Cowboys Are 'Fake Super Bowl Contenders,' NFL Execs Tell ESPN

Maybe "multiple NFL executives,'' at least for the moment, have a point when they insist the Dallas Cowboys are not a legit Super Bowl contender.

ARLINGTON - On this particular Sunday? After a lot of talk and then a too-little/too-late 25-22 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals?

Maybe "multiple NFL executives,'' at least for the moment, have a point when they insist the Dallas Cowboys are not a legit Super Bowl contender.

Entering the weekend, it was my respectful opinion that maybe a reporter from ESPN was framing things in a way that would result in a bold and negative declaration about "America's Team.''

"I like Dallas' chances to make some noise in the playoffs,'' ESPN's Jeremy Fowler said Friday on Get Up. "But when I ask execs around the league, the words 'fringe contender' come up a lot.''

We can take the effort to slice up this 27-word analysis of the Cowboys, who entered Week 17 against visiting Arizona at 11-4, tied with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams for the second-best record in the NFC, but in control of their own destiny regarding keeping No. 2 while also chasing Green Bay as the No. 1 seed and a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

1) So Fowler "likes Dallas' chances''? This is oddly CYA; the reporter just got off the phone/text with multiple "execs around the league,'' and they told him - to a man - that Dallas isn't legit - and Fowler is willing to disagree with them?

That does not smell right.

2) "Make some noise in the playoffs'' is a journalistic trick of vagueness. What does "make some noise'' mean? Win? Lose? Lose valiantly? Win multiple games? Yell loudly? What?

I'll tell you what "make some noise" means: It means nothing. It's a prediction of nothing. You cannot find a bookie who will accept your bet that Dallas "will make some noise.''

That does not smell right.

3) While I am certainly not questioning Fowler's ability to text multiple NFL execs to collect their opinions, I would be interested to know more. Did Fowler text three or five or 10 "NFL execs'' to ask them specifically about Dallas' legitimacy? (I strongly doubt that.) Did he phrase his question in a way that would cause "multiple NFL execs'' to literally text back that Dallas is a "fringe contender''?

Fowler very specifically uses that phrase - "fringe contender'' - and claims that in his discussions with NFL execs about Dallas, those "words come up a lot.''

And I will dare to be harsh here: That's baloney. There is logically zero chance that more than one NFL exec, without prompting from Fowler, specifically used the words "fringe contender'' to describe the Cowboys.

I can almost guarantee you: "Fringe contender'' is the writer's phrase. Period.

But now? Dallas having lost and slipped from the No. 2 to the No. 4 slot in the NFC? 

Fine. If there are disbelievers, this is their moment.

Speaking objectively, there are still not very many 11-5 teams in the history of the NFL who came by their record in some illegitimate manner. On offense, the Dak Prescott-led Cowboys entered the weekend leading the NFL with 409.5 yards per game. And on defense, they had forced an NFL-high 33 turnovers.

But then came Sunday here at AT&T Stadium. And Dallas was not the better team.

Our suspicion here was that ESPN's Fowler does not represent some "movement'' of NFL execs who think the Cowboys are "pretenders.'' He more likely found one voice, one skeptic, and constructed his fragile "report'' around it. And why does all of this matter? Because "multiple NFL execs'' who share a lock-step opinion about an issue represents a movement worthy of attention.

And ESPN pretending it has unearthed such a movement, when it hasn't, is worthy of scorn.

Unless, of course ... the Dallas Cowboys just exposed themselves as being non-contenders.