Last year was the year for the Dallas Cowboys to finally end their now 26-yearlong Super Bowl drought and give Jerry Jones his long-desired 4th ring. However, the price of selling your soul to the devil (or however Jerry managed to be successful that first decade in charge) has caught up with America’s Team’s owner, and he can’t seem to get the devil off his back.
Last season was the best Cowboys year (record wise) since the 2015-16 season, where Dak Prescott, Jason Witten, and Ezekiel Elliot led the Cowboys to a 13-3 record and a playoff win against the collapsing Legion of Boom in Seattle.
However, the devil reaped his rewards against Jerry when Dallas lost to Aaron Rodgers’ brilliance in a 34-31 shootout at Jerry World.
This was the season to mend that tragic loss and fill all Cowboys fans with hope that the team could win their 7th Super Bowl.
Everything was going their way. They had the most prolific offense behind Dak Prescott’s 4,449 YDS and 37 TDs, Amari Cooper, Cedric Wilson, Michael Gallop, and CeeDee Lamb as WRs, and Ezekiel Elliot was still the running back.
Oh, did you also know that Dallas had 2021/22 Rookie Defensive Player of the Year Micah Parsons leading their defense? Yes, because every Dallas fan would not stop talking about it? Oh, okay, I thought so.
Anyway, they easily clinched the NFC East title with the Eagles, Commanders, and Giants a mess all season long. The Rams (eventual 2021/22 Super Bowl Winner) and Cardinals were set to face off against each other, while the Buccaneers would have to face the winner of the Rams-Cardinals to reach the Conference Finals.
The road to the Super Bowl couldn’t have been any easier.
All Dallas had to do was beat the Jimmy Garoppolo-lead 49ers (no big deal, right?) and then travel to Lambeau Field to face Aaron Rodgers to avenge that 2016 Divisional round loss.
However, the road trip to Super Bowl 56 was over before it began. It would end being that former Green Bay head coach, Mike McCarthy, was seemingly too afraid to face the Packers as his terrible play calls in the Wild Card game versus the 49ers cost them the chance for revenge.
Yes, McCarthy not only had a terrible “fake-punt” play called that cost the Cowboys points, but he also called a QB run play at the 35–40-yard line when there was less than 20 seconds on the clock, and Dallas had no timeouts.
Obviously, the clock expired before Dak could spike the ball and Dallas lost 20-17, ending yet another year in playoff misery. Flash forward to this offseason and the Cowboys have not improved much.
They lost Randy Gregory to the Broncos in a hilarious contract-fake out debacle, and they had to trade Amari Cooper to Cleveland and release Cedric Wilson to stay under the cap. They managed to replace Gregory with failed 1st Round pick Dante Fowler Jr., and Wilson with former Pittsburgh WR James Washington. The Washington pickup was a good one, the Fowler Jr. one is something I’m not sure will work out.
With the Eagles getting exponentially better this year (trading for WR AJ Brown and signing Haason Reddick), and the team strangely sticking with Mike McCarthy for another season, I believe the Cowboys will have a tough time winning the NFC East, let alone the Super Bowl.
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