cowboys point/counterpoint: The direction of the franchise under Mike McCarthy

The first third of the season is done for the Dallas Cowboys. With a 4-2 record, they are in a good position, especially with the recent losses by the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. At this still early stage, they are in a group with those two teams plus the Detroit Lions, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Atlanta Falcons as the only NFC teams with winning records. The road to the playoffs is certainly open to them.

But it is hardly assured. They have a fairly easy stretch of games coming up, with three home contests in a row soon and only the Eagles looking like a major challenge until the final game of November against the Seahawks. Then they hit the hardest stretch of the season in December. The first six games were unfortunately very uneven for them, with three multi-score wins, two crushing losses, and one close victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. They are coming off a bye week in very good health. Hopefully they also will find some answers for some of the problems that have plagued them.

It all depends on what direction this team is headed as they return to action against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. David Howman and Tom Ryle disagree about whether that is the right one.

David: It’s easy to get caught up in the negative vibes that still emanate from that 49ers loss, but this Cowboys team is heading in the right direction. Yes, they lost to a bad team in the Cardinals; the 49ers just lost to the Vikings, and the Eagles lost to the Zach Wilson Jets. Yes, the Cowboys got blasted by the 49ers; the Lions got blasted by the Ravens the moment we all started talking about them maybe being the class of the NFC.

My point is these things happen, especially early in the year. You know what the Cowboys have also done? They blew out a Giants team that only lost by five to the Bills; they blew out a Jets team that put Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes in a blender; and they blew out a Patriots team (in historic fashion) that just upset the Bills. The NFC is wide open, and there isn’t a team in the league without at least one loss that was straight up bad – except for maybe the Chiefs, who have still had their fair share of ugly wins.