Dallas Cowboys Emerging as Best All-Around Team in the NFC

Hyperbole and football analysis are common bedfellows. Sports are emotional, and we sometimes get carried away with historical comparisons and grandiose predictions based on minuscule samples. And in the football world more than anywhere, everything's bigger in Texas. 

That's why it should surprise nobody that the Dallas Cowboys—who now own the NFL's best record at 6-1 following a 31-21 victory over the division rival New York Giants Sunday—are starting to attract comparisons to the dynasty Cowboys teams that won three Super Bowls in a four-year span two decades ago. 

People are looking at quarterback Tony Romo, running back DeMarco Murray and wide receiver Dez Bryant, and they're seeing the famous "Triplets" from that era (Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin). ESPNDallas.com's Jean-Jacques Taylor admits it's "blasphemous to think it, let alone say it," but he can't help himself. 

"[Head coach Jason] Garrett played for those championship teams in the '90s, and he has built this team in their image," wrote Taylor. "And a new collection of Triplets has made the Cowboys contenders."

Bob Sturm of the The Dallas Morning News also finds himself unable to deny the similarities:

"

Those ’90s Cowboys comparisons always make me nervous. Clearly that was a dynasty which had to accomplish an awful lot before we got carried away with historical record. The style which the Cowboys offense operates now, it’s uncanny how it resembles the style of that (’90s) offense. It’s a run-first offense that is physical, not trying to trick you, but trying to maul you. It has a quarterback who is operating when called on with precision and a dominant wide receiver that will not allow you take a ball away from him. If you don’t squint and see a little bit of triplets, perhaps you’re doing better than I can. It’s uncanny. The style they resemble are those Dallas Cowboys. I can’t believe I just said that.

"

And Bleacher Report's Michael Schottey broke it down Sunday in contemporary fashion by concluding that—at the very least—Romo, Murray and Bryant make up the best quarterback-running back-wide receiver trio in the game today. 

As good as Jay Cutler, Matt Forte and Brandon Marshall are in Chicago and Aaron Rodgers, Eddie Lacy and Jordy Nelson have been in Green Bay, it's hard to dispute that. 

Romo leads the NFL with a completion percentage of 69.2. He ranks third in yards per attempt, fourth in passer rating and third in QBR. Plus, he's on fire. 

Metric	Total	NFL rank
Record	5-0	1st
Comp.%	71.6	1st
TD-INT	12-3	8th
YPA	9.0	2nd
Rating	117.8	3rd

Murray leads the NFL in rushing by a 371-yard margin. He just became the first back in NFL history to go over 100 yards in seven consecutive games to start a season, and he also leads the league with seven touchdowns. 

Back	Season	Yards
1. Jamal Lewis	2003	977
2. DeMarco Murray	2014	913
3. Stephen Davis	2003	839
4. Priest Holmes	2004	833
5. Chris Johnson	2009	824

And Bryant is on pace to eclipse 1,200 receiving yards for the third consecutive season after a huge performance against the Giants. He's made some gigantic catches despite near-perfect coverage in big moments in each of the last two weeks, which his second-half stats reflect.

Receiver	REC	YDS	TD
1. Dez Bryant	25	399	4
2. Golden Tate	26	397	1
3. Steve Smith	23	349	1
4. Jordy Nelson	20	324	2
5. Julio Jones	20	320	2

And this isn't a seven-game anomaly. Romo holds the fifth-highest passer rating in NFL history, Murray was the only back in football last season to average more than 5.1 yards per carry on a minimum of 150 attempts, and Bryant ranks in the top four in terms of catches, yards and touchdowns since the start of 2012. 

That alone doesn't make the Cowboys the current Super Bowl front-runner in the NFC, nor does their record. But when you've got a team with leading men like that and you throw in peripheral weapons like Jason Witten (future Hall of Fame tight end), Gavin Escobar (three touchdowns in the last two weeks) and Terrance Williams (ranks fourth in the NFL with six receiving touchdowns), you've got something special. 

That's before even taking the NFL's most talented offensive line into account. As Sturm notes, Dallas mauls you. For the first time in years, this is a run-first team that is limiting pressure (both literal and proverbial) on its quarterback. It's beating teams up in the trenches and then having assassins like Romo, Murray and Bryant deliver the knockout blows. 

Is the defense good? Not really, but it should get better as key players return. And this is the NFL in the 21st century. You can win without a top-notch D. Ask the 2011 Patriots, the 2011 Giants or the 2009 Saints. 

Year in and year out, some of the best teams in football—the Colts, Packers, Pats, Saints, Giants—contend despite their defenses.

Dallas keeps bullying opponents so successfully on offense that this team just might have the ability to become the next success story with a less-than-successful defense. It helps that the Cowboys have controlled the ball for an average of 34 minutes and 35 seconds per game, which ranks second in the NFL. 

Why's that happening? Well, the attack is balanced for once, and Murray is dominating. But you also have to consider that they've converted an unbelievable 57 percent of the time on third down. That's nine percent better than the next-best third-down team in football (San Diego). 

It helps that Murray is consistently setting them up with favorable down-and-distance scenarios. As Bill Jones of CBS 11 in Dallas/Fort Worth notes, each of the Cowboys' last 12 touchdown drives has started with Murray touching the ball. 

But even when Romo and Co. are in holes, they have been better than everyone else. On third down with 10 or more yards to go, they're 9-of-21, which makes them the only offense in the league with a success rate above 40 percent in those scenarios. 

