Memo to Dallas Cowboys: Embrace the journey as the journey is the reward

Welcome to the 2023 edition of the Dallas Cowboys and officially Year 28 since they won their last Super Bowl title.

The gargantuan shadow of the latter outsizes the former as it has every season since 1995 and it has continued to grow as legions of new Cowboys fans have grown into adulthood never knowing the Cowboys to be champions.

The five Super Bowl rings and championship tradition might as well be ancient Greek Mythology to kids like my daughter, who will be beginning her freshman year in college at Rice in the fall with the dismissive mindset of wondering what the fuss is all about.

And then there are those who care nothing about the beginning of training camp and the excitement of a new season and want to fast forward to the playoffs because nothing else matters except what they do in the postseason.

It’s similar to the anticipation and excitement of the Barbie movie . . . then being left disappointed when it came for final credits.

No one knows better than me.

I have had an up-close-and-personal view of all things Cowboys since the 1997 season, two years after their won the last of their three Super Bowl titles in the 1990s.

Four playoff wins have transpired under my watch to go along with seven division titles.

Twice the Cowboys have set a franchise record with 13 wins but there have been no trips to trips to the NFC title game, let alone the Super Bowl.

So I get it.

But what’s also true is that each season has been a story unto itself.

The battles with Bill Parcells and Terrell Owens, the Tony Romo fumbled snap, the Dez Bryant catch that wasn’t and lately, the past two seasons’ devastating season-ending playoff losses to the San Francisco 49ers.

Each year, the Cowboys must move forward and start anew.

Wade Phillips once said, “this is this year’s team, this is not last year’s team.”

So as the Cowboys begin preparations for the 2023 season with training camp in Oxnard, California this week, it would wise for the team and the fans to embrace the journey as the journey is it’s own reward.

There is legitimate reason for optimism that the 28-year Super Bowl drought could finally come to an end.

Will it happen?

I refuse to predict something I have ever seen before.

Members of the media are also prone to PTSD when it comes to the Cowboys.

But the Cowboys have as good a shot as any team in the NFC.

Coach Mike McCarthy taking over play calling and instituting what is now the Texas Coast offense should be considered a positive step forward.

Argue all you want about whether he is going to run the ball more. The man does have a Super Bowl ring as a head coach/offensive coordinator.

And according to the players, they have a better understanding of the offense and what they supposed to do, which should allow them to be more efficient, make quicker decisions and thus reduce some of the turnovers.

Speaking of turnovers.

Quarterback Dak Prescott is as healthiest as he’s been since before the 2020 and coming his first fully-engaged, full-participant, no-issue offseason since 1999.

So while many have chosen to focus on his uncharacteristic string of interceptions from a year ago, consider that Prescott could also be poised for the best season of his career.

The Cowboys, as an organization, showed some aggressiveness in the off season not seen around these parts in years with trades for receiver Brandin Cooks and cornerback Stephen Gilmore that have greatly upgraded the roster.

Cooks is the perfect complement to CeeDee Lamb at receiver and gives the most speed on the outside since the days of Joey Galloway and Terry Glenn.

Gilmore, a former NFL defensive player of the year, will team with with Trevon Diggs to the form arguably the most formidable tandem of cornerbacks since the 1960s when Hall of Famer Mel Renfro and Cornell Green, who should be in the Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor, manned the outside edges of the secondary.

They are part of a defense that might be the best since the Super Bowl teams of the 1990s when you add in all-world pass rusher Micah Parsons, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and the league’s best threesome at safety in Jayron Kearse, Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker.

Certainly, the Cowboys still have questions to answer, specifically on the offensive line and at kicker.

And the possible hold out of All-Pro guard Zack Martin in a contract dispute could wreck all of the team’s plans up front.

That’s not even considering a looming battle with Diggs over his money in the final year of his deal.

No one has ever drawn a straight line from training camp to the Super Bowl and for a Cowboys team hasn’t won in 28 years, it’s crazy to think that’s going to happen this year.

But know that they among the three most talented teams in the NFC along with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.

And while there will be a team that comes of nowhere to surprise, possibly the Detroit Lions or the Seattle Seahawks, this is a Cowboys team that should be a contender.

The journey begins now with the start of training camp.

Embrace it and let it be it’s own reward.