FRISCO, Texas – So Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy came up with the new theme for the 2024 season. You know, like they did last year with "CARPE DIEM," seize everything.
This year it's "ROOTED," and to simplify, meaning for the past four years this team has planted some serious roots (foundation) for success and now is the time to flourish. OK, get it. Three consecutive 12-5 seasons, two of the three NFC East titles, but then nothing to brag about in the playoffs.
Now, in the fifth year, time to flower.
Get it.
But for me, especially starting with Sunday's season opener – Cowboys-Browns, 3:25 p.m., Huntington Bank Field with a Dawg Pound Annex, on Cleveland's banks of Lake Erie – if this were a movie, my title would be:
"The Unknowns."
Because for this 2024 NFL season, the 65th in franchise history, this version of the Dallas Cowboys might just be the best kept secret in this country, a hard get in this world of ours.
See, we know all the usual suspects. Dak Prescott proved last year to be one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL with his league-leading 36 touchdown passes and a No. 2 QB rating of 105.9, the lead man of the NFL's top scoring team (29.9 avg.).
CeeDee Lamb, the NFL's 2023 receptions leader (135).
Micah Parsons, three consecutive seasons with at least 13 sacks, his 14 last year giving him 40½ sacks in his first three NFL seasons, joining Reggie White as the only two players since sacks became an official stat in 1982 with at least 13 sacks in each of their first three NFL seasons.
There is Pro Bowl kicker Brandon Aubrey, reminding everyone of his prowess kicking field goals at a near perfect rate during his first season in the NFL, going 36 of 38 (one blocked, one hitting off up the upright) by crushing a 66-yarder in the preseason.
Trevon Diggs back prowling on the corner with his knee's ACL repaired.
Pro Bowlers Zack Martin and DeMarcus Lawrence returning for their 11th NFL seasons. At some point, the other Pro Bowl cornerback returns, DaRon Bland, following foot surgery.
Oh, and let's not forget veteran receiver Brandin Cooks, not too shabby himself, trying to become the first NFL player to produce 1,000-yard seasons with five different teams.
That we all know.
But it's the slew of "unknown" factors saturating this team that has skeptics sprouting faster than wild mushrooms in humid-drenched climates, some thinking a fourth consecutive 12-win season and potentially becoming the first NFC East team to win back-to-back division titles since the Eagles from 2001-04 totally absurd. To the point of predicting for the first time since 2020 – and only other time since 2015 – a below .500 finish for the Cowboys.
Can these running backs, especially with the 29-year-old Ezekiel Elliott starting, produce a resurgent running attack?
Can new-old defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer repair a run defense left for roadkill in all of last season's six losses?
How will starting rookie offensive linemen Tyler Guyton at left tackle and Cooper Beebe at center perform in their NFL debuts against the Browns' formidable defensive front?
Will Lamb instantly return to his Pro Bowl form without the benefit of an offseason or training camp with the Cowboys during contract negotiations?
How quickly will Diggs return to his previous former Pro Bowl self?
And speaking of cornerback, after losing Bland for at least the first month of the season (fractured fifth metatarsal), how will now rookie starter Caelen Carson hold up against Browns wide receivers like Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy?
Then there is The Maz, second-year nose tackle Mazi Smith, now with his weight back into the 320s. Will last year's first-round draft choice be able to hold down the fort in the middle of the defensive front?
How much can the Cowboys get out of veteran defensive linemen Jordan Phillips, Linval Joseph and at some point Carl Lawson, all somewhat up in age? They're big rotation guys who mostly did not play all that much last season.
Oh, and since Zimm loves to play three linebackers against run-heavy offensive formations, will two third-round draft choices, Marist Liufau from this year and DeMarvion Overshown from last year, rotate in to help form a much-needed improved linebacking unit?
And if we get deep into the woods, with the rookie Guyton starting at left tackle and veteran Chuma Edoga out until at least Thanksgiving (foot surgery), and now Carson starting at cornerback, do the Cowboys have sufficient backups to those positions?
Questions, questions, questions.
Plus, questions are one thing. But when starting four rookies (Guyton, Beebe, Liufau and Carson), plus Overshown playing in his first NFL game and second-round draft choice Marshawn Kneeland expected to make his NFL debut as a rotational defensive end, these guys suddenly are going from playing college ball less than a year ago to now playing against grown men.
How will they react? Nerves are only natural.
Says Martin about making his NFL debut in the 2014 season opener against the 49ers, "I was nervous, initially intimidated, but got to the point, it's just football."
Says Cooks, looking back to his 2014 rookie debut with the Saints, "I was telling myself to slow down, seemed like all my routes were flashes, but got that 'whoa moment' out of me in that first possession."
And for advice, Prescott remembers his 2016 rookie debut in the season opener against the Giants, on of all days 9/11, saying, "I couldn't wait to shut people up and show people who I was," combating any anxiety by recalling it was "nerves but excitement."
As for advice, Cooks just says, "Do what you did to get in this position, and if you make a mistake, flush it."
So far, all these guys seem composed.
Carson, who had a little bit of a scare in Thursday's practice, tweaking a knee but deemed good to go for Sunday's game, says he's told himself, "Don't make the moment bigger than it is."
Guyton, when asked if he gets nervous, bluntly said, "No. … I'm not a nervous person." And if this makes you feel better, when asking Lawrence for a Guyton assessment, after pointing out his good feet and strength, the 11th-year veteran who didn't make his rookie debut until the 10th game of the season (fractured fifth metatarsal) said, "He has some dog in him."
And as for Beebe, making the transition from college guard to center in his NFL debut, just keeps thinking, "I can't let these dudes down." And Lawrence's scouting report here: "(Beebe) is stouter. You can't teach size."
Now, the Cowboys starting four rookies is not so much a surprise. They were counting on Guyton and Beebe to earn these starting roles. They had high expectations for Liufau and Overshown. The only surprise is Carson, the Cowboys previously counting on the rookie to be their third outside corner until out of necessity following Bland's injury having to move him into a starting role.
McCarthy often talks about their "draft and develop" philosophy. Well, sometimes necessity fast-forwards the "develop" part. The future becomes now.
So here we go, into a season laced with unknowns but not without talent, and to me enough talent to override some of the concerns. Maybe not all of them but enough.
Look, there isn't a team in the NFL going into these season openers without question marks. Without concerns. Without some anxiety. Welcome to the NFL, especially when teams decide to not risk injury playing starters and prominent players in the preseason. And you don't get a dry run in these openers against East West Central State U.
Sure deal, the Cowboys have some "unknowns." And were parsed out no favors this opening month, starting with the Browns, a 2023 playoff team. Then after New Orleans, Baltimore, losers in the 2023 AFC Conference title game. And then after the Giants, it's AFC playoff team Pittsburgh and the NFC title game losers from Detroit.
Still, this is a talented team.
Still, Zeke, totally healthy, can run the football.
Still two Pro Bowl offensive linemen.
Still two receivers with Pro Bowl résumés.
Still the NFL's No. 2 rated QB from last year.
Still two Pro Bowl corners once Bland returns.
And when we unwrap the unknowns, this team still goes 11-6.
