When a team earns the top seed in its conference but loses its first playoff game at home, the disappointment makes for an agonizing offseason.
Dallas Cowboys, I know exactly how you feel.
I experienced that precise scenario after the 2000 playoffs, when our 13-3, No. 1-seeded Titans were upset by the Ravens in the AFC divisional playoffs. The game-winning play was a 90-yard blocked field goal return. It was a crushing defeat for our team that had narrowly lost the Super Bowl to the Rams in the season prior. We thought it was our destiny to return and win a title, but it was not to be.
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The Cowboys also were 13-3 last season and earned home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs before it all came crashing down in a gut-wrenching loss to the Packers. Dallas trailed 28-13 before it rallied to tie the game on a last-minute Dan Bailey field goal. But Aaron Rodgers connected with Jared Cook on a dramatic, 35-yard pass play with 12 seconds left, setting the stage for Mason Crosby's 51-yard game-winning field goal as time ran out.
How does a team recover from such a letdown? It goes back to work and tries to improve. That's what the Cowboys are seeking to do, especially on defense, by beefing up the pass rush and revamping the secondary that let them down in that playoff game.
The pressure is on in Dallas (as usual) for the Cowboys to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1995 season. That's a 21-year absence from the big game, which is way too long for the Cowboys' demanding fan base.
But as we told our Titans team after the Ravens loss, first things first.
Win your division — which won't be easy with an 11-win Giants team eager to supplant the Cowboys — and gain home-field advantage. Then concentrate on winning in the playoffs.
Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones, executive VP/player personnel director Stephen Jones and head coach Jason Garrett have to feel good about their offense, which remains led by a talented trio of Pro Bowlers in quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott and wide receiver Dez Bryant.
Prescott became one of the NFL's biggest surprises last season when the fourth-rounder took over for injured Tony Romo and delivered with a great season. He threw 23 touchdown passes and only four interceptions while also rushing for six TDs. As the fourth overall pick, Elliott led the NFL in rushing with 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns. Both rookies benefited from playing behind the league's best offensive line and with tight end Jason Witten, who caught 69 passes at age 34.
But the heat is on Prescott and Elliott to play even better in their sophomore seasons now that they've learned the NFL ropes. Opponents will be better prepared and more focused to contain them in Year 2. Elliott also has the extra burden of offseason issues swirling around him with a possible suspension from a domestic violence case and, just last weekend, an alleged bar fight to which he's been linked.
If Elliott is suspended for two games as speculated (and those first two games are rough, Giants at home and at Denver), then backup running backs Alfred Morris and Darren McFadden become more important.
Bryant has missed 10 games due to injury over the past two seasons, and the Cowboys are hoping he can be healthy all season and return to his standard 1,000-plus receiving yards and double-digit touchdowns, which would make the NFL's fifth-ranked offense last season even more potent.
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The biggest question marks are on defense. Dallas' top-ranked run defense was excellent with Pro Bowl linebacker Sean Lee leading the way last year, but the pass rush was average and the secondary a bit shaky. The Cowboys were No. 28 against the pass with just nine interceptions, but the numbers are skewed, as teams had to throw to try and catch up late in games that Dallas had under control.
Rodgers' playoff performance solidified the thinking among Cowboys brass that change in the secondary was needed. Four defensive backs departed in free agency as the Cowboys likely were ready to say goodbye to corners Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne. They also were looking to crank up a pass rush for which the leading sacker, Benson Mayowa, recorded just six.
Dallas drafted heavy on defense with defensive end Taco Charlton chosen in the first round and cornerbacks Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis coming aboard in Rounds 2 and 3. The young corners will join holdover vet Orlando Scandrick and free agent acquisition Nolan Carroll in trying to upgrade the position, but there could be growing pains early.
An intriguing player who could play a big role is linebacker Jaylon Smith, who was rated a first-round talent but fell to Dallas in the 2016 draft's second round due to a serious knee injury he sustained at Notre Dame. The Cowboys need him to keep progressing well so he can be ready to step in and help, especially since linebacker Damien Wilson's recent arrest for aggravated assault makes his future cloudy.
The first-place schedule the Cowboys were handed for 2017 is difficult. Besides its always-tough NFC East foes, Dallas faces fellow division winners Green Bay and Seattle at home and must travel to Atlanta. The crossover division is the tough AFC West, and Dallas will have challenging road games at Denver and at Oakland while facing Kansas City and the L.A. Chargers at home.
The younger players also have to learn quickly that since the Cowboys are such an iconic, high-profile team (which Forbes lists as the most valuable sports property in the world at $4.2 billion), they will always get an opponent's best shot.
So the Cowboys will be one of the Super Bowl favorites as they open training camp, but there are no guarantees that goal will come to fruition. Our Titans team in 2001 was picked by many to win the AFC, but injuries decimated our secondary during a disappointing 7-9 season. In the following season, we made it to the AFC title game at Oakland, and we fell in the 2003 playoffs at New England, so we couldn't get back to the Super Bowl and win it before our window closed as the team turned over due to age and salary cap constraints.
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The Cowboys’ window of opportunity is wide open now with an inexpensive, quality quarterback in Prescott. Elliott, if he can stay out of trouble, also should remain productive behind that great line, and he will not hit his big payday for a few more years.
As the Seahawks did in their Super Bowl seasons of 2013 and ’14 before they had to give big deals to Russell Wilson and the team's defensive stars, the Cowboys need to take advantage in the next couple years.
As always, it will be interesting to watch it all unfold in Big D.
Jeff Diamond is the former president of the Titans and the former vice president/general manager of the Vikings. He was selected NFL Executive of the Year in 1998. Diamond is currently a business and sports consultant who also does broadcast and online media work. He is the former chairman and CEO of The Ingram Group. Follow Jeff on Twitter: @jeffdiamondNFL.
