Everyone loves theme parks. Whether it is experiencing the magic of Disney, the studio power of Universal, or simply the thrill of Six Flags, people love theme parks. A big draw for every theme park is the experience. Each park capitalizes on what it does best and then adapts that to its audience. The perfect piece of a theme park is the ability to have something that appeals to people of all ages. That means theme parks have children areas as well as a large roller coaster.
Dictionary.com defines the words roller coaster as “verb- to go up and down like a roller coaster; to rise and fall”.
That is pretty much the perfect way to define the Dallas Cowboys season thus far. They have risen and fallen. They are putting together the dictionary definition of a roller coaster season.[heading]
Roller Coaster Rising
[/heading]The Dallas Cowboys began the season being ranked at number 6 after the preseason rankings came out. They immediately rose to number 5 after their week 1 victory. They had another rise from the number 12 slot going into week 6. After an impressive win week 7, the Cowboys jumped all the way up to number 5.
This can easily be attributed to the performance of two young budding stars on offense: Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott. We have seen time and time again Zeke produce while running the football. This opens up the passing game for the Dak Attack in the air. They both have been having extremely successful seasons so far.
Their success though really stems from the power of the offensive line. The line is incredibly strong this year. There are three current all-pro linemen and two others that want to live up to that standard of success. They are continually improving and showing to be the backbone of the success of the offense.
The defense has stepped it up recently as well. They have been able to hang with the best offenses and are led by Sean Lee who has 41 solo tackles already. The defensive line is being held down by Demarcus Lawrence who has 22 solo tackles and 11.5 sacks for the year. Both players are playing very well right now.[heading]
Roller Coaster Falls
[/heading]If only the ‘Boys could keep the highs. They have dropped in power rankings from week 2 number 5 to week 3 number 8. Then week 4 to number 9. Week 5 and 7 they were dropped to 12. After the high of reclaiming the 5-spot week 8, the Cowboys dropped to 7 week 9 and 8 week 10. Now they sit at the season low of number 13.
Dallas has also had the roller coaster of their season accompanied by the roller coaster of a legal battle with Ezekiel Elliot. It started with Zeke going to court with domestic abuse charges. He was found not guilty. The NFL still wanted Zeke to understand that the fact he had these allegations meant he was in a bad spot at some point, so they suspended him for 6 games. That suspension was contested and a back and forth battle began. Finally, going into week 10, the suspension began. He did not play against the Atlanta Falcons, and the team really felt it.
Zeke was not the only reason for defeat. Sean Lee got hurt after only getting 1 tackle against the Falcons, and Tyron Smith was injured at the end of the game against the Kansas City Chiefs. His replacement did not play well against the Falcons. Dak was sacked for a season-high 8 times. Whether that all falls on the performance of Chaz Green, who filled in for Smith, or because of miscommunication issues with a new person stepping, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the Cowboys offensive line did not perform like the championship caliber line they are talked about being.