As we all know the Cowboys are currently in somewhat of a nightmare season, or a really-weird-dream season where someone is someone, but they look nothing like they usually do.

Aaron Arguello

So you may think saying they didn’t live up to their expectations would be an understatement but ultimately it depends on who you say it too. Will you be saying it to the broody cowboys fan? Or the blindly optimistic one? Both will have different opinions, but tend to agree that Jerry Jones is the reason for the cowboys’ fall from 90s greatness. As for me, a 29 year old millennial who wasn’t fully cognizant of the 90s super bowl wins; I tend to fall into the middle of the road. Somewhere between “Jerry Jones needs to hire an actual GM”, and “the talent alone in the WR core is unstoppable”. So with rosy shades of optimism, along with rigid blinders of pragmatism, I ask earnestly, is there any hope for the Cowboys in 2021?

Firstly, I think it should be said that this is the first year for Mike McCarthy’s iteration of the Dallas Cowboys. I’m not trying to convince anyone that McCarthy will take us to another super bowl. He wasn’t my first, second or even third choice for head coach. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve a full shot at it. More importantly though, (because he’s on the hot seat), this applies to Mike Nolan as defensive coordinator. Implementing a brand new defense with young and inexperienced players, who have described your defense as “confusing”, is always going to be an uphill battle. Take into account the lack of prep time due to Covid, it’s downright unrealistic to expect that positive of an outcome from such a rushed and injury plagued season. 

And plagued by injuries the Cowboys were since the very beginning. Our starting Defensive Tackles were both ruled out for the season by week 1. Lee, Vander Esch, and Smith, all missed games, although they admittedly didn’t make much of a difference when they were in. Our top two cornerbacks missed games. Half of our starting offensive line missed the entire season and it has been obvious. Dalton has been running for his life since he took over for Dak. Dak, who accounted for most of our points on offense, was also ruled out for the year because of a gruesome ankle injury. If all that seems like a lot its because it is. Dallas is one of the most injured teams in the entire league with 23 currently injured players. And week in and week out our opponents have taken advantage of this while our coaching staff has had no way of motivating what’s left of the roster.

Taking all of that into account I just don’t see a reason to give up on this cowboys coaching experiment. Only because this season has presented so many covid-19 related challenges that teams are not equipped to handle. The patriots will miss the playoffs for the first time since the mid 2000s. The Cleveland Browns are starting to look like the only team that has a chance against Kansas City. And Dez is scoring touchdowns in Baltimore now. There’s nothing normal about this season except for how Patrick Mahomes is the best QB in the league. Which he is and will be for a while. So while I do have hope the cowboys will vastly improve in 2021, maybe even a couple playoff games, I have zero hope we’ll be able to beat KC anytime soon.