Team	Conversion rate	3rd-and-10 or more
1. Dallas Cowboys	57.4%	42.9%
2. San Diego Chargers	52.4%	39.1%
3. Kansas City Chiefs	51.9%	36.8%
4. New Orleans Saints	50.0%	32.1%
5. Green Bay Packers	45.8%	30.4%
NFL average	41.5%	21.7%

Sunday, they were 9-of-14, including conversions on 3rd-and-8 and 3rd-and-6 in the second half. Romo was a perfect 10-of-10, and he's got a third-down passer rating of 157.5 the last two weeks. 

"I think a lot of it is the plan, and I think a lot of it is the execution," Romo said after Sunday's game, per ESPN.com's Todd Archer. "I don’t know what the numbers were today, but on 3rd-and-8 or 3rd-and-10, we were converting some of those. Third-and-3 feels the same way as 3rd-and-8 or 9 for us right now. That is a testament to everybody—the coaches coming up with a good plan and the players going out and executing that."

What that really says, though, is that the Dallas offense has been at its best when its back is against the wall. Romo was 9-of-9 overall in the second half Sunday, and his second-half passer rating of 127.4 leads the NFL.

Quarterback	Comp.%	TD-INT	YPA	Rating
1. Tony Romo	71.0	8-1	10.1	127.4
2. Aaron Rodgers	67.9	8-1	8.7	122.9
3. Andrew Luck	67.1	11-3	8.2	109.6

But it's not just about first half versus second half. The fact is the Cowboys continue to come up with big responses whenever it appears momentum is headed in the opposite direction.

That was the case when Dallas fell behind 14-7 midway through the second quarter Sunday. The Giants had just capitalized on a Romo interception and had scored two consecutive touchdowns, but the Cowboys responded immediately with a 10-play touchdown drive that ate nearly six minutes of clock and contained a pair of third-down conversions. 

And when the Giants made it a one-score game late in the fourth quarter, they once again responded with an extended scoring drive to put the game away. 

Same thing happened when Romo led a nine-play scoring drive right after Seattle scored on a blocked punt in Week 6. These guys refuse to be kicked when they're down. 

That might be the major difference between this team in recent editions. Because the thing is, while not a lot has changed in terms of the names, faces and numbers, everything has changed when it comes to timing, execution and mentality.

It's possible that in years past we failed to see how good this team was. The offensive line was still maturing, Murray had trouble staying healthy, and Bryant sometimes lacked discipline and consistency.

But now it's as though everything has clicked just in time, and we're looking at a team with the game's best running back, best receiver, one of its best tight ends, one of its best quarterbacks, its best offensive line and its best kicker.  

With the defense performing surprisingly well and likely to benefit soon from the return of key cogs Bruce Carter, Josh Brent and DeMarcus Lawrence, it's really hard to argue that anyone in this conference is in better shape than Dallas. 

The Seahawks might be the defending champions, but they've struggled of late and are just 3-3 after back-to-back losses. Plus, the Cowboys beat them up in their own house two weeks ago. 

The 49ers handed Dallas its only loss this season, but they're banged up, they're embroiled in controversy, and they've gone just 3-3 since that Week 1 victory. They barely survived against Philly, Kansas City and St. Louis and were dominated by the Broncos Sunday night. 

The Eagles have started 5-1 thanks mainly to a padded schedule and some heroics on special teams and defense. With quarterback Nick Foles struggling, they won't be able to sustain that success much longer. 

The Packers have four straight wins, three of which came in blowout fashion. They had some hiccups early, though, and are still vulnerable in some spots. 

The Cardinals are 5-1, but they lack firepower at quarterback and have hardly any offensive balance to speak of. They're averaging just 3.4 yards per carry and have yet to prove that they can go on the road and beat quality opponents. 

And aside from an impressive Week 3 victory over Green Bay, the 5-2 Lions have feasted on crummy opponents. Like Arizona, they'll need to beat someone half-decent on the road before we call them contenders. 

Nobody else in the NFC has a winning record. 

Metric	DAL	PHI	ARI	GB	DET	SF
Record	6-1	5-1	5-1	5-2	5-2	4-3
Scoring offense	5th	3rd	14th	4th	25th	16th
Yards/game	3rd	9th	28th	25th	24th	14th
Passer rating	4th	26th	20th	2nd	21st	12th
Rushing offense	1st	14th	26th	22nd	31st	11th
Turnovers/game	23rd	32nd	3rd	2nd	14th	8th
Scoring defense	10th	11th	5th	10th	2nd	20th
Yards allowed/game	15th	24th	18th	19th	1st	2nd
Passer rating against	12th	21st	14th	1st	2nd	8th
Rushing defense	17th	22nd	1st	31st	2nd	5th
Takeaways/game	7th	18th	5th	2nd	15th	15th
Categories won	3	1	1	4	1	0
Categories lost	0	5	1	1	2	1
Average rank	10th	18th	13th	12th	14th	11th

The Cowboys are at home the next two weeks with a chance to send a couple messages. They play on national television against Washington Monday night and take on another NFC heavyweight when they host the Cards in Week 9. Beyond that, it's a bye week and a London matchup with the one-win Jaguars.

This team could easily be 9-1 entering the home stretch. At that point, more of us may begin to come to grips with the notion that the league's most polarizing team might also be its best. 

For now, though, we'll give them the conference. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon