Welcome back to another edition of ‘The Super Bowl Race In The Perspective Of Chase’, a close to daily NFL article previewing your favorite teams season! The Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys may be in completely different sides of the East, and in two completely different situations. But overall, they are similar teams. They’re two of the most talented teams in football with a good quarterback, inconsistent running game and top tier defense, yet both of these teams continue to fall short in the postseason. But can anything change with these two teams? Can they finally get over the hump? Or will the bad luck and disappointing postseason runs continue? Here is everything you need to know about the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys going into 2023!
It has to be answered: How will James Cook and Tony Pollard impact their respective teams?
Last year, both Dallas and Buffalo fell short of the championship game, both of their postseason losses being ones where they lost in humiliating and brutal fashion. But everything with these two squads starts at the quarterback position. Josh Allen continues to show us why he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the game, and despite 14 interceptions and an under 64% completion rate, Allen still threw for over 4200 yards and 35 touchdowns. Like Allen, Prescott also has an interception issue, and he led the league in picks with 15 in just 12 games. In the five he was out, Cooper Rush was okay, but not good enough. While they were game changers, both Allen and Prescott need to limit their turnovers.
In the running game, Devin Singletary still had over 800 yards, Allen added over 700 on the ground, and rookie James Cook added over 500 with a great slate of games in the final stretch of the season. Ezekiel Elliott officially showed he’s no longer the future of Dallas’s rushing attack, and it instead was Tony Pollard who stepped up with over 1,000 yards on the ground. In the receiving game, Stefon Diggs had over 1400 yards and 11 TD’s for Buffalo, CeeDee Lamb had over 1300 yards and 9 TD’s in Dallas, and Gabe Davis and Michael Gallup also contributed to their respective teams!
Defensively, Tremaine Edmunds and 1st-Team All Pro linebacker Matt Milano were both amazing. Tre’Davious White was amazing in the secondary along with Jordan Poyer in the secondary, and Von Miller in his limited time, Gregory Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa all added value in the pass rush. For Dallas, Trevon Diggs was still good despite not replicating his 2021 self, Micah Parsons was 2nd in Defensive Player of the Year voting with 13.5 sacks, and players like Dorance Arm strong Jr. and Demarcus Lawrence helped Dallas rank 3rd in sacks in 2022.
Overall, these two teams were two of the best in the league, with some of the highest quality of talent, but just weren’t able to convert in tough conferences. The offseason for Buffalo was an interesting one, as they essentially just let go Devin Singletary and brought in Damien Harris, and then also drafted very talented pass catcher Dalton Kincaid to add him to the tight end room and let go of Dawson Knox. For Dallas, they brought in veteran Brandin Cooks for minimal draft capital and he’ll add a top of depth to wide receiver, and they traded for Stephon Gilmore, who is still very good in coverage and will ad a ton of value to the secondary next to Diggs.
But one of the main things to mention for both of these teams is their young running backs. Both of these running backs are stepping into full-time starting running back roles, and it will be interesting to see how they step in to those roles. Pollard may have been a 1,000 yard rusher last year, but his consistency and his ability to the clear cut RB1 and problem in the Cowboys backfield is yet to be seen. And for Cook, he’s never been a starter but has shown the running capabilities of being able to do so. While yes the quarterback’s high turnover rate is on their part, an improved running game would definitely make matters better in that category as well!
Overall, the main question always comes down to can these teams get the job done come postseason time? And that’s been a question for a while now, and one that has been difficult to answer. Buffalo can obviously be the best team in the NFL and they were for most of last season. But in an AFC with Kansas City, Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Baltimore and others, is that going to happen? And in an NFC that already has the Eagles and the Niners but will also add competitive Giants, Lions and Saints teams to the mix, cant he Cowboys get it done? To be honest, I don’t so! The talent is not good enough to get your there. Another year, another postseason disappoint for these two squads!
Prediction: Both the Bills and Cowboys fall in the divisional round!
Chase Coburn
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