Season Predictions

I know I haven't posted during the entire offseason but I still wanted to get in at least one post about my predictions for this season.  I won't be posting on my blog throughout the season on a regular basis due to a lot of things going on in my life.  But I will try to post something here and there when I have time.  I would hate to put up half-hearted efforts on my blog after all of my years of hard work so I'll instead post quality over quantity.  Hopefully next season I'll be back in action full force.

With all of that said I do have a relatively positive feeling about the Cowboys heading into the season.  I know there has been a lot of talk about the size of the new contract that Tony Romo received but I think his contract is just the going rate for a quality quarterback these days.  And I really believe that by the end of the season everyone will understand why the Cowboys invested in Romo so heavily.  I have already seen a lot of signs during the preseason of a quarterback who is really in command of his team both on the field and on the sidelines.

The offensive line is far from perfect but it has undergone some major upgrades this offseason.  Travis Frederick will keep pressure from getting in Romo's face up the middle and Brian Waters is going to be a major upgrade at guard when he gets into game shape.  I feel confident that the Cowboys will have a vastly improved running game and that will help balance out the offense when compared to the pass happy attack the Cowboys were forced to run last season.

Dez Bryant has slowly morphed into the beast of a player he looked like he could be when the Cowboys drafted him a few years ago.  If he can stay healthy he will be nearly impossible to defend.  And what makes that even better is if defenses decide to focus in on Dez then the rest of the passing game will open up for Jason Witten and Miles Austin.  DeMarco Murray will also benefit if the defense is forced to focus too much on Dez.

On defense I think the Cowboys have found a scheme that will finally force some turnovers.  The big problem right now is the health of the defensive line but hopefully they can get Spencer back soon and Ratliff later in the season.  Either way it seems that the defense is much more focused on forcing turnovers which we all know are the biggest factors in the outcome of NFL games.  Sean Lee should flourish in this defense.  And Bruce Carter, Demarcus Ware, Brandon Carr, and Morris Claiborne should all be impact players. 

I'm not convinced this is a Super Bowl team unless everything goes just right during the season.  But I do expect the Cowboys to be a solid 10-6 team capable of making a decent playoff run.  I think the Romo haters are in for a long season because Romo is going to play great all year long.  They key to how deep into the playoffs this team can go will be the health of the roster.  I think a lot of people are overlooking the Cowboys right now due to their recent struggles but I expect by midseason we will be hearing a lot of praise for the Dallas Cowboys.