Honestly I am no closer to answering this question than anyone else is. The next few weeks are the only thing that can truly answer this question. Two weeks ago, I was inclined to say pretenders. The Cowboys were winning in December but in an ugly fashion with offensive chemistry lacking and the defense the only bright spot. They dropped 3 in November losing to the Broncos, Chiefs, and Raiders. Ever since Dak had his calf strain in New England and sat out the Minnesota game, he looked less and less like himself as the weeks went by. He made bad passes, refused to move out of the pocket, and overthrew his receivers almost half the time.
When Dak did manage to get the ball in his receivers vicinity, especially on crucial third downs, CeeDee and Amari had inexplicable drops. They had more penalties and played a sloppy brand of football that only guaranteed a quick post season. Then we played the Washington game. We returned home after 3 straight away games and it looked like we finally solved all of our previous problems. Firing on all cylinders comes to mind. Dak looked like his 160 million dollar contract said he should and our talented team scored 56 in a divisional beat down. The defense scored, special teams scored, and the offense scored a lot. On that Sunday, I would have said contenders.
Enter Arizona. Another Sunday in which we looked sloppy, disjointed, and lacked the chemistry that can make us the most fun team to watch in the NFL. We had stupid penalties and struggled on both sides of the ball. The defense had no takeaways despite some close calls and a would be fumble at the end of the game that would've given Dallas a chance to win the game. The call on the field however was not a fumble and a mismanagement by McCarthy left Dallas with 0 timeouts and no ability to challenge. Arizona kneeled on it and won the game 25-22.
We head to Philly sitting at 11-5 in the 4 seed for the NFC. Some say that we should sit our guys considering a Gallup ACL tear in the Arizona game. I disagree. We have a lot to figure out before the playoffs kick off and we need as much time on the field to find out what kind of team we really are. No matter what happens next week, there is a likely rematch with Arizona in our future. Not to mention if we manage that win, we will head to Lambeau Field to play the top seeded Packers. The road to a Super Bowl will not be easy and it wouldn't be the first time we got screwed in Green Bay. (Yes, I am referring to the catch because Dez did in fact catch it).
Dallas has the talent to be contenders but with our struggle to find our identity and the Cardinals and Packers looming ahead, pretenders could very easily be our title this year. I will hold out hope that our year has finally arrived and we will look how we looked early on in the year as the post season begins. 2022 could have a miracle in store. If it was gonna happen for the Cowboys, this would be the year. We are the most talented we have been in over 2 decades. Now is the time to prove it.
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