The Cowboys Have Me Believing Again (I'm Probably a Fool)
Feel free to roast me. This will probably age poorly anyway.
I’m going to keep this short and sweet because we all have Turkey Trots, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades, and tons of other festivities to get to today, but bear with me as I write something that’s probably very foolish.
The Dallas Cowboys have me believing again.
I know. It’s probably stupid, and the veterans of this song-and-dance are probably rolling their eyes right now. You know who you are.
I’m serious, though. After watching the team come back from 21 down to beat the hated Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon, I started to get the warm-and-fuzzy feeling that I’ve sometimes felt throughout my decade-plus of watching the franchise crash and burn. And it all stems from the similarities between this campaign and another one that I hold near and dear to my heart.
It’s not 2016, when the team finished 13-3 thanks to the youthful energy of Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. That season ended in heartbreak thanks to Aaron Rodgers and the leg of Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby. We don’t talk about that.
Then there was the run from 2021-23, when I remember having thoughts of “Could this be the year?” over and over again, only to be ruthlessly reminded that this is the Dallas Cowboys, and there probably won’t ever be a Super Bowl ever again.
Or will there be? Because let me tell you, I’m starting to believe that perhaps this season could be something special, all because it reminds me of 2018.
Let me bring you up to speed if you’re unfamiliar. In 2018, the Cowboys started the year 3-5. The vibes were bad heading into the team’s bye week. That’s when Jerry, Stephen, and all the other bigwigs in the Cowboys’ front office traded for a player that Dallas fans will never forget: Amari Cooper.
The Cooper transaction completely flipped the script on that entire season. Dallas went on to win seven of its last eight games, which was good enough to win the NFC East and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. There, they went on to win in the Wild Card round against the Seattle Seahawks before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional round. I’ll always have fond memories of watching the Seahawks game with my dad in the living room of our condo in Israel at 3 o’clock in the morning. It was a brutal wake-up time, but it was so worth it to see Prescott flip his way to a victory over Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.
That season remains my favorite Cowboys campaign ever. From that playoff game versus Seattle to the Sunday Night Football victory over the Eagles in the middle of the year (a game I watched with a broken elbow), I’ll always cherish that team. The vibes were so good, and I miss them.
That brings me to 2025, when the Cowboys began this season in a miserable state. Micah Parsons was traded away before everything started, which put a damper on everything. Then the first several games were played, and it was clear that this defense was not going to be up to snuff with the rest of the NFL. As such, the Cowboys were pretty dreadful through the first half of the season, and their 3-5-1 record was indicative of that fact.
Then the bye week rolled around, and Jerry Jones decided to try to right this ship once and for all. He shipped off a couple of early-round picks for star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams in an attempt to make the worst run defense ever just a little bit better. Some other pieces — such as DeMarvion Overshown — came back from injury, too, which also helped that struggling unit.
Two weeks later, the Cowboys have reeled off two straight wins, one of which was over the hated Eagles in exhilarating fashion. And one of the key reasons the team ended up claiming victory was because of the additions to the defense — Williams being chief among them.
So, now with the Thanksgiving game against the Kansas City Chiefs on deck, the Cowboys have me believing once more. It’s probably a fool’s errand, and I’m prepared to get my heart broken again, but right now, I’m back on board. If Dallas somehow takes care of Kansas City this afternoon, it’ll be time to talk about who the Cowboys will be playing in the playoffs.
Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but I can’t help it. Because for a few fleeting moments, the ‘Boys might be back — at least in the eyes of this 22-year-old who remembers staying up late at 13, heart racing, wishing with everything he had for a Cowboys win. And maybe, just maybe, he can feel that magic again — the kind that makes you believe in more than a game, that makes you believe in hope itself.