Jerry Jones is back to his optimistic ways as the 2021 season approaches

As the Cowboys embark on the 2021 season, expectations are high. Just check out some of the predictions from the front-page writers here at BTB for confirmation. A return to health for Dak Prescott and a defensive-heavy draft have the team, and the fans, feeling a bit better after last year’s debacle.

And there is a solid basis for the optimism. Last year the offense was on fire to start the season and they return their pieces, plus some injured players. As long as they remain healthy, there is little reason to think the offense won’t continue to pile up the points. The defense, of course, is the issue, but the Cowboys did a lot to fix that, including bringing in Dan Quinn.

So optimism is on the mind. And the main progenitor of optimism through the ages for the Cowboys has always been Jerry Jones. It’s almost impossible to out-optimism Jerry Jones.

And he’s feeling good about this year’s product. He believes last year was an anomaly.

“I feel this is the team that I thought we were going to have last year,” Jones began in full assessment. “Of course, that was before Dak’s injury. That was the euphoria for me over having Mike as our coach; not necessarily appreciated what our lack of practice over COVID and all of that, and how it was going to impact the actual team. Certainly not anticipating the injuries and certainly not anticipating the breakdown we had in defense.”

Oh, that defense. Such a problem. The hope is that Micah Parsons, Dan Quinn, and all those other draft picks and free agents can make that side of the ball viable again.

“But this year, with what we addressed – and boy did we go at it, and I’m sure you’ll give us that – we’ll see how the results are. But man, did we change it up. You change something up about as good as you can change it up, and correct it up, and what we lost when we lost Dak. We hope we got back our protection and our front line on offense … and now No. 88 is just better. All of those things give me the same feeling as I had last year.

“We’re going to be a good team.”

We’ll find out, starting September 9th.