I love it, Mike & Mike predicted us to go 7-9 & 8-8. Every prognosticator is saying we will finish 3rd in the division. I love it, keeping talking shit and all I hope is that they stay off the bandwagon when we start winning.

Right now, Dallas is the third best team in the NFC East.

Ratings are subjective, but you can’t discount the facts from the recent past. Dallas continued to play poorly in December last year, and in the last game of the season and a chance to make the playoffs, Dallas played poorly and was blown out in Philly, a team who I thought was thee best team in the NFC east last year, and said as much here after Dallas beat them early in the season last year when I said the better team lost that game. Looking at what the Giants and Eagles added in the offseason in free agency and the draft complared to Dallas, then I can see why people are rating us third in the division, and I have no problem with that at all. The NFC East is the toughest division in all of football. Dallas, for three years and have failed to meet up with their expectations year in and year out for the last three years when they were picked to win the division, make the playoffs or make it to the superbowl, so flying under the radar after clearing out the criminals, whiners and Cancers out of the locker room on this team and with the fact this team from day one of OTA’s has been about Football and only football, instead of the circus atmosphere surrounding this organization is a good start and a welcome one for me. as any ragular reader of this blog would know, I have no time for these types of Character players on the cowboys, never have and never will. It may not show in the end record of this team but in the long run for the changes this team made during the offseason, I think it’s a good thing.

but for what we didn’t do.

We didn’t draft well (come on, no one is going to give us a good grade with that group except BTB’ers), we didn’t get any O-Line depth, we got thin at ILB and CB and we didn’t find a speed receiver.

Plus, the coach is still the coach, which surprised a lot of pundits, especially when Shanahan became available.

We didn’t do much but with injurys last year we really didn’t need much but players to get healthy…and on the minn. Front I agree with maddog I think they looked smother and more cohesive with rosenfieldburgstien..

It is USA Today. Since when have they had meaningful opinions that influenced the game. Quite frankly, I am happy not being picked because I think we are more of a team this year and will respond well to the idea of not having a world of expectations on their shoulders.

No one remembers the injuries last year (most people don’t even know about the injuries to Flo and Witten). Everyone thinks we’ll stink this year. No one pays attention to the defensive struggles that will go on in Philly and NY due to the losses of their coordinators.

Our only problem is depth. Our starters can play with anyone in the league, but if anyone gets hurt, we’re in trouble.

This one is just sitting on a tee for me… begging me to turn this into a 200-post debate on a number of different topics. It’s almost taunting me.

(resisting urge to type… trying to pull fingers away from keyboard… must… not… type… more…)

Bad draft, lost our most dangerous offensive weapon for no compensation, lost depth, did not acquire talent at OL or DL despite existing depth issues, 2 key areas that needed improvement, special teams and penalties, have shown no improvement. 6 new “starters” on Defense, none of which is an impact player.

I think it sounds worse than it is and that we’ll pull it all together, but I can see how an outside observer that is not as familiar with the team would give them a C-.

That paper hasn’t been relevant since it was cool to have a big ass cell phone that plugged into your car’s lighter. Grade wise, nobody knows what a season will hold. A couple of dropped passes, a few key injuries, or a fumble or two are all that separates a 10-6 team from an 8-8 team. Sensi is going to make a ton of difference in the secondary. TO being gone allows for more diverse play calling since you don’t have to force feed him to keep him from crying. I’d say we’re 10-6 maybe better if we get rolling.

We cut a bunch of people, drafted a bunch of unknowns (who very well could produce 2-3 studs), and didn’t make any big FA signings.

I’d probably give us a C+ due to the Brookings and Sensabaugh signings which are upgrades, but do have concerns about the failure to address O-Line and D-Line depth.

alleged experts on all these sites and newspapers to see how well they fare with their “before the season begins here’s what I think” articles. I really stopped paying attention when we had the superbowl trophy last year before stepping on the field. It’s ok to have an opinion, sure, but it really doesn’t matter what you write. That’s the great thing about the NFL, no one knows which team will get the bounces, have the good karma fairy watching over them or have the injury bug biting their key players in the arse. “Any given Sunday” rules. It is what makes this a great game and a great sport to follow.

They probably liked the new Tarantino movie too.
Who cares? USA Today?
That’s like going to the LA or NY Times for news/political coverage!

How does Pro Football Weekly have the Boys doing? Thta would be more relevant.