Frisco, Texas – There's no need to rush into 2024 with the Dallas Cowboys. The NFL Conference Championships will continue this Sunday, with an off week until Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024.
So there are plenty of topics to address between now and the start of the NFL league year on March 13th. And there's a lot to work on, including signing Dak Prescott with the Cowboys, dealing with 16 unrestricted free agents, and finalizing this season's coaching. This will involve recruiting staff, which is expected to take some time, and upgrading several position groups, including linebackers, cornerbacks, running backs and offensive linemen.
Not to mention analysis of the East-West Shrine Bowl here at The Star on February 1st, followed by the Senior Bowl, the NFL Combine, the start of free agency, and the NFL Draft.
I thought I'd start today with an analysis of the Cowboys' 2024 opponent list, which might make you, and they, grimace, sucking air through your teeth as you read this. This is a penalty for playing well enough to win the NFC East, but now it means that after having success in the regular season, they have to play a first-place schedule without showing any results in the playoffs. There is.
As we know, in this socialized system of the NFL, the underdog inherits, and the Cowboys will pay a high price to go 12-5 in 2023. Masu.
Of course, the Cowboys will play six of their 17 games against NFC East opponents, with two games for all three. The Cowboys will then play every team in the NFC South and AFC North, as well as Philadelphia, Washington and the Giants, in a pre-arranged rotation of the NFL schedule.
Now that we're in first place in the NFC East, things get tough from here. That means the Cowboys will have to play the No. 1 teams in the other two NFC divisions and play the No. 1 team in the AFC South in Game 17. It's so sweet.
This means the Cowboys will play 11 of 17 games against teams that finished the 2023 season with a winning record. This includes the Cowboys' teams that have qualified for the 2023 NFL Playoffs: the Eagles (11-6) twice, Baltimore (13-4), Tampa Bay (9-8), and Houston (10-0). Detroit (12-5), Cleveland (11-6), Pittsburgh (10-7), and San Francisco (12-5).
This means the Cowboys will face seven other 2023 division champions: Detroit, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and Houston, as well as the two teams with the best conference records, San Francisco and Baltimore. It also means competing.
Finally, this means the Cowboys will play three of the four teams advancing to the NFC and AFC Conference Championship Games this Sunday: Baltimore, San Francisco, and Detroit.
If Kansas City doesn't get in the way, it's possible the two teams will meet in the Super Bowl.
After four games in the NFC East against Washington (4-13) and the New York Giants (6-11), who have losing records, the remaining games against teams with losing records in 2023 are Atlanta ( (7-10) and Carolina (2-15), as the other non-playoff teams are Cincinnati (9-8) and New Orleans (9-8).
It makes you want to cringe. Thanks to two games against Carolina (2 wins) and Washington (4 wins), the Cowboys' schedule strength in 2024 is .505, tied for 12th among the toughest schedules with the Rams, Niners, and Jets. and is located in the middle of the pack. .
Brothers, if the Cowboys become the first NFC East team since the Eagles from 2001-2004 to win the division in consecutive seasons and have four straight 12-win seasons, it's time to get through this challenge. Better to be a much improved team.
Because there's this sobering thought here. In 2023, the Cowboys finished with the third-easiest batting average on the schedule at .446, with opponents winning just 129 games. The only teams with an easier SOS were New Orleans (.433/125 wins) and Atlanta (.429/124).
- Closing: Now, the fact that Dak's 2024 cap hit will increase from an adjusted $26.8 million in 2023 to $59.45 million, requiring some adjustment, is upon us. it's complicated. But here are some things you should know. The salary cap, which increases by millions of dollars each season, will rise significantly this year with the start of new television contracts, from $224.8 million in 2023 to $242.5 million this year. This is one of the largest increases in cap history. His almost estimated $20 million jump will help. As such, $10.8 million in unused design space will be rolled over from the 2023 cap to 2024, bumping the estimated cap space to $253.3 million, per spotrac. Additionally, signing CeeDee Lamb to the necessary long-term contract could create more cap space by lowering CeeDee Lamb's $17.99 million fifth-year option.
