The recent Cowboys playoff suffering was brought on by these five choices.
The Dallas Cowboys were the team to beat in the 1990s. They have been an NFL joke since 1996; they haven’t made it to the NFC Championship Game since 1995.
Over the years, they have demonstrated a lot of skill, but they haven’t been able to translate it into success.
The Tony Romo bungled field goal attempt, the Dez Bryant “was it a catch?” call, the Dak Prescott quarterback scramble, and the “Ezekiel Elliott under center” trick play are just a few of the postseason mishaps that have occurred. Jokes write themselves.
However, the Cowboys’ performance has been lacking, especially during the last three seasons.
The squad has only one postseason victory to show for its three straight 12-5 seasons and two NFC East crowns during that time. Despite having tremendous skill on both sides of the ball, these teams haven’t been able to match the success of the teams from the 1990s.
Dallas has finished as a top-five defense in two of the last three seasons while scoring the most points in the NFL in two of those seasons.
This squad has been incredibly successful during the regular season, yet they have never made it to the postseason.
Kryptonite became active. In two of the previous three seasons, Dallas has fallen short against the San Francisco 49ers twice during the playoffs. Although it is obvious that they have struggled to compete with the 49ers, there are other factors that have contributed to the Cowboys’ collapse at the end of the previous few seasons.
Jerry Jones claimed the Cowboys were “all in” during the NFL Draft, but their actions this spring haven’t supported that claim.Dallas has one of the top wide receiving corps in the NFL in 2020 and 2021, led by Michael Gallup, CeeDee Lamb, and Amari Cooper. The Cowboys treated Prescott, who was about to enter his prime, differently by trading Cooper to the Cleveland Browns in order to give Gallup a five-year, $57.5 million contract extension.
Cooper was coming off his worst season in Dallas, while Gallup was recovering from an ACL tear.
Because of some personal issues with Cooper, the front office decided to trade him for only a fifth and sixth round pick. A transaction the Cowboys will always regret.
Gallup hasn’t produced nearly as much since being extended as Cooper has in Cleveland. With 1,250 receiving yards, Cooper is actually coming off of his greatest season to date, whereas Gallup, who recently joined with the Raiders, was released by Dallas.Two significant errors were made in this trade. It was the Cowboys’ duty to either:
Cooper was traded for a lot more money, but his $20 million annual contract was allowed to run.
Dallas should have waited if they truly didn’t want Cooper since the wide receiver market quickly went crazy.
After trading for A.J. Brown, the Philadelphia Eagles acquired Christian Kirk for $18 million annually, and they promptly awarded him a $25 million contract. Dallas may have acquired a first round selection in return if they had waited a few more months. Instead, they had a huge vacancy at wide receiver going into the 2022 season that Gallup was never able to fill because he was unable to get back to his previous level of play.