Blind Hope... Faith

          Remember in the movie Superbad, when Seth was going through extreme heights just to score with Jules. He had somehow convinced himself that Jules liked him and that he was going to score with her at the party she was throwing. That is how it feels to be a Cowboys fan right now. We have convinced ourselves that this team is going to score (win a super bowl) with the NFL. Its funny that the fans are the ones that have gone to the extreme heights because this team is no different than last year’s team. That isn’t a negative but if a team didn’t get any better from the previous year then how can the fans expect the team to achieve something different than they did a year ago?

            Fans have blind hope in their team, it’s part of the fandom. You want to believe your team improved. The players put in the work in the offseason and got better. The coaches put in some amazing new game plan to feature all the talented players the teams has. At the end it’s all blind hope. You hope the players got better, the coaches created some new game plan, or that your team will build off the success of the previous year.

            I find myself walking that thin line between blind hope (faith) and realism with the Dallas Cowboys. In the offseason, I wanted to believe that they didn’t need Morris Claiborne, Brandon Carr, and Barry Church. The defense wasn’t great in 2016, so maybe some new pieces would help to improve the defense. Barry Church is playing like a pro bowler in Jacksonville and Claiborne has been solid (which is what he was with the Boys). I was even willing to believe that Jeff Heath would come in and hold down the strong safety position the way he did last season in Churches absence and in the playoffs against Green bay. We all saw the Taco Charlton Highlights and thought to ourselves “he isn’t special”, but we went with the idea of an improved pass rush. Watching Aaron Rodgers carve the defense up the last two times the Cowboys were in the playoffs would make any fan base cry for a better pass rush. Wait I’m just getting started!

            Cowboys fans watched as Calais Campbell and Dontai Poe signed with other teams. One of those teams being the Falcons, a team that the Cowboys have to contend with in 2017. We still waited patiently and expected this team to be better. The New England Patriots put Kony Ealy on the trade block and were willing to get whatever they could for him. Reports came out that the Cowboys were interested but didn’t want to give up anything for him, so they would wait and see how things would play out. Ealy was cut before the start of the season, which means he had to clear waivers before the Cowboys could sign him. Yeah, a 25-year-old pass rusher would clear waivers and magically sign with the Dallas Cowboys. The Denver Broncos then cut TJ Ward. The thought of bringing in an all-pro safety to improve a defense that was mediocre at best last season tempted the fan base and once again reports come out that the Cowboys were interested. This time Ward cleared waivers and still wasn’t signed by the Cowboys. If all this isn’t blind hope then what is?

            I just mentioned all the possible improvements to the defense that the Dallas Cowboys could have made, and still we (fans) go into this season expecting a super bowl. Why, you ask, because we’re fans. We want to believe that Dak Prescott and Zeke Elliot would come back in year two an have an amazing year. Dak has been spectacular, but Zeke has been dealing with off the field issues and hasn’t been himself. We expect the dominate offensive line to be just as good if not better than it was in 2016, even though they last Doug Free and Ronald Leary. The idea of Dez Bryant returning to his 2014 form and catching 16 touchdowns has the fan base excited about possibilities of this offense. Dez has been everything but spectacular! Where do we go from here?

            We continue to be the fans of the best team in the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys. We root even harder for Jourdan Lewis, Anthony Brown, and Bryon Jones. These guys will probably be the future of this Cowboys Defense. We cheer on Jaylon Smith for recovering from such a gruesome injury, to be able to return to the field. I know he has been a liability for the defense but he will more than likely be a staple on the defense for years to come. We put aside all the missed defensive player that this team didn’t bring in, and we accept that the ones they have.

            The fan base is going to have to accept that the 2017 Dallas Cowboy aren’t a super bowl caliber team (I would love to be wrong about this). Even if this team starts putting it all together, this defense isn’t good enough to make a magically run. The offense if going to have to step their game up in order for this team to be successful. The coaching staff is going to have to do a much better job than the one they’ve been doing thus far. No, hope isn’t lost, but I think my eyes are starting to regain focus! I hope that this season turns out better for us than it did for Seth in Superbad!