An undeniable takeaway from 2024 is that the Cowboys took too many gambles and lost. Rolling the dice here or there is often unavoidable but the Cowboys took that to a whole new level last season. They rolled the dice that one or two of their receivers would step up into the WR2 and WR3 roles. It didn’t look like anyone did.
They rolled the dice Mazi Smith would go from arguably the worst defensive tackle in the NFL to starting quality player in one offseason. That didn’t happen. They rolled the dice a project player could hold his own at LT when the player over at right tackle was already a liability in pass protection. They gambled the QB position could survive poor pass protection, no running game through the first half of the season, and no separation from WRs downfield. It couldn’t.
They gambled one of the most undisciplined run defenses could get better over the offseason without injecting new proven run defenders. It could not. They gambled players would be good enough on their own to win one-on one-battles and they didn’t need sophisticated play design to create opportunities for them. They weren’t.
There were too many gambles and not enough contingency plans for the Cowboys in 2024.
