Opinion
Heading into the new NFL season the Dallas Cowboys have the third-ranked offence in the league. After the statistical highs Dak Prescott and co achieved last season, it is easy to see why.
The 2019 season was a historic one for Prescott and the Cowboys. Dallas were first in total yards, with 6904 for the season, and first in net yards per game, averaging slightly over 431 a game. Prescott was second in passing yards and pass yards per game, with 296.9. The Cowboys were equally adept running the football, finishing fifth in total rush yards with 2153 and averaging 134 yards per game – and this while Zeke Elliott was having what many considered a down year by his standards.
Dallas also finished 2019 sixth in points per game, averaging 27.1. In most categories America’s team was top ten in most of them and top three in some, yet all that wielded an 8-8 record and a missed play-offs campaign.
(Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
The end-of-year stats make for good reading if you are a Cowboys fan, even if playing play-off football did not eventuate. Zeke yet again rushed for over 1000 yards – 1357 to be exact – to finish top five in the league while averaging a very respectable 4.5 yards a carry. He also managed 12 touchdowns in the first season of his big-money contract.
The 2019 season was also a great one for two Cowboys receivers. For the fourth time in his five seasons Amari Cooper surpassed the 1000-yard mark in his first full season in Arlington. Cooper amassed 1189 yards and a respectable eight touchdown receptions, but it will be his fade-outs away from home that steal the headlines from his season. From getting blanketed by New England Patriot Stephon Gilmore, who did not allow a single catch by Cooper for the entire game, to being taken out of the game on a fourth-down play to keep their season alive in the fourth quarter against the Eagles due to the coaching staff feeling they had a better chance to win with him on the sidelines, Cooper had an up and down year, to say the least. Yet he still managed over 1000 yards for the year despite missing chunks of games due to injury.
Staying on the topic of receivers, second-year wide out Michael Gallup had an impressive season. Over its course Gallup gained many admirers for his athletic catching ability as well as his route running, finishing the year with 1107 yards and six touchdowns, a very solid season from a second-year player. Gallup became the third youngest Cowboy in history to achieve a 1000-yard season, which points to Dallas having a bonafide No. 2 receiver to complement Cooper and give defensive coordinators nightmares.
Tight end Blake Jarwin will be one that many will be looking to as Jason Witten’s replacement for the 2020 season. Jarwin’s stats last season do not look like much – 31 receptions for 365 yards and three touchdowns – but it was his ability to gain crucial third downs and his big-play ability, having had eight plays of 20 or more yards and one 40-plus-yard play, that has Cowboys fans bullish about the tight end. Not a blocker like his hall of fame former colleague Witten, Jarwin is athletic, strong and a potential nightmare to line up on. His 119-yard, three-touchdown game on only seven receptions in Week 17 against the Giants in 2018 shows what he can do on a given day.
All the stats agree that Dallas should have the third-ranked offence heading into 2020, and that’s without mentioning stud wide out Ceedee Lamb, who was drafted by the Cowboys at pick 17 in the 2020 draft. As we saw last season, having big statistical games does not translate into wins. With a new head coach and an abundance of weapons, is this the year Dak Prescott and co finally make good on their potential and the league by storm?
This is the Cowboys we are talking about, and when things look bright Dallas always does Dallas things.
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