When Quinnen Williams told Dak Prescott that he’d never been to the playoffs in his career. The QB, via team insider Tommy Yarrish, told the defensive tackle that he’ll get him there, now that he’s with the Dallas Cowboys. Prescott also told the media recently that the playoffs are a “minimum” for the team this season. However, others know better than to let their hopes for the team soar this high.

“Dallas Cowboys, they’re America’s team,” LeSean McCoy said on Speakeasy. “The funny thing is, like every year, we get to this point when we talk about the Cowboys, Dak says something, Jerry says something, right? And the truth is, they are an overhyped football team. That’s what they are.

“Last year, I wasn’t surprised by how the year ended. You trade Michael Parsons, you’re led by Dak Prescott. Where do you think your team’s going to go?”

Dallas made some wrong decisions last year; that much was clear. Some turned out great, like George Pickens. But the wrong calls poured cold water over Dak Prescott’s best attempts to take the team to a respectable finish. One would imagine that the (second) highest-paid quarterback would have a commanding record in the postseason. But Prescott and Co. have never been able to go past the divisional playoffs since the QB was drafted in 2014.

America’s Team has now become infamous for recording the fourth-longest Super Bowl drought, having last lifted the Lombardi Trophy in the 1995 season.

This troubling cycle of the Cowboys finding themselves at the doorstep of triumph has been running for a long time. Right after winning the Super Bowl, Dallas reached the 1996 postseason for the sixth straight time. But a loss to the Carolina Panthers that season kick-started a long series of woes for the Cowboys. They were in contention once again in the 2007 season with 13 wins, a figure that the team had last recorded in 1992. However, fans saw Dallas getting knocked out by the New York Giants.

The odds seem to agree, cautiously. The Cowboys’ Super Bowl odds climbed from +3000 to +2500 after the draft, per DraftKings. Not everyone’s sold, though, since Kalshi had Dallas at just a 4% chance to win it all as of May.

There’s a real case against them, as pointed out by PhillyVoice’s Jimmy Kempski. The pass rush looks thin after dealing away Micah Parsons, and James Houston is now the top returning sack man on the roster, with all of 5.5 from last season. Not exactly the kind of resume that strikes fear into opposing quarterbacks.

The secondary isn’t much of a refuge either. Cornerbacks got torched regularly last year, and the unit as a whole allowed a combined opposing passer rating of 109.6, the kind of number that tells you everything you need to know without much explanation. Not just this; there have been problems with the performance of the offensive line, tackles, and linebackers, and the list goes on.

Overall, even after making a defensive haul and having the second-ranked offense, there are still huge gaps to be filled.

Then, of course, there’s the schedule, perhaps the most cruelest aspect of all. The Cowboys have drawn an obviously more difficult one. According to Warren Sharp, it is the fourth-hardest schedule this season. It starts tough, with the Baltimore Ravens in Brazil in Week 3. Dallas then faces the Houston Texans on the road immediately afterward. The bye comes at Week 14, by which time the Cowboys are expected to be 7-6 (per USA Today’s predictions).

So where does that leave Dallas? They find themselves caught between high expectations and a really difficult schedule, along with a 30-year wait. Yet, this perpetual cycle of hype has less to do with their actual roster and everything to do with ratings.

The Media Monster that keeps Dallas relevant

The Cowboys remain the most massive media profitability engine in professional sports. Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989 and systematically turned it into the world’s most valuable sports franchise. During the Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson era, the Cowboys were building themselves into a dynasty and were successful in doing so. They had an arrogance to them that the great teams often do, that’s what pissed people off, but loved by the media.

All this happened at a time when the NFL was exploding in popularity, and the Cowboys were suddenly on TV every week and grabbing every headline. These men haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1995, but they’re worth $13B and generate $1.2B in revenue annually. It is the most valuable sports franchise globally, even though they have a win percentage of .533 between June 25, 1996, and June 25, 2026.

Honestly, Jerry Jones doesn’t run this business as a football team. He runs it as a source of entertainment. Dallas games consistently deliver the highest television ratings in the league. For example, the last Cowboys vs. Chiefs Thanksgiving game averaged 57.23 million viewers. It became the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history. Even during poor seasons, Cowboys broadcasts pull staggering numbers.

For example, in October 2024, NBC Sports drew an average of 23.9 million viewers across NBC and Peacock for a highly watched Sunday Night Football matchup between the Cowboys and 49ers. That number shows that performance and profit do not always move in lockstep. “America’s Team” functions as more than a nickname; it represents a brand that consistently connects the Dallas audience to the sport they love.