What do we make of the Dallas Cowboys in their 2-1 record?
Do we mock them and remind ourselves that each of their 2-1 starts the past three years have turned into Groundhog's Day-esque 8-8 hamster wheel-type seasons?
Or do we respect the fact that they looked pretty darned good in thumping the Tennessee TItans on the road, coming back to beat the St. Louis Rams on the road after falling behind 21-zip and generally have shown some real mettle on defense that frankly no one was predicting?
Their 23 points per game allowed ranks a respectable if middling 18th in the NFL, 10 teams allow more yards per game than the Cowboys do and only four NFL teams have more than their four interceptions on defense. Even some of their less-impressive statistics, such as their 3.03 percent sack rate (ranked 27th in NFL) could get a boost if they get some of their best defensive players — Anthony Spencer, Rolando McClain and Henry Melton — healthy and back on the field together.
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Surprise, surprise. Jerry Jones is optimistic. Jones even went so far as to suggest that the best is yet to come, even with some stiffer tests — including the New Orleans Saints, Sunday night's opponent — coming up on the schedule.
“I think we’ve shown some things that would cause you to hold in discounting us,” Jones said on his weekly radio show on KRLD-FM (via the Dallas Morning News). “That’s an awkward way of saying that we should be looked at out of the corner of peoples’ eye. We’ve got to do it, though. We’ve got to put it together, with putting the right people on the field as it relates to injury, and that’s happening for us.
"We could have [Henry] Melton out there this weekend. We could have [Rolando] McClain out there this weekend. We could have [Tyrone] Crawford moving over as the No. 3 tackle, and then moving out to end, why? Because Anthony Spencer is going to be out there taking some snaps. Now that’s serious stuff.
"Get [Justin] Durant back in there, get [Rolando] McClain back at linebacker. Now, all of a sudden we’ve got about three or four players out there that arguably are the best defensive players that we hadn’t had the last two or three games. That’s a big deal. And if we’re that, then I think [Tony] Romo’s certainly getting his timing down. I like the experience our offensive line is getting and has gotten in these three games. Yes. Yeah. We need to be glanced at over here.”
We love Jones, if for no other reason than he always exudes hope — even when he's being negative. For evidence of that, just look to his takedown of cornerback Morris Claiborne earlier this week, which naturally was followed by Jones lauding Claiborne's ball skills the following day. Of course.
So let's put this whole Cowboys thing in perspective.
The Saints and Drew Brees are on a slightly higher level than any of the quarterbacks the Cowboys have faced thus far — an uneven Colin Kaepernick, a verge-of-being-benched Jake Locker and a (not long ago) third-stringer in Austin Davis.
But on the flip side, maybe there will be some extra electricity in the air Sunday night in their first primetime game of the season against a team that thumped them 49-17 a year ago. And as Shaun King points out in the video above, don't negate the power of motivation, even in the professional ranks.
Needless to say, it's a measuring-stick game for a team that still has plenty of doubters.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
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