2011 Season Preview: Dallas Cowboys

2010 Record: 6-10

2010 Rankings:

Total Offense - 7

Passing Offense - 6

Rushing Offense - 16

Scoring Offense - 8

Total Defense - 23

Pass Defense - 26

Rush Defense - 12

Scoring Defense - 31

Offense

Somehow, the Cowboys offense managed to finish 7th in the league in yards and 8th in points despite losing QB Tony Romo to injury before the season was even half over. Jon Kitna came in and was able to go 4-5 as a starter while posting a 16:12 TD-to-INT ratio. Dallas' offense got raided by the Bears in free agency, with Chicago signing RB Marion Barber, WR Roy Williams and WR Sam Hurd. The Cowboys also lost tackles Alex Barron and Marc Colombo, but drafted OT Tyron Smith (USC) with their first round pick. Felix Jones can be an explosive back when he's healthy. Miles Austin is a solid receiver with big-play ability and Dez Bryant started to come into his own before an injury ended his season in Week 12. With Romo and a slew of big-play caliber offensive talent on the field, the Cowboys offense should be deadly once again this season.

Defense

While the Cowboys offense had a great season last year, their defense was sub-par. DeMarcus Ware is one of the best pass-rushers in the league, posting 15.5 sacks last year. However, no one else on the Cowboys defense got more than 5 sacks and they ended the season with 35 sacks, 16th in the league. There won't be many changes on defense for the Cowboys this year, but they need their guys to perform better, particularly in the secondary. The one addition is FS Abram Elam, a mediocre player they brought in from Cleveland.

Intangibles

The Cowboys got a spark last year when ineffective coach Wade Phillips was shown the door. Jason Garrett was promoted and the Cowboys went 5-3 after he took over. Over Garrett's 8 games as head coach the Cowboys scored 27 or more points 7 times after breaking 28 only once in the first 8 games. Garrett seems to have what it takes to get the most out of this team, and if he can rally the troops together and get a good effort out of his defense the Cowboys could be the surprise team of the season and might just win this division.

If the Cowboys were a Beer, they would be:

Miller Lite

Over-advertised, trumped up to make everyone think it's something great and some kind of party beer. How many avid beer drinkers do you know actually like Miller Lite? Sure it's popular amongst frat guys at tailgates but once you grow up and start drinking craft beer, you can barely stomach it. But really, no matter how many commercials are put out, or how many times we have to hear about "America's Team" or the "Jerry Dome" or "Triple Hops Brewed"...that doesn't mean the product is any better.