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The Dallas Cowboys are set to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to kick off the 2021 NFL regular season. It's a matchup everyone is looking forward to, and one the Cowboys need to play well in. This Week 1 game can be a statement game for the Cowboys, showing that last season was a fluke and they're back for revenge in 2021.
Finishing third in the division with a 6-10 record was nowhere near the plans for the Cowboys last season. Playoffs were the expectation with Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, and Amari Cooper as the three-headed monster leading the offense. Unfortunately we all know the story of Dak going down for the entire season, Elliott being unable to perform up to expectations with an underperforming offensive line, and just a disappointing season all around.
The team enters this season rejuvenated and ready to win the NFC East, a division that should be locked up by any team that reaches 10 wins. Washington took the title last season by going just 7-9, so expectations for the division as a whole aren't exactly through the roof. It's time for the Cowboys to show they can still be a top team in the NFC.
Here are 4 bold predictions for the Cowboys' 2021 season.
Dak Prescott wins Comeback Player of the Year and gets at least one MVP vote
It's a huge year for the Cowboys' franchise quarterback. Prescott just signed a huge four-year contract extension worth $160 million and now it's time to prove he was worth it. We see some teams begin to decline after spending big time money on a quarterback. Notable recent examples are led by Kirk Cousins who was signed to a huge contract by the Minnesota Vikings only for the team to miss the playoffs in two of the three years with Cousins under center. The Cowboys want to avoid that, and Dak Prescott will step up in 2021.
Prescott is the heavy favorite to win the Comeback Player of the Year award and he's also 5th in MVP odds at +1600 right behind Tom Brady, Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. That's an elite group of quarterbacks and Prescott is right in the middle of them. For Prescott to get some MVP votes, the Cowboys will likely have to win the division and Prescott will have to throw for at least 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns. All three of those made up qualifications are very possible to achieve and none of them would be too surprising.
The Cowboys defense will finish in the top half of the league in points allowed per game
The Dallas defense, like a lot of what the team did last season, was very disappointing. When it was all said and done, the Cowboys allowed the 5th most points per game at 29.6 which is always a recipe for disaster. The only team to make the playoffs and finish in the bottom 10 for defensive points per game was the Tennessee Titans. For the Cowboys to really improve and finish in the top half of the league they would have to drop the 29.6 points per game down by about five points. Easier said than done, but it's possible.
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After last season's defensive disasters, the team brought in Dan Quinn to replace Mike Nolan as Defensive Coordinator. How much that will actually help remains to be seen but the overall scheme from Quinn is reportedly much more simple than the scheme from Nolan. Playing simple and just teaching the defensive players that consistency is enough could help. The addition of Micah Parsons to help stabilize the linebacker position and give the defense a new guy to build around will certainly help.
CeeDee Lamb becomes the WR1 over Amari Cooper
Lamb had a bit of an underrated rookie season due to the huge breakout from fellow rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson. The Vikings' wide receiver took the spotlight, but Lamb put up some solid numbers with below average quarterback play for most of the season. In the first five weeks of the season with Dak Prescott playing, Lamb caught 5.8 passes per game on 8.0 targets and averaged 86.6 yards per game. He only caught two touchdowns, but the rookie receiver was showing off. The production dropped as expected when Prescott went down and Lamb had just one game with 70+ yards after Week 5.
The Cowboys took Lamb with a top 20 pick just one season ago. They had other holes that could have been filled, especially on defense, but they opted to go with the wide receiver. Teams don't typically do that unless they expect that player to be really special. Lamb is going to have a breakout chance and I expect him to take full advantage of it. Teams will likely focus more on Amari Cooper to start the season and by the time week 17 wraps up, expect Lamb to be leading Cooper in both receptions and yards.
The Cowboys get back to being division winners
Whoever wins the NFC East this season will likely be able to credit it on one main thing. This division hasn't been top tier in recent years so expecting poor play again feels like a safe bet. Most people aren't particularly high on the New York Giants or Philadelphia Eagles and both the Washington Football Team and Cowboys have some big questions that need to be answered. For the Cowboys, can Prescott and Elliott return to form? Can the defense be solid enough to let the offense carry them to the playoffs? I think the questions with the Cowboys will have better answers than the ones with Washington. They'll be good, but Dallas will be better.
Dallas should be much better than they have been when you look at who their best players are on paper. With the weak division and the team hungry to prove they can win, the Cowboys should come out firing. All they should have to do is win ten of the seventeen games they play this season, six of which are against division opponents. Time to prove it in Dallas.
