Getty Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and executive vice president Stephen Jones with Raiders owner Mark Davis
Privately, some NFL executives are not buying what the Dallas Cowboys are selling entering the 2021 postseason.
Unnamed execs, naturally — and they’re spreading the word.
“I like Dallas’ chances to make some noise in the playoffs, but when I ask execs around the league, the words ‘fringe [Super Bowl] contender’ come up a lot,” ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler reported Friday, December 31, via Bleacher Report.
Skeptics of the 11-4 Cowboys, currently the NFC’s No. 2 seed, will have their eyes peeled on its Week 17 home affair with Kyler Murray and the 10-5, fifth-seeded Arizona Cardinals. Having already clinched the NFC East division, Dallas now is eyeing a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
To achieve that, the Cowboys will need to conquer the Cardinals and hope, somehow, the short-handed Minnesota Vikings upset the top-seeded Packers at Green Bay. Alternatively, in Week 18, Dallas must beat Philadelphia and have the Packers lose to Detroit.
The Cowboys are 5-2 at home in AT&T Stadium this season.
To their critics’ point, the silver-and-blue of old would choke away the opportunity, what may well result in the franchise’s first Super Bowl trip since 1995.
But these aren’t your father’s ‘Boys.
“I’ve never been on a team like this … it’s rare,” wide receiver Amari Cooper expressed on Thursday, December 30, via beat reporter Brianna Dix. “I think we have it all right now. From what I’ve seen, it’s very rare to have it all because players come and go, coaches come and go, leaders come and go.”
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Pack Projected to Run the Table
In a separate piece for ESPN, Fowler predicted that the Packers will hang onto the No. 1 seed and vanquish its conference challengers (presumably including Dallas) before squaring off with — and defeating — the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium.
“The playoff universe is aligning for Green Bay, which should have home-field advantage throughout,” Fowler wrote. “The Packers will be ready for Tampa Bay, which is more beat up than it was a year ago. The Bills have flailed a bit as a trendy Super Bowl pick, but I’m expecting them to peak at the right time. Counting on Kansas City to make three straight Super Bowls is a tough sell.
“The Packers would have too many weapons for the Bills, and the versatility to win with the run or the pass, which you need in the Super Bowl. And Aaron Rodgers, after all he has been through with Green Bay, can punctuate that relationship with a championship on his way out (potentially), a moment he would embrace.”
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Dak Gearing Up to Run?
Nestled in Dallas’ Week 16 drubbing of Washington were four carries for 21 yards by quarterback Dak Prescott, his most productive game on the ground since Week 4. Prescott looked fully recovered from his midseason right calf strain, reaching a maximum speed of 18.3 miles-per-hour on a 13-yard jaunt against the Football Team.
With 126 yards across 43 scrambles, Prescott is pacing to produce his lowest single-season rushing output in at least two calendar years, and perhaps the worst mark of his six-year career.
But when the playoffs begin? Watch for a galloping Dak.
“If there’s an opportunity to run, obviously this back part of the season, heading into the playoffs, everything matters. So I’m playing that way. I’m preparing that way,” Prescott said Thursday, December 30, via the official team website. “If those running lanes are there — obviously I’m still going to be smart in taking the contact and those types of things — but yeah, when it’s needed, when the lane’s there, I’m not going to hesitate.”