” Mino said. “The Cowboys have a top-five defense and the best defensive player in the league, Micah Parsons. They've added a weapon to their offense in veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks. I'm not expecting a Super Bowl from the team this season, heck, even an NFC Championship game appearance. But with a great defense, and cutting down on turnovers, I think the Cowboys will be a top-three team in the NFC.”
“The team this year has higher expectations, which they should." – David Mino, 1310 The Ticket
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Joining the Cowboys in many predictions of the top three teams in the NFC is a pair of Dallas rivals that many fans aren’t in a hurry to play again. The Philadelphia Eagles have arguably been the Cowboys' most hated enemy for many years now, and especially after the Jalen Hurts-led squad reached the Super Bowl last season. The other NFC power the Cowboys must contend with is that pesky playoff foe from the Bay Area, the 49ers.
Mino’s Ticket colleague Ty Walker places his concerns toward the east rather than the west.
“I actually worry more about the Eagles than I do the Niners,” Walker said. “Philly is a pretty complete team that really is the only team that should challenge the Cowboys in the [NFC] East. San Francisco has way too many questions at quarterback for me to think about them at this point.”
Perhaps more than any other league, the NFL is built to surprise its fans. Each year, a number of playoff teams from the year before fail to reach the postseason. Thanks to favorable schedules and high draft picks, teams that sit near the bottom one season seem to commonly achieve far better results the next year. In the NFC East, in particular, there hasn’t been a repeat division champ since 2004. Twists and turns of fate are the name of the game.
Both Mino and Walker envision an eventful season for the Cowboys, with a pair of polarizing players likely to surprise the fanbase.
“I'm a huge Dak Prescott fan. I always have been,” Mino said. “I hate that he's being judged by one season, where he had a turnover problem, and a bad playoff game in San Francisco, where he threw two interceptions. Naturally, that'll leave a bad taste in the mouth of Cowboy fans. But I am expecting a big bounce-back season for Dak. Adding Brandin Cooks, having a fully healthy Michael Gallup, CeeDee Lamb entering his fourth season and being a true elite wide receiver, I even think second-year receiver Jalen Tolbert has shown a lot of growth in training camp this season. Those weapons will make this offense ‘Dak-friendly’ and make my guy more comfortable.”
Micah Parsons leads the way in Defensive Player of the Year odds 🏈 pic.twitter.com/8zeGFe8rb8
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) August 9, 2023
Walker has his eye on a different player, one that Cowboys fans hope opponents will have a hard time keeping their eyes on as well as trouble keeping up with.
“As a longtime Kansas State fan, I was so excited when they picked diminutive running back Deuce Vaughn late in the draft,” Walker said. “That dude is electric. If they can figure out the right way to work him into the offense and special teams, I think the fans will love him. All hail Deuce Nation!”
When the NFL schedule was announced in May, a number of national media outlets quickly issued their predictions of how teams would fare in 2023. Notable entities such as Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and ESPN each saw somewhere between 10 and 12 wins for Dallas in their respective crystal balls.
But as unpredictable as the NFL season can be, perhaps it isn’t so when it comes to the Cowboys after all. At least Mino isn’t so sure he’ll be surprised by much when it’s all said and one.
"I do think the Cowboys are capable of winning the NFC East this season, but realistically for the time being I'm predicting a 10-7 record with the Eagles winning the NFC East and the Cowboys getting a wild card berth,” he said. “I think the Cowboys will win a road playoff game and lose in the Divisional Round in San Francisco. Sounds a lot like last season doesn't it? Damn. I hope I'm wrong.”
