It’s finally time to utter the best four-word sequence you can hear during the summer. No, not “high below 100 degrees,” though that’s pretty close, but the heavenly musical trill of “Football is back, baby!” We made it, kids. We’re safely on the other side of that unbearable gauntlet between the NBA and Stanley Cup finals and the NFL Hall of Fame game. That dark time where the closest thing to sports enjoyment is the exhausting midseason dog-day slog of the Rangers trying to stay in sight of .500. (At least it was until the TV broadcast bolted to BZZR, a streaming service literally no one knew existed with a name easily confused with that of a certain adult entertainment production company.)
On Saturday, in the first of three Cowboys preseason games, we saw the debut of star rookie defensive back Caleb Downs. Though limited to just a handful of snaps, seeing the No. 13 jersey in action on the field was exciting. The subsequent 17-7 victory over the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks has given Dallas their first 1-0 preseason start in nearly a decade. This, followed by the unexpected signing of the NFL’s active career sacks leader and DeSoto native Vonn Miller the next day, are all just the latest reasons that lately even the most bitter of the Silver and Blue faithful are “glazing” the ’Boys heading into the regular season.
And I am leading the charge. I haven’t been this pumped for a Cowboys season since going into 2015, when I thought for sure they were primed for a Super Bowl run. After all, they were a bad call away from the NFC Championship game the previous winter (#dezcaughtit). I’m choosing to ignore, however, just how quickly one’s enthusiasm can be torpedoed by your team’s star QB breaking his collar bone twice in a single season.
Those who’ve regularly consumed local sports talk radio over the last 20 years are likely familiar with The Ticket morning show host Craig “Junior” Miller’s imaginary bestselling self-help book, Craig Miller’s Guide to Never Again Buying into the Cowboys. Like many a disillusioned Cowboy fan, after more than 30 years of underachievement, perpetual mediocrity, and endlessly missed opportunity, I’ve joined the bit, picturing myself dutifully analyzing and absorbing the enlightening text with the same fervor and obsession that douchey, high school incel-lectuals afford to Atlas Shrugged. Perhaps even highlighting passages and making notes in the margins. Like the John Galt wannabes, I’ve used Junior’s teachings to slowly steel myself against the emotional dependency of sports fandom and embrace the rugged individualism of a man void of a team that can break his heart, the stoic observer, unmoved by the annual Cowboys cycle of inflated hype to crushing defeat.
However, if anything is capable of piercing that protective shell of my purported sports fan protectionism, the last six months of Cowboys roster-building might be it. That’s certainly a cliché as worn as the tires of the ’89 Hyundai Excel hatchback I drove as a sophomore, but this year truly feels different. I have no answer as to what it is that is driving this year’s seemingly novel offseason approach, but I can unequivocally say it is different. Whether it’s 83-year-old Jerry Jones seeing the Grim Reaper out of the corner of his eye, the bewildering amount of influence that Head Coach Brian Schottenheimer seems to exert over front-office decisions, or the devil laying a golden fiddle at my feet to tempt my soul in exchange for a playoff run that extends beyond the Divisional round, the moves the Cowboys brass have made in the leadup to this season have been decidedly un-Cowboys and, thusly, seem smart, calculated, and thorough.
Sure, Miller is 37, but his nine sacks on just 37% of snaps in Washington from last year would have led the Cowboys’ pass rush-deprived defense. It’s yet another move that indicates that Jerry is actually putting his duckets where the incoherent yammering comes from. He seems to finally be making good on the infuriatingly hollow “all in” proclamation he made after the franchise’s worst[-]ever playoff disaster against the Green Bay Packers nearly three years ago (the last time the team made the postseason).
If you reach back to the decision to get out of the Micah Parsons business before Week 1 of last season, the last 12 months have been completely devoted to overhauling that NFL’s-worst-ever defense from 2025: Via trades for four potential starters in D tackles Kenny Clark and (newly extended) Quinnen Williams, edge rusher Rashan Gary, and linebacker Dee Winters, plus signing at least two others in defensive backs Jalen Thompson and Cobie Durant, followed by winning the lottery and the ability to select Downs, the Ohio State standout commonly considered “best defender in the draft,” as well as four other defensive depth pieces, Dallas has churned nearly two-thirds of their defensive roster. Additionally, in perhaps the most un-Cowboys move of all, they’ve put a young, creative, cutting-edge defensive mind at the helm to coach them in new 34-year-old DC Christian Parker.
Adding this to running back the Top 5 offense from a year ago that still boasts the league’s best wide receiver duo in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, and I’ve taken my equally imaginary copy of Junior’s Guide and thrown it right into a highway-side Texas summer wildfire. Whether the defensive revamp will prove to be enough to finally end a three-decade NFC title game drought is still anyone’s guess, but there’s no question that the front office has made every effort to make it so. If there ever was a time to buy in, this year just might be it. Maybe say a prayer for Dak’s clavicles.
