2016 Lions Opponents: Did They Improve? NFC East

Dallas Cowboys

What a fluke year 2015 was for the Cowboys. Tony Romo missed almost the entire season due to collar bone injuries and Dez Bryant was injured for most of the year as well. As a result, the offense plummeted. While the rushing attack still managed top 10 numbers, the passing game finished 27th league-wide. The Dallas defense has always been up and down and last year was no different. The Cowboys were actually a top 5 pass defense, but their 27th ranked rush defense brought their total defense ranking to 17th in the NFL.

How did the offense change?

The Cowboys return the best offensive line in football along with the same receiving options. In the backfield, Dallas drafted Ezekiel Elliott to replace Darren McFadden and he should be an upgrade right away. They also added Alfred Morris who should help spell carries and add some production as a pass catcher. As mentioned above, Tony Romo should be healthy after missing much of last season to a broken collarbone. The Cowboys’ offense is going to be scary good if they can stay healthy.

So how does that defense look?

So first things first, everyone is suspended. Randy Gregory is suspended for at least the first 4 games of the season and could miss as many as 10 games this year. Demarcus Lawrence is appealing his 4 game suspension, and MLB Rolando McClain will miss the first 10 games of the season to a suspension so this projected defensive lineup is all kinds of screwy.

Rookie Maliek Collins may get some reps inside on the DL along with Tyrone Crawford and Cedric Thornton who came over from Philadelphia. At defensive end, at least until the suspensions are served, David Irving, Benson Mayowa and rookie Charles Tapper will have to fill in.

At linebacker, Anthony Hitchens may slide over to the inside linebacker spot. Kyle Wilber will replace Hitchens on the outside the same way the Cowboys replaced McClain when he was injured in 2015. Once McClain returns, the linebackers will look the same as last year. The Cowboys also gambled on OLB Jaylon Smith in the draft, but he won’t add anything to the roster this year as he recovers from his knee injury.

In the secondary, Byron Jones will shift over to FS, moving Barry Church into the SS spot. This is because Orlando Scandrick is healthy and Jones is no longer needed on the outside.

It doesn’t look like Dallas’ rush defense is going to improve much in 2016. With Scandrick back in the secondary, the defense can continue to produce against the pass though.

Verdict

The offense is going to be unquestionably better this year. The Cowboys are a 10-12 win team when Romo is healthy. I don’t expect that to change much. With as much as Romo offers, you can still expect Dallas to run the ball 30+ times a game.

If half of the Cowboys’ defense wasn’t suspended, the unit might actually look good. Instead though, they’ll be relying on an unproven and underutilized defensive line to keep opposing offenses at bay. That’s not going to bode well. Despite that, there are still a lot of winnable games on their schedule. 10 wins should be a fair bar to set for a healthy Cowboys team.

Lions’ chances for a road victory: 38%

Be sure to keep an eye out on the next installment featuring the rest of the non-division opponents!

Next: Jim Caldwell Presser Highlights