(1) The maturing of Dez Bryant who played very well without the antics;
(2) A Cowboys team that has no where to go but up with a stud -- and still young -- offensive line and even younger stars at QB and RB. Any (and I do mean ANY) upgrade on defense makes them all the more scary in the years to come.
The good new for the Giants... in a way they are the Cowboys in reverse with a stud (and still fairly young) defense and an offense that has only one way to go with any new infusion of talent along the front line: UP.
The bad news for the Giants vis-a-vis the Cowboys: our answer for a future QB is not on the roster, while they have an answer right now for the next 10 years.
This is a year-to-year league. The Cowboys were unreasonably (as compared to statistical expectations) healthy this year -- just like in 2014. Another 2015 nightmare is just an injury or two away. A slight regression to the mean, combined with a much harder schedule (AFC West and NFC West instead of AFC North and NFC North, plus swing games against Atlanta and Green Bay) and things can look mighty different even if Dak and Zeke improve.
I will call it right here, no way the NFC East gets two teams in the playoffs again next season. A tougher schedule across the board, plus bounce back years from at least a couple of Minnesota (with Bridgewater), Arizona, Carolina, etc. and up and comers like TB, means a much harder path. The Eagles (among DVOA leaders even this year) are going to add some weapons at WR. The Giants -- an 11 win team despite not scoring 30 a single time all season -- are going to buttress their O-Line, which is the principal reason their offense sucked. Who knows about DC.
Bottom line is that great futures are nice, but no team can afford to waste the opportunities right in front of them. Just ask Dan Marino, who waltzed to the SB his rookie year, but despite perennial playoff appearances and a Hall of Fame career never sniffed the big game again.
It was all right there in front of the Cowboys this year -- home field advantage, a bye, a completely healthy roster, and the Super Bowl in Texas. No team's path is ever easy, but theirs was on of the most favorable possible. And they go no farther than the Houston Texans of all teams, and were one and done like the Dolphins, Giants, Lions, Raiders, and Chiefs.
You might get really cool hats and T-shirts for winning 13 games and your division. But you sure don't get rings. And rings are what it's all about.
I thought Dak showed a ton of improvement in this game than he had looked during the season.
This.
He beat up on an injured GB secondary that was bad to begin with.
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M.S. turns an NFC east rival loss into a negative outlook for NYG fans.
That is just bull. I believe MS was talking about Dallas's body of work this year. If you don't think their arrow is not pointing up you are just kidding yourself.
I just don't see what MS said as a shot at the Giants. MS bleeds Giants blue like the rest of us.
Thanks JerseyCityJoe!
djm has been under this mistaken impression for years now. I can't explain it.
...3,600+ yards; 23 TDs and only 4 Interceptions. His completion percentage (67.8%) was higher than Eli ever attained in his illustrious 13-year career. And Dak Prescott's rookie QB rating was 104.9 -- another stat never attained by Eli Manning.
My point: Why on earth are a few BBIers diminishing or doubting this guy's rookie year because he plays behind the best O-line in the NFL?
Who cares???
He will be playing behind Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zach Martin for several years to come. Do you honestly expect that -- with these three all-pros up front -- that Zak Prescott is going to all of a sudden fall apart and slump badly in his second year.
Dream on.
Including some contributors like Ron Leary, Rolondo McClain, Barry Church, Mo Claiborne (who finally had a decent year), Jack Crawford, Justin Durant, and more.
Not exactly penciling them in for another 13 - 3 season.
Plus the Giants beat them twice and I think match up well with them.
TA-DAAAAA!
JFC with this OP.....REEEEEEALLLY? Thanks PJ
...3,600+ yards; 23 TDs and only 4 Interceptions. His completion percentage (67.8%) was higher than Eli ever attained in his illustrious 13-year career. And Dak Prescott's rookie QB rating was 104.9 -- another stat never attained by Eli Manning.
My point: Why on earth are a few BBIers diminishing or doubting this guy's rookie year because he plays behind the best O-line in the NFL?
Who cares???
He will be playing behind Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zach Martin for several years to come. Do you honestly expect that -- with these three all-pros up front -- that Zak Prescott is going to all of a sudden fall apart and slump badly in his second year.
Dream on.
Again, I think it's possible to note the factors leading to his success...and try to adjust your assessment of the individual accordingly without being unrealistic about what to expect in the future.
No. I don't think his play will fall off a cliff as long as they keep the main pieces of that offense around him in place.
