What You Should and Shouldn't Worry About: Dallas

I started this ‘Worry’ series a while back, starting with the Redskins and never followed through with it. I apologize. It’s time to get back on track and finish what I started.

You sit at the bar with your buddies, most of them are just like you, they love the same shows you watch, the same hobbies, and of course, the same football franchise. It’s then when you realize, since you’re all on the same side of the argument, you can candidly speak about the things that you worry about for your team, and also the things that you know are rock solid. I’m going to help you with that conversation.

99% of fans, broadcasters, and reporters alike have Dallas slated as the best team in the NFC East, and that alone should scare Dallas fans. It wasn’t too long ago when Dallas was getting a lot of mainstream media attention and pressure to make it to the Super Bowl. They had the HBO show “Hard Knocks” and were coining the phrase “Super Bowl or bust” throughout the offseason. Which goes to show you one simple rule of thumb; nothing is promised in the NFL. That’s the year Romo broke his pinky finger on his throwing hand, Brad Johnson couldn’t get the job done in the four games he had to start, and Dallas got absolutely manhandled by the Eagles in a game that for all intents and purposes, was a play-in game for the playoffs.

So Dallas fans have reasons to worry, they do not want to go through another season like that. And this preseason thus far has not eased many of them at all. But before you go and hit the panic button on anything, let me help you guys and tell you what to worry and not worry about going into this 2010 season.

No Worries Here

David Beuhler
It’s been heavily covered; Dallas’ placekicker position was horrible last season. Nick Folk and Shawn Suisham were the laughing stocks of the NFC East, and both were Cowboys at one point or another. David Beuhler steps up and Jerry Jones basically crowns him the new kicker without proving himself at the NFL level. Well…looks like Jerry was right afterall. I myself was very skeptical of the decision since Beuhler hadn’t had to make any pressure kicks in his football career since high school, but I was wrong. Dallas brought in former NFL kicker, Chris Boniol to help Beuhler with his mechanics which has obviously helped him out. Beuhler was the same person who couldn’t beat out Nick Folk last season for the placekicking position, and now he’s hit six for seven field goals in the preseason, not to mention that you can count his misses in training camp on one hand. He’s not Morten Anderson, but thankfully, he’s no Nick Folk either.

Hit the Panic Button

Red Zone Offense Struggles

I wrote about this earlier, but for those who didn’t see it, I will repeat the staggering statistic. The Dallas Cowboys last year were ranked number two in offensive yards. So obviously, they can move the ball up and down the field as they pleased. However, they were ranked 13^th in touchdowns. So what does that tell you? It tells you that far too often did Dallas move the ball well into opponents’ territory, yet struggle to get the ball into the end zone. And any football fan will tell you, you’ll rarely win games with just field goals, you win games with touchdowns. According to Mickey Spagnola of dallascowboys.com, the Cowboys have worked for countless hours in the offseason on their red zone offense, they know it’s their weak-point. But nothing has looked better thus far in the preseason. Many point to the fact that Jason Garrett seems to forget how to run when he gets inside the twenty. Case-in-point look at the hall of fame game; when Dallas was inside the five yard-line and decided to throw three straight passes, all of which were incomplete. Fans and reporters are baffled that Dallas has a bruiser in Marion Barber, yet decides to become finesse within the twenty. If Dallas wants to be the best in the east and Super Bowl contenders, they sure won’t do it settling for field goals while they’re opponents score touchdowns.