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Wednesday saw the NFL’s preseason schedule released and, well, I hope you survived the party.
We should be getting the regular season schedule some time next week, but the Cowboys opponents have been known for a long time. They’ll play their division rivals, the NFC South, the AFC South, the Detroit Lions, and the Seattle Seahawks.
It’s been four years since the Cowboys played the AFC South, hard to believe that’s how long ago the magical 2014 run really was. This was coincidentally Allen Hurns’ rookie season, the very same Allen Hurns that now plays for Dallas.
As a member of the Jaguars, Allen Hurns obviously played a lot of games against the AFC South with Jacksonville throughout four seasons. There is always turnover and no team is necessarily the same year to year, but it makes sense that his experience would help a bit.
Hurns actually hasn’t ever been too impressive against the Colts, Titans, or Texans, but to be fair he was operating with Blake Bortles as his quarterback. Statistics never tell the whole story, but they certainly are interesting looking at his time in a division that’s really turned it around collectively over this specific stretch.
It's worth noting that the Cowboys play the AFC South in 2018. Allen Hurns, having come from Jacksonville, has experience there. pic.twitter.com/bQiQX3SNyV
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) April 12, 2018
Typically Allen’s greatest successes within his old division came against Indianapolis. As mentioned, the Colts have experienced a great amount of turnover, in fact they have a new head coach in Frank Reich and defensive coordinator in our old friend Matt Eberflus.
While it will matter how Hurns fares against Indy, Tennessee, and Houston, but the reigning division champion Jacksonville Jaguars are the biggest threat as of today. The very same team Hurns just left. Their defense is one he obviously faced in practice, but on gamedays this season he’ll be drawing Jalen Ramsey and AJ Bouye for real.
Whatever the case, any experience is good experience as a lot of the current Cowboys (especially Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott) have never faced the AFC South. Let’s hope Allen remembers some secrets.