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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas — The disappointment from how the Dallas Cowboys‘ season ended will linger for a long time. Maybe it will last all the way until next postseason, should the Cowboys make the playoffs for a fourth straight season.
Nobody wants to hear about a third straight 12-5 finish or an NFC East championship.
But it’s also worth noting that a lot of good things happened for the Cowboys.
Seven players were named to the Pro Bowl and three more were added as replacements. Quarterback Dak Prescott is a finalist for MVP. Linebacker Micah Parsons is a finalist — again — for Defensive Player of the Year. Receiver CeeDee Lamb is up for Offensive Player of the Year.
A week after pointing out what went wrong in 2023, let’s look at what went right in 2023 for the Cowboys — while understanding you might not be ready to hear about the good.
Dak Prescott/Mike McCarthy partnership
Take away the playoff disappointment and there is no question the first season of McCarthy calling plays for Dallas was a success. How much it differed from the success Prescott had when Kellen Moore was the playcaller (2019-22) can be debated. But Prescott led the NFL with 36 touchdown passes a year after being tied for the NFL lead in interceptions (15) despite missing five games. Prescott completed 69.5% of his passes, a career high, while throwing for 4,516 yards with a running game that was subpar.
With Prescott and McCarthy entering 2024 in the final year of their respective contracts, both will need to be even better in the upcoming season.
Lamb’s ascension
Lamb set team records in receptions (135) and yards (1,749). He led the NFL in catches and was second in yards. He was named an All-Pro and is a finalist for Offensive Player of the Year.
He showed in 2022 he could be a No. 1 receiver when he took over for Amari Cooper. In 2023, he showed he is among the NFL’s elite. And now he is in line for a contract that has to make him among the highest paid at his position. He can hurt defenses from outside, in the slot, and even out of the backfield.
Each season his catches and yards have improved, but after what he did this season, can he really do that again in 2024?
A tasty cornerback
When the Cowboys lost Trevon Diggs for the season with a torn ACL in a practice prior to their third game, they had confidence in DaRon Bland. After all, he led the Cowboys in interceptions as a rookie in 2022.
But there is no way they could have predicted his 2023 success. He led the NFL with nine interceptions, two seasons after Diggs led the NFL with 11 picks. He was named an All-Pro, a Pro Bowler and a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. Oh, and he set a single-season NFL record by returning five of those interceptions for touchdowns.
He remains rough around the edges, but his ability to play the ball separates him from a lot of cornerbacks in the league.
They found a kicker
The Cowboys were criticized for not adding a proven veteran kicker in the offseason, but Brandon Aubrey proved to be the right decision.
He made the first 35 field goal attempts of his career, an NFL record, and missed just two attempts on the season. He led the NFL with 157 points. He did not miss an attempt from 50 yards or more all season (10 of 10). He set an NFL record with 99 touchbacks. And he has been kicking professionally for only three seasons, having spent two years with the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL. Maybe other teams should look to former first-round picks in MLS, like Aubrey, to find their kicker.
Ferguson’s Year 2 jump
Throughout his first seven seasons, Prescott had a security blanket at tight end with Jason Witten or Dalton Schultz. In 2023, Jake Ferguson filled that role.
After catching 19 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie, Ferguson had 71 catches for 761 yards and five touchdowns in his second season. He proved to be a threat down the seams. He made tough catches in traffic. He blocked well. In other words, he can do everything you want a top-end tight end to do. And he was added to the Pro Bowl as a replacement for the 49ers’ George Kittle.
The Cowboys hope their 2023 second-round pick,Luke Schoonmaker, can make a similar second-year jump in 2024.
