The Dallas Cowboys have won 12 games in three straight seasons for the first time in franchise history. There are plenty of teams that would gladly trade that level of success to what they are currently dealing with — at least when it comes to the NFL regular season.
Despite the regular-season success under head coach Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys have won just one playoff game in the last three seasons. It’s their lack of playoff success that leads some NFL analysts to question the franchise’s true motives for entering the 2024 season.
ESPN Analyst Blasts Dallas Cowboys’ Leadership
Dan Orlovsky has long been known as one of the most neutral league analysts across the league. The ESPN commentator has consistently been impartial from topic to topic, and it has allowed the network’s coverage of the sport to never be more popular.
If Orlovsky is questioning the long-term commitment of an organization, you know it’s not coming from a “hot take extraordinaire.”
“The Cowboys don’t really want to go be great,” Orlovsky stated on ESPN’s Get Up show. “They want to be relevant, and they want to be mediocre.”
"The Cowboys don't really want to go be great. They want to be relevant and they want to be mediocre."
—@danorlovsky7 👀 pic.twitter.com/RASk7nyMXt
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) February 29, 2024
The former Detroit Lions quarterback cited the team’s performance in the Wild Card round against the Packers as a reason for his overall opinion. Immediately following the game, Orlovsky stated that the team needed new coaching.
Except Dallas chose to keep McCarthy as head coach and altered their defensive coordinator after Dan Quinn left for the head coaching job in Washington.
“They are still a really good team. They are just committed to being mediocre,” Orlovsky explained. “They don’t have a desire to be great. If they did, they would have made changes after the worst playoff loss in the history of the organization, and they did nothing.”
The Cowboys are entering a major turning point this offseason. Quarterback Dak Prescott, McCarthy, and most of the coaching staff are entering the final year of their contracts with the team — a clear sign that the front office is waiting to see what happens next year before making a decision.
The one constant in Dallas, though, is one of the biggest reasons why Orlovsky believes the Cowboys are being run the wrong way.
“Players aren’t the star. Jerry Jones is the star. In Kansas City, it’s Patrick Mahomes. In Baltimore, it’s Lamar Jackson…in Dallas, it’s Jerry Jones.”
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Jones has been the owner of the Cowboys since 1989 and saw the franchise win three Super Bowl titles in his first decade with the organization. Since his final title, though, the Cowboys have had a 28-year conference championship-less drought that has spanned talented teams and strong quarterbacks.
Can “The Boys” finally end their title drought in 2024? It’s certainly possible, as even Orlovsky can’t deny the talent on the current roster.
But the one thing standing in the team’s way is their mindsight, and it doesn’t look like that’s changing anytime soon.
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Exactly what are they supposed to be doing during a time you can’t do anything beyond your own players? People are ignorant. Leaches using Dallas as clickbait for their own needs. If anyone cared what Dan or anyone had to say, they would not have to make up idiotic takes about Dallas to get attention.