How good are these Dallas Cowboys?

Just how good are the 2014 Dallas Cowboys exactly? That’s a fair question to ask because if you take recent history into account, the Cowboys are giving us all a reason to be skeptical. In the Tony Romo era, the Cowboys always find a way to build you up sky high, and then throw you off the cliff. Whether it be Romo fumbling a hold in the playoffs, Romo throwing a game ending pick against a dvision rival in the playoffs, taking Peyton Manning to the brink and just messing up, or quite simply, losing to each division opponent at the last game of the season with the playoffs on the line for the last three years.

HOWEVER. This year is different for the Cowboys. And the reason for that is that they aren’t playing like the Cowboys of the Tony Romo era. They are playing like the Cowboys of the Demarco Murray era. And that is a winning formula.

I truly believe that Demarco Murray is the MVP of the NFL thus far. Of course you have the Peyton Mannings and the Phillip Rivers of the world, but no guy is carrying his team like Murray. Murray is the best running back in football, and is also the best defensive player on the Cowboys as well because his ground game helps keep that defense (that is better than most expected) that could get exposed, off the field. Murray also does the Cowboys a favor by keeping the ball out of Tony Romo’s hands to where Romo doesn’t have to do everything. It has been proven over time, if you rely on Romo too much, he will eventually cost you a game, or the season. He is a good quarterback, but he is not Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Drew Brees: He needs a lot more help.

But this offensive line and running game is more than enough help to keep Romo out of trouble, and keep the Cowboys surging.

Many Cowboys naysayers want to point out that Demarco Murray is on pace to set a new record for carries in a season by a running back and that he won’t last, especially because of his injury history. Here are my two points against that:

1. First of all, Demarco Murray is carrying the ball a lot but he is taking a lot less punishment. How is that possible? Because of his offensive line. This offensive line is so dominant; they blast off the ball and control the line of scrimmage. This helps Demarco get past the line and into the second and third levels of the defense. So instead of getting hit by these big monster defensive linemen, between 28-380 pounds, he is getting hit by smaller linebacker and even players in the secondary, which saves his body for a lot of the brutal punishment.
2. My second point is also in relation to the offensive line. They are so good, I firmly believe that if Murray was to miss some time, Randle and Dunbar could do a respectable job running the ball because they open holes that any decent running back could run through. They may not have Demarco’s running ability, but they would be formidable and the running game would not just fall off the map.

Season In Review: Through Six Games 

The Cowboys opened up the season against the San Francisco 49ers and had everybody rolling their eyes and saying “Same ole Cowboys”. The most obvious reasons were the turnovers, specifically interceptions by Tony Romo on three consecutive drives as well as the Demarco Murray fumble. But the fact that the Cowboys had those ugly turnovers, including an interception in the red zone, they lost by 11, which had to be inspiring. That flipped the switch for Scott Linehan, the new Cowboys offensive coordinator.

He realized that day that only is Tony Romo the quarterback you want to fully depend on, but he isn’t even fully healthy yet. He was moving quite gingerly in that game. In the next game, Cowboys won handily against the Titans, a game any contender should win. Then came the Rams. Cowboys fell behind 21-0, with Romo contributing to the cause by throwing a pick 6 to Janoris Jenkins of the Rams. But unlike Cowboys teams of the past, they rallied and edged the Rams by 3.

Next up was what most people considered to be the Cowboys statement game up until that point. They played Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints and welcomed Rob Ryan and his defense back to Dallas. They didn’t just beat the Saints, but they dominated then on Sunday Night Football almost the exact same way the Saints had torched the Cowboys the year before. Riding high, they won a gut check game against the Texans at home.

A note to keep in mind is that through all of these games, Demarco Murray posted rushing totals of 118, 167, 100, 149, and 136.

Then came one of the top three games for the Cowboys at least since Troy Aikman hung up his cleats. The Cowboys packed there bags and headed to Seattle to take on the Super Bowl champs. Most people said that the Cowboys would prove a lot to them if they could just remain competitive. Did they ever… The Cowboys beat the Seahawks by seven points despite gifting them a touchdown on a block punt and a muffed punt. The Cowboys really won pretty easily and had the entire football nation in frenzy. The Seahawks had allowed just under 70 yards a game before the game and the Cowboys racked up 162. They hadn’t allowed a rusher to have more than 43 yards, and the Cowboys had two: Demarco Murray had 115 for his record tying 6^th game in a row to open the season in triple digits, and Joseph Randle had 52, and 38 on one run alone.

Next up: The Cowboys first division game as they host the New York Giants on Sunday.