To be honest, there’s not a huge talent gap between the NFL’s great players and the cellar dwellers. This league is fantastic because of that. Team builders constantly make roster adjustments to help their teams advance from pretenders to contenders in the fiercely competitive postseason race that attracts new players every year.
While some fan bases are happy if their team only makes it to the playoffs, others demand that their team go deep into the postseason in order for the season to be considered a failure. The New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys are the talk of the town this year as elite teams with high expectations. Head coaches Mike McCarthy and Robert Saleh seem to be headed for a heated season where the goal is straightforward: Win now, or else… There is a lot of talk about their teams’ chances of making the playoffs.
In light of this, I wanted to examine the extreme strain that would be on these two well-known teams in 2024.
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The Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys: 12-5 in 2023
Why would 2024 hold such huge stakes?
The Cowboys have a number of well-known players that are nearing the end of their contracts going into the new one. This might spur the squad to extraordinary performance, but even if that happens, holding out on signing a contract could backfire if/when Dallas wins 12 games again under Mike McCarthy, one of the group of players and coaches starting a new contract. The veteran NFL head coach admitted earlier this summer that signing a one-year contract might “be hard on your family.
” QB Dak Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb share McCarthy’s plight, and OLB Micah Parsons is qualified for his own contract. Furthermore, future Hall of Famer Zack Martin, who has been a mainstay on Dallas’ offensive line for the previous ten years, stated in June that this season might be his last.
Will this all prove to be a costly diversion during an important year for the company? By the way, we’re talking about “America’s Team” here. A recent valuation of the Cowboys by Sportico at a value of over $10 billion indicates that the team is among the top sports brands in the world. This is true even though, throughout the previous 28 seasons, the team has failed to win a single conference title game, much less the Super Bowl. Big D is constantly under strain, but for certain important people, it seems that the pressure is on significantly more than usual.
What does success entail?
Over the last three seasons, the Cowboys have finished 12-5 apiece and have won two NFC East championships. Sadly, in that time, they have only had a 1-3 record in the playoffs. As such, the ‘Boys’ postseason performance will be the last yardstick by which they are evaluated. If the team doesn’t make a long playoff run, it’s not difficult to picture Jerry Jones distributing a lot of pink slips around the stadium.
McCarthy needs to maintain his players’ attention on the primary goal of regular-season success while also getting them ready for the playoff grind, especially with the increasing pressure on Dallas to perform well in the postseason tournament. Even while most teams use a “one game at a time” strategy, the head coach must also keep the big picture in mind. To put it mildly, that is not simple.
Additionally, McCarthy will have a difficult time maintaining his composure in the face of lofty expectations if the Cowboys experience a difficult period. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what success will entail for Dallas in 2024, but the team must to perform well both during the regular season and, more importantly, in the postseason. A lot of changes might occur otherwise.
Are they going to deliver?
The Cowboys are more than capable of competing with the NFC’s heavyweights, but it’s difficult to see Dallas forming the kind of togetherness and chemistry that is necessary to perform well in pivotal moments given the circus-like environment that has surrounded the team during training camp. Jones is engaged in contract negotiations with several players, including the starting quarterback and wide receiver, thus these Cowboys are once again, in my opinion, a “one and done” playoff contender.
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