{"id":30469,"date":"2025-08-14T14:10:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T14:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469"},"modified":"2025-08-14T14:10:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T14:10:57","slug":"breaking-news-dallas-cowboys-fate-rests-on-1-person-and-its-not-jerry-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS: Dallas Cowboys&#8217; Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It&#8217;s Not Jerry Jones)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564870-1.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564870-1.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564870-1.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564870-1.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Dallas Cowboys' Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It's Not Jerry Jones)\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p><em>Getty The Dallas Cowboys are coming up on a very important season for the team, and there&#8217;s one X factor on the team.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Dallas Cowboys are gearing up for what will be a hugely important season for the team. The Cowboys are \u201cAmerica\u2019s Team,\u201d so the fact that they\u2019ve suffered through losing seasons lately just isn\u2019t acceptable. This is a team that has fans around the world, many without even ties to Dallas, so they\u2019re expected to always be one of the strongest teams in the league.<\/p>\n<p>This year, the Cowboys are under a new head coach in Brian Schottenheimer, so expectations are high that he\u2019ll turn this team around quickly. One thing they have going for them is that their franchise quarterback, Dak Prescott, is healthy again, so hopefully he\u2019ll be able to play for the full season, unlike last season. So, who is the most important person to the Cowboys\u2019 fate?<\/p>\n<p>In a piece published on Wednesday, August 13, for ESPN, the publication\u2019s staff looks at each NFL team and predicts the win-loss record and X factor for each team. It\u2019s early to predict the entire season record, but they did their best based on ESPN\u2019s research and numbers. So, let\u2019s get into their prediction for the Dallas Cowboys, which is mixed.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Dallas Cowboys and the Team\u2019s X Factor<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_5453614\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?resize=150,84 150w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?resize=1024,576 1024w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?resize=782,440 782w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?resize=780,439 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?resize=425,239 425w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?resize=320,180 320w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229564747-1.jpg?resize=267,150 267w\" alt=\"Dallas Cowboys' Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It's Not Jerry Jones)\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5453614\" data-lazy-load=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5453614\"><em>GettyDak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys on the sidelines with head coach Brian Schottenheimer during the NFL Preseason 2025 game between Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the piece, ESPN describes their methodology for determining the win-loss records and X factors for each team. \u201cTo look at the bigger picture and just how good \u2014 or bad \u2014 every team could be this season, we turned to our ESPN Football Power Index (FPI),\u201d they explain. \u201cThe FPI projected win totals for every team based on 20,000 simulations of the entire season performed by our ESPN Research team, but to find a high and low, we picked out the middle 90% of those simulations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the Cowboys, the ceiling is 11-6, and the floor is 5-12. That\u2019s a pretty decent prediction.<\/p>\n<p>So, what\u2019s the X factor for the Dallas Cowboys? The one thing that will make or break the team this season, ESPN believes, is Schottenheimer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow ready is Schottenheimer for his first head coaching job? He saw his father, Marty, coach four teams, and has been an assistant coach in the NFL for more than 20 years,\u201d Todd Archer of ESPN notes. \u201cPlayers like the culture he has built so far in the spring and summer, but he will be counted on to make split-second decisions that will impact winning and losing, which ultimately will be how he is judged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He adds that Dallas isn\u2019t \u201ca typical team, given the attention they receive on an hourly basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Another Win-Loss Projection for the Dallas Cowboys<\/h2>\n<p>Bleacher Report has their own thoughts on how many games the Dallas Cowboys will win in the 2025-26 season. In a piece published following the draft, Moe Moton predicts a 9-8 record for the team.<\/p>\n<p>In the piece, Moton states that one area of concern is that \u201cMatt Eberflus is an established play-caller, but his unit could be short-handed on the back seven, leaving the Cowboys susceptible to passing attacks.\u201d He also predicts, \u201cDallas will start slow and battle for a playoff spot with an explosive passing attack late in the season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, both win-loss predictions are middle ground for the Cowboys, which isn\u2019t a bad thing. Chances are, no matter how this team performs this season, they\u2019ll out perform the last one.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dallas Cowboys are coming up on a very important season for the team, and there&#8217;s one X factor on the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dallas-cowboys"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING NEWS: Dallas Cowboys&#039; Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It&#039;s Not Jerry Jones) - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS: Dallas Cowboys&#039; Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It&#039;s Not Jerry Jones) - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Dallas Cowboys are coming up on a very important season for the team, and there&#039;s one X factor on the team.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-14T14:10:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sfaed23ew.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469\",\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS: Dallas Cowboys' Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It's Not Jerry Jones) - Breaking News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sfaed23ew.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-14T14:10:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-14T14:10:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sfaed23ew.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sfaed23ew.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BREAKING NEWS: Dallas Cowboys&#8217; Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It&#8217;s Not Jerry Jones)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking News\",\"description\":\"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\",\"name\":\"MrKen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrKen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BREAKING NEWS: Dallas Cowboys' Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It's Not Jerry Jones) - Breaking News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BREAKING NEWS: Dallas Cowboys' Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It's Not Jerry Jones) - Breaking News","og_description":"The Dallas Cowboys are coming up on a very important season for the team, and there's one X factor on the team.","og_url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469","og_site_name":"Breaking News","article_published_time":"2025-08-14T14:10:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sfaed23ew.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MrKen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrKen","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469","name":"BREAKING NEWS: Dallas Cowboys' Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It's Not Jerry Jones) - Breaking News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sfaed23ew.png","datePublished":"2025-08-14T14:10:57+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-14T14:10:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sfaed23ew.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sfaed23ew.png","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=30469#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BREAKING NEWS: Dallas Cowboys&#8217; Fate Rests on 1 Person (And It&#8217;s Not Jerry Jones)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/","name":"Breaking News","description":"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15","name":"MrKen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrKen"},"url":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30471,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30469\/revisions\/30471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}