- Close relationship with Fergie: When everything goes wrong, we tend to focus on what's going wrong, but how about second-year tight end Jake Ferguson's performance? It reduces confusion for those worried about losing Dalton Schultz to Houston in free agency. Ferguson finished the season with 71 catches, second on the team behind Lamb's franchise record of 135, and 761 receiving yards, second on Lamb's franchise record of 1,749. His five TD receptions rank third, followed by Lamb with 12 and Brandin Cooks with eight. And among NFL tight ends, Ferguson's 71 catches rank 10th, his 661 yards rank eighth, and his 430 yards after the catch rank sixth. He's not bad for a sophomore player.
- Charging with Moore: As the Chargers search for a new head coach, John Harbaugh was interviewed for the second time this week and was reportedly hired as the Chargers' new head coach tonight, but former Cowboys OC Kellen Moore His name keeps coming up. First, the Chargers interviewed Moore as head coach, but they haven't given up on Moore remaining with the team. Although still under contract, his situation was on thin ice with reports that the Chargers would fire head coach Brandon Staley and bring in a coordinator from Michigan if Harbaugh gets the job. Regardless, the Chargers refused to allow the Bears to negotiate with Kellen. The Bears took the OC position and hired Shane Waldon as offensive coordinator. Let's see what happens to Kelen.
- Coordinator World Turn: I agree, but one of the reasons the Cowboys decided to keep Mike McCarthy as head coach for another year was to maintain continuity on offense, with McCarthy running the offense and making plays. He's also making the calls, and if he's gone, that means three consecutive offensive changes and plays — the one making the calls. Next, let's look at Philadelphia. The Eagles have changed coordinators for the second year in a row, but they have lost two coordinators as head coaches since reaching the Super Bowl in 2022, with OC Shane Steichen being hired by the Colts as head coach. , what happened to it after DC's Jonathan took over. Gannon takes over the Cardinals. Well, the replacements didn't go so well, new OC Brian Johnson was fired after one season, and DCs Sean Desai and Matt Patricia also left after one season. If the Chargers don't keep Moore, what if the Eagles bring him in as offensive coordinator? Oh, Johnson, why he was the OC and QB coach at Mississippi State during Dak's final two seasons with the Bulldogs.
- Off the Wall: Oh, isn't this a head-scratcher, Green Bay basically held the Cowboys to 16 points with the game on the line, and then after the Packers narrowly lost to San Francisco in a divisional round game, the defense Coordinator Joe Barry has been fired. Heading into that first-round game, with the Niners scoring the winning touchdown at 24-21 with just over a minute left, I thought the Packers' weakness was their defense. . . Isn't this offseason the perfect time for social media? As if there aren't enough decent articles out there, even more are being created in that world, and as if the players weren't enough, relatives of the players are joining in on the action. I'm making news. ” Be careful who and what information you trust these days. . . See Dan Quinn is one of five coaches in Seattle interviewing for his second time. So at least he is selected among his eight coaches who have already been interviewed. . . This is why I'm skeptical of firing or promoting head coaches. Especially if you don't yet know who you can hire to replace you, and you might end up hiring a potluck coach who probably isn't all that great. what you had. . . See how NFL.com still considers Brandon Aubrey a rookie and names him the kicker on the All-Rookie team. . . American Pro Football Writers named five Cowboys – Lamb, Zach Martin, Micah Parsons, Darron Brand, and Aubrey – to the PFWÅ All-NFL team, and QB Dak and punter Brian Unger to the All-NFC team. Nominated five people. .
For the final word of the week, let's go back to Mike McCarthy's season summary press conference. Just at the end, when the team was finally asked why they lost so badly on both sides of the ball, especially before the game. The Cowboys' signature offense all season led the NFL in scoring with 509 points, but they trailed 48-16 with 10:23 left in the fourth quarter.
“If anything, I think we had too much pace,” McCarthy said of what started as an offensive problem for nearly three and a half quarters. “That was the common message with the players. That's what I felt Sunday night when I went home and watched the game. We did a really great job in the big-play production part of the game. Definitely that. That's one thing.'' But you can't chase big plays, and there were many times when you chased plays.
“And that stuck us in the butt.”
A great example is if they were chasing you. Before Dak hit Michael Gallup for 42 yards late in the third quarter, the Cowboys had just four big plays, the longest being a 22-yard hookup with Fergie early in the second quarter.
One of the many reasons for defeat.
