Dallas Cowboys To Feature On Hard Knocks

Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys on October 11, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. Tom Pennington/Getty Images/AFP

Dak Prescott got his mega deal this offseason and as a result the newly-minted Dallas Cowboys quarterback now heads into the 2021-22 NFL regular season amidst high expectations and under a whole lot of scrutiny, including those from the watchful lenses of the Emmy Award-winning series Hard Knocks.

HBO Sports and NFL Films have settled on the Dallas Cowboys for this year’s much anticipated docuseries which is set to air on Tuesday, August 10. It’s the third time the Cowboys are the subject of the series but the first time in 13 years.

“The Cowboys are one of the most storied franchises in NFL history and a team that elicits strong reactions from fans around the world,” Ken Rodgers, vice president and senior coordinating producer at NFL Films, said in a statement Friday. “Tens of millions of fans love them, but just as many people love to hate them. Either way, when the Cowboys show up people watch, which makes them perfect for ‘Hard Knocks.’

Dallas Cowboys NFL Schedule Highlights:

The Dallas Cowboys feature in the NFL Kick-off Game this season and will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 9 at 8:20 PM EST on Sunday Night Football.
After a Week 7 bye, the Cowboys will close out the regular season with 11 consecutive games.
The Dallas Cowboys will appear in five primetime games, not including FOX’s Game of the Week.

The all-access look into the Cowboy’s summer camp and preparations for the upcoming season will span over five-episodes and it could prove insightful in the betting, as America’s favorite team looks to bounce back from a disappointing 2020 campaign that resulted in a 6-10-0 mark and a third-place finish in the NFC East standings.

Mike McCarthy’s first season with the Cowboys last year didn’t go to plan, falling well short of the market expectations that were projected with multiple top-rates sportsbooks at the time and that had Dallas installed as the team to beat. Dak Prescott’s ankle injury in week 5 played a part in Dallas’ demise ultimately, however, the Cowboys didn’t look right from the start the season. Every aspect of their game was a struggle in consistency and they failed to win games from week 1 of the season that marked McCarthy’s coaching debut.

Prescott’s horrific ankle injury and his subsequent recovery are likely to be one of several main storylines of the docuseries and McCarthy’s second season as the head coach is likely to be another storyline. So too is the Dallas defense likely to feature as a focal point, considering they’ll be looking to improve in 2021 after emerging as one of the worst defenses in the league and in franchise history. The Dallas defense allowed 6,183 yards and 473 points last season.

If there’s one thing going for the Cowboys in 2021, it’s the fact that they’ve received one of the weakest NFL schedules. That could be a great advantage as they attempt to silence their doubters.

On the flipside, if there’s a knockback, it’s the fact that Prescott presents as a big question mark. It remains to be seen how well he plays following his injury and over the course of the new 18-week NFL season. It’s going to be a tough slog, especially considering that the Cowboys secondary still looks to be a problem and the O-line isn’t quite as deep as some would have it.

Then there are the questions surrounding McCarthy and his coaching staff. Whether he’s the right head coach for this team only time will tell. McCarthy added former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn as the defense coordinator. In Quinn’s heyday, he presided over the Seahawks defense which was undoubtedly one of the best in the league then. Since moving to Atlanta, he’s presided over one of the worst defenses in the league over the last five years as the Falcons have persistently underperformed in that aspect.

As per Bet365, the future odds for the Dallas Cowboys are relatively favorable. The Cowboys are tipped amongst the Top 10 contenders for Super Bowl 56 and they’re tipped inside the Top 10 in the NFC Conference – the latter of which is underlined by their top odds to clinch the NFC East title. Curiously, the season win totals for the Cowboys seem to contradict the aforementioned markets. What are NFL bettors therefore supposed to make of the Dallas Cowboys, when they are being knocked back and projected on a somewhat understated 9.5 win-total with the Under favored considerably?

Talk about hard knocks….

Bet365 Odds For The Dallas Cowboys in 2021