A look at how the Dallas Cowboys exceeded expectations this season

We’re not going to pretend to speak for Mike McCarthy and his players, a reluctance the Directors involved will certainly appreciate.

But since the Cowboys still have a few days to catch their breath and think about a 5-1 start, let’s make a blanket statement: This group exceeded expectations.

The organization will not agree to this, at least not publicly. You will be pointing to an off season of engagement, hard work, staff upgrades and personal improvements that led to this record.

That’s legitimate. But come on. No one outside of the organization thought the Cowboys would beat Tampa Bay to open the season, a game that lasted until the last two seconds before the World Champions took off.

That meant it took a five-game winning streak, with two of those games on the road to make it 5-1 goodbye. How did this group travel so far so quickly?

Here is a look.

Dak is back: Seven weeks ago the question was: how long will quarterback Dak Prescott take to regain the elite form he showed before a gruesome ankle injury that ended his 2020 season prematurely?

The question now: Who will rank in the conversation about the most valuable player in the league in front of him?

The idea that Prescott would take time to shake off the rust was void on opening night when he threw 403 yards with three touchdowns and one interception against the Buccaneers’ tough defense. He didn’t slow down.

Prescott was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week after throwing 445 yards – the most abandoned by a Bill Belichick defense – in the Cowboys’ overtime win over New England. He has completed 73.1% of his passes this season for 1,813 yards with 16 touchdown passes and only four interceptions.

A strained calf from a win throw against CeeDee Lamb in Sunday’s game brought Prescott to his knees and challenged his status for the team’s next game against Minnesota on Halloween night. But he has already overcome a complicated fracture and a dislocation of the right ankle, as well as a shoulder strain that prevented him from throwing for three weeks in training camp, and completely ruined his preparation for this dominant start.

Are you ready to bet that sooner rather than later he’ll get back from that calf strain?

Are you ready to bet that he will be less than what he showed in those first six games?

Dan Quinn’s extreme makeover: The Cowboys have hired a new defensive coordinator in Dan Quinn. The team used their first six picks in the draft – and eight picks total – on defense, while adding five more veterans that side of the ball in the free agency.

It was reasonable to expect that this extreme makeover would take some time.

The defense of Dallas is far from a finished project. It gave up too many big games and struggled in the red zone.

But this group, with their speed and pattern, unbalanced the offensives at key points in the game. First round pick Micah Parsons had a significant impact from day one.

The defense of the Cowboys has forced 14 ball losses so far this season. Only Buffalo has more. The defense has forced at least two turnovers in every game this season for 10 games last season, the longest active streak in the NFL.

Quinn’s clear communication and attention to detail made this possible.

“We talk to people about superpowers,” said Al Harris, the team’s defensive back coach. “And Q, my super power for him is that he does a great job, great work … bringing people together. He’s great at it.

“It’s firm when it has to, but super positive. It’s a long way for players and coaches. ”

Ezekiel Elliott returns to form: Ezekiel Elliott was driven this season to prove that ’20 was a deviation. Not critics, but yourself.

The running back is currently number 3 in the league with 521 yards, for which he needed a total of eight games last season. A defender who had to wait 10 games before breaking the 100-yard mark last season has already done so twice this season.

“I think he looked at his performance a year ago, his performance in the past, and I think he went back to some of the things he did at the beginning of his career,” said running back coach Skip Peete.

Elliott stormed 979 yards last season, the worst total of his cowboy career and the fewest yards since his junior year at Ohio State in ’13, playing behind Carlos Hyde.

The running back, in his words, went back to the lab to get better. He changed his diet and lost 10 pounds to hit the scales at 218, the lightest he has had since early college. He was working on its explosiveness.

Elliott’s average of 5.1 yards per carry is his best since his rookie season.

“It’s a little lighter,” said Peete. “He worked hard in the off-season to get in shape.

“That helped.”

The Rise of Trevon Diggs: Trevon Diggs had a solid rookie season.

But absolutely no one saw – or could predict – what he did to get this season started.

Seven interceptions go goodbye? Only three players in NFL history before Diggs picked up a pass in the first six games of a season.

The first was a cornerback named Tom Landry in ’51.

Harris played 15 seasons in the league before becoming a coach nine years ago.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Harris said of what Diggs did. “I’ve never seen anything like him before.

“He’s doing a great job, his anticipation and when all the stars have lined up where there’s a look, a breakup, a release, as soon as they line up, he takes off and goes and gets it.”

Any conversation about Defensive Player of the Year starts with Diggs right now. Joe Whitt Jr., the Cowboys’ passing coordinator, was asked if the sophomore understands the extent of his performance so far.

“I think, to be honest, the type of kid he is, I think he expects himself to be,” Whitt said. “I mean, we had a two day period at training camp where we had 12 picks in two days, and he had a lot of them. I think he had maybe four of them.

“He expects it. He is not arrogant about it. He’s not arrogant. He is very confident and I know that arrogance and confidence can be confused because they look very alike. But he’s a very confident player and a young player. There’s a lot about his game that we need to improve.

“But the ability to get the ball, it’s there.”

Experience David Moore and Robert Wilonsky, who jointly present Intentional Grounding on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) through the Super Bowl every Wednesday evening from 7 to 8 p.m.

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