Dallas Cowboys Overreactions: 'Plan the Super Bowl Parade' vs. 'Fire Everybody, Jerry!'

Plan the Dallas Cowboys parade route? Defend Dak Prescott because he's liked in the room? Compare Micah Parsons to LT? We are here now in a valley in part because the "America's Team'' overreactions are, as usual, overwhelming.

SAN ANTONIO - Just a guess, but it's hard to imagine that the overreaction to everything that happens with the Dallas Cowboys is the same in all other NFL cities and regions. 

Do Steelers fans decide after Week 1 that "KP'' isn't Kenny Pickens but rather "Kant Play''? Are they wondering where to build the Tua statue in Miami after the Dolphins hung 70 on Denver? Do Broncos fans call radio shows this week and demand Sean Payton be fired three games into his tenure?

Perhaps, but boy, the knee-jerking reactions to the Cowboys remains at the all-time high that we have come to know, love, hate and expect each and every season.

Just this last week people were ready to call the Dallas defense "Doomsday.'' (Yes, the Uncle Fish Store sells the shirts!) But at this moment? What an insult to those 1970's teams that helped lead the franchise to five Super Bowl appearances! What a slap in the face to the 1990's squads, three-time Super Bowl champs, that might be the deepest in NFL history!

Micah Parsons of the Cowboys

I heard a talk show host on an award-winning radio show in Dallas this past week wonder not if Micah Parsons would go down as the greatest Cowboys defender, but rather as "the best defender in the history of the NFL.''

What planet are we on, guys? This view is certainly not one based in reality. While Parsons has indeed been terrific, he's only three games into his third season and by his own admission has worn down in December. ... so he can be "on the Lawrence Taylor track,'' maybe ... but he's still in the starting gates of that track.

Meanwhile, in typical Dallas fashion, parade routes were being drawn up, fueled by the 70-10 scoring start. What happened in Arizona on Sunday is a sobering reminder that until proven otherwise, the Cowboys are still who we thought they were - at least those of us who deal in the real world.

The Cowboys are a good football team. They have capable players, an excellent scouting department and good coaching.  But ...

They have a defense with some fine players that can still be run on. They have an offense with some solid players led by a quarterback who looks elite about one-third of the time, mediocre one-third of the time, and awful one-third of the time.

In other words, Dak Prescott is a solid QB who needs everything around him to go right because he is not - the record increasingly shows - going to will his team to wins. He's a "C+'' or a "B-'' quarterback. ... and on Sunday he wasn't even that.

I don't want to "knee-jerk'' too much myself here. But if a prediction is required of me at this early stage? I say Dallas will compete for the NFC East, perhaps win a Wild Card game and then get dumped in the divisional playoffs - when QB's matter the most. 

They'll bring Dak back next year and tell us all the same things they always do. Most of us will overreact to the same things we always do. The crazy labels and silly monikers will get tossed about ... and history will repeat itself.

There are a handful of elite teams in the NFL. There are a haldful of horrible teams in the league. The other 24 or so clubs are all the same and Dallas is traditionally the poster child for that group.

Plan the parade route? Defend Dak because he's liked in the room? Compare Parsons to LT? The overreactions are, as usual, overwhelming.