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The Dallas Cowboys are entering 2019 with big expectations, and they'll get to begin their quest to get back to NFL prominence when they take on the San Francisco 49ers in their first preseason game on Saturday night.
The Cowboys are coming off of a season in which they won 10 games and captured the NFC East division title and logged what was just their third playoff win since 1997, so there is a lot of hope for the club going into this year.
However, there are also a lot of question marks for this Dallas squad, particularly in the case of its ground game, as star running back Ezekiel Elliott is holding out due to a contract dispute.
So, here are three things to watch in the Cowboys' first preseason contest:
3. Does Alfred Morris have anything left?
As a result of the Elliott situation, Dallas signed running back Alfred Morris for a second go-around with the club, but at this point, you have to wonder how much Morris has left in the tank.
If the Elliott holdout does not get resolved and the Cowboys are forced to go into the season with Morris as their lead back (which is looking like a distinct possibility), Dallas will likely run into some problems.
Of course, Morris will get a chance to show his stuff this Saturday, and his performance in the preseason will let the Cowboys know whether or not he can handle being the No. 1 back.
Not that Dallas really has much of a choice in the matter if Elliott sits.
2. How will the offense manage?
The Cowboys played six games without Elliott in 2017 as he served a six-game suspension, and during that time, they went 3-3. It's not like they were that much better once he returned, as they went 6-4 to close out the year, but the fact of the matter is that Dallas is not really used to playing football without Elliott.
Zeke is, without question, the focal point of the Cowboys' offense, and when he isn't there, Dak Prescott has to shoulder a ton of pressure, and I'm not sure he is capable of being that type of quarterback.
Make no mistake about it: Dallas' offense needs Elliott to have any chance of being elite, so it will be interesting to see how the Cowboys decide to run their normally ground-heavy offense without him this weekend.
1. Will the contract situations prove to be a distraction?
Elliott is not the only Cowboys player looking for a new deal. Both Prescott and Amari Cooper are both seeking new contracts, as well, and while neither player his holding out, they are probably feeling a bit of unrest in the backs of their minds.
But, obviously, the big one is Elliott, and there is a chance his holdout casts a cloud over Dallas going into 2019.
Look what happened with Le'Veon Bell in Pittsburgh last year. Yes, the Steelers started 7-2-1 without him, but they finished 9-6-1 and missed the playoffs, and you're kidding yourself if you don't think his situation played a role in the demise of the locker room.
With Elliott's standoff coupled with Prescott and Cooper also waiting for new deals, there is a chance that all of the off-the-field stuff becomes too much of a distraction for the Cowboys to overcome, and if there is any dysfunction brewing, we might see it Saturday evening.