Yes. I do think it's fair for someone to say the praise of his performance is over the top given the supporting cast or to say that Wentz, all things considered, is still a more impressive prospect. This is not to say that I think Wentz's numbers will be better than Dak's next year or overall. It's simply an imperfect assessment of the two trying to eliminate for external factors. In other words, if I had to pick one of them to start a team with...I'd take Wentz without hesitation. If you asked me to bet on who will have better numbers next year, I'd probably say Dak.
He either has a mechanic issue or doesn't have the arm. Time will tell.
These stats are searchable. He attempted 75 deep balls. To put that in perspective, Eli Manning and this awful offense attempted 100. The leader was Jameis Winston at 129.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/play_finder.cgi?request=1&super_bowl=0&match=summary_all&year_min=2016&year_max=2016&game_type=R&game_num_min=0&game_num_max=99&week_num_min=0&week_num_max=99&quarter=1&quarter=2&quarter=3&quarter=4&quarter=5&tr_gtlt=lt&minutes=15&seconds=00&down=0&down=1&down=2&down=3&down=4&yg_gtlt=gt&is_first_down=-1&field_pos_min_field=team&field_pos_max_field=team&end_field_pos_min_field=team&end_field_pos_max_field=team&type=PASS&is_complete=-1&is_turnover=-1&turnover_type=interception&turnover_type=fumble&is_scoring=-1&score_type=touchdown&score_type=field_goal&score_type=safety&is_sack=-1&include_kneels=-1&no_play=0&order_by=yards&more_options=1&rush_direction=LE&rush_direction=LT&rush_direction=LG&rush_direction=M&rush_direction=RG&rush_direction=RT&rush_direction=RE&pass_location=DL&pass_location=DM&pass_location=DR
Before that, Matt Cassell was going to take the league by storm after leading the Pats to an 11-5 record.
I'll wait to see what Year 2 brings before worrying about Prescott.
But the NFL has a funny way of treating QBs that succeed.
They seem to watch film, study tendencies, find flaws and ultimately build gameplans that shut you down unless you have the certain "something" that keeps your focus & dedication to progressing your abilities and stay on top of that steep learning curve.
So bear with me when I give the cop-out answer of...lets see how Dak does next season.
...3,600+ yards; 23 TDs and only 4 Interceptions. His completion percentage (67.8%) was higher than Eli ever attained in his illustrious 13-year career. And Dak Prescott's rookie QB rating was 104.9 -- another stat never attained by Eli Manning.
My point: Why on earth are a few BBIers diminishing or doubting this guy's rookie year because he plays behind the best O-line in the NFL?
Who cares???
He will be playing behind Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zach Martin for several years to come. Do you honestly expect that -- with these three all-pros up front -- that Zak Prescott is going to all of a sudden fall apart and slump badly in his second year.
Dream on.
I predict that Dak never has a year like he just did and will not be as good as Romo. As I said, Wentz is a different story. I'm convinced that Wentz will be a much larger thorn in our side than Dak.
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...3,600+ yards; 23 TDs and only 4 Interceptions. His completion percentage (67.8%) was higher than Eli ever attained in his illustrious 13-year career. And Dak Prescott's rookie QB rating was 104.9 -- another stat never attained by Eli Manning.
My point: Why on earth are a few BBIers diminishing or doubting this guy's rookie year because he plays behind the best O-line in the NFL?
Who cares???
He will be playing behind Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick and Zach Martin for several years to come. Do you honestly expect that -- with these three all-pros up front -- that Zak Prescott is going to all of a sudden fall apart and slump badly in his second year.
Dream on.
I predict that Dak never has a year like he just did and will not be as good as Romo. As I said, Wentz is a different story. I'm convinced that Wentz will be a much larger thorn in our side than Dak.
Could not agree more.
Not a bad comparison here, lay off everyone. Or maybe Colin Kaepernick? Hard to believe he was once force to be reckoned with. I can see Dak fizzling out the way CK did. Everyone here was slurping up CK around the time I got here, looks like everyone was pleased how Dak played....in a losing effort....
Of course, it looked exactly the same a few years back when Washington got RG3, so time will tell.
Imagine what OBJ could do with that kind of space?...
Awful comment. We're adults here - we can acknowledge the positive things our rivals do.
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NYG have their work cut out
Good points, except the Giants beat Dallas twice and in the 2nd game smothered them. The Giants defense was getting better as the year went on but did have a clinker against GB - but Dakota is not AR.
With a better offense, the Giants are likely, still, the better team. I had no fear of Dallas in the playoffs, but GB with Rodgers was a different story.