Why it’s time to believe the Dallas Cowboys will break their 28-year Super Bowl drought

Do you believe the Cowboys will finally end the 28-year drought since they won their last Super Bowl title on Jan. 28, 1996?

They have their best team in years and their best defense since the 1990s dynasty years, when they won three Super Bowl titles in four years.

The field in the NFC is wide open with no big bad wolf at quarterback like Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady. There is not a dominant super team in their path.

Why not the Cowboys?

Why not this year? Why not now?

So do you believe? Or are you still a naysayer or a hater, as the kids say nowadays.

Deion Sanders, a Hall of Famer who joined the Cowboys as a transfer portal addition in free agency from previous Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers in the offseason to secure that last title, knows a little bit about proving nonbelievers wrong.

And now it’s the Cowboys’ turn.

Few people outside the team’s locker room believe the Cowboys will get it done.

Why should they?

The Cowboys have just five playoff wins in the 10,087 days between that triumphant day in 1996 and Sunday’s season opener at the New York Giants.

Legions of Cowboys fans have grown up never knowing the Cowboys to be winners. Their heyday and tales of lore might as well be Greek mythology to my two daughters, ages 22 and 18.

All they have known — related to the Cowboys — is mediocrity and disappointment.

So why will this year be different, especially with the much-talked about concerns regarding Dak Prescott’s turnover issues from a year ago and his lack of playoff success with just two postseason wins in eight seasons as Cowboys quarterback?

Glad you asked.

The key to Dallas’ Super Bowl hopes in 2023 is a dominant defense led by part-man, part-avenger Micah Parsons, who is the favorite to win NFL Defensive Player of Year honors this season after finishing runner up in 2021 and 2022.

After putting on one of the most dominant training camp performances I’ve seen by a front-seven defender in my 27 years covering the team, he is poised to be better in 2023

Parsons said he plans to wreck opposing offenses week in and week out.

Parsons is hungry for a title, and he is the new tone setter for the Cowboys.

So is defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, the mad scientist of a unit that finished 12th in yards allowed and fifth in points allowed last season. They were also first in turnovers for the second straight season, matching a mark only done once in NFL history by the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1972-74.

Quinn, who earned his chops as the Super Bowl coordinator of the Legion of Boom units in Seattle, believes his squad has the makings of the Legion of Doom in Dallas.

Parsons, who is a linebacker in name only, is expected to challenge for the NFL sack record. If he doesn’t get to the quarterback, a deep group of edge rushers will, including DeMarcus Lawrence, Sam Williams, Dorance Amstrong and Dante Fowler.

The only weakness on last year’s unit was the inability to stop the run, and the Cowboys addressed that issue in the draft with first-round pick, nose guard Mazi Smith, to help plug the middle with Johnathan Hankins and Osi Odighizuwa.

The deepest and most talented part of the defense is the secondary, thanks to a three-headed monster at safety in Jayron Kearse, Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson.

But the no-fly zone at cornerback — with the addition of former NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore playing opposite two-time Pro Bowler Trevon Diggs — is what’s going to take the defense to the next level in 2023.

Gilmore and Diggs, who has 17 interceptions over the last three seasons, are going to make quarterbacks hold the ball a tick longer, which should result in more sacks from Parsons.

This unit is the reason head coach Mike McCarthy screamed loudly that he was taking over the offense and the playcalling duties. He wanted to protect his defense. He knows it has the makings of a special unit, and he wants make sure it has every chance to be successful.

This brings us back to Prescott and the offense, which is decidedly more talented than it was year ago thanks to the addition of receiver Brandin Cooks and the expected improvement from a healthy Michael Gallup and a more mature Jalen Tolbert to supplement star pass catcher CeeDee Lamb.

The only issue is depth on the offensive line.

There are questions about Prescott because he threw 15 interceptions in just 12 games last year. That number should be reduced because of McCarthy’s offensive changes and the improved receiver corps.

A Prescott-led offense is routinely one of the best and most explosive in the NFL.

In the last two seasons, no team has averaged more points per game with their starting quarterback than the Cowboys, with a scoring average of 28.4 points per game.

The issue is his play in the playoffs with last season’s two-interception performance in the divisional loss to the San Francisco 49ers seemingly Exhibit A of what to expect.

Of course, the truth is somewhere in between. Prescott is not a playoff failure, statistically speaking.

He has a passer rating of 92.3 with 1,559 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions in six career playoff games.

And that performance against the 49ers came one week after he had the best playoff performance of his career and one of best in Cowboys history.

Prescott had 305 yards, four touchdown passes, one rushing touchdown, and zero interceptions in a wildcard win over the Buccaneers. He joined former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan as the only two quarterbacks in NFL history to have such numbers in a postseason game.

Prescott finished with a passer rating of 143.3, giving him the highest passer rating of any Cowboys quarterback in playoff history (minimum 20 attempts).

Prescott also joined Troy Aikman (vs. Buffalo, Super Bowl XXVII) and Roger Staubach (at Rams, Jan. 4, 1976) as the only quarterbacks in Cowboys history to throw four touchdowns in a playoff game.

Of course, no one cares because of the loss to the 49ers. But, beating Tampa Bay was a step in the right direction, as it was the franchise’s first playoff road win in 30 years.

Last year was also the first time the Cowboys recorded back-to-back 12-win seasons since 1992-1995 when they won three Super Bowl titles.

Consider it all a prelude to a break through in 2023.

It’s time to believe in the Cowboys reaching the Super Bowl again.