DALLAS — Since they last played a game, the Dallas Cowboys have lost Tyron Smith to injury, Amari Cooper to a trade and Randy Gregory and La'el Collins to free agency.
And yet, Jerry Jones remains optimistic ahead of Sunday night's season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"I have to believe 1 and 1 is 3," Jones told 105.3 The Fan in his weekly Tuesday radio appearance. "I can't operate where 1 and 1 is 2. Now we all know it is, physically, but the 3 is where you have to go. You have to have optimism to operate out in that world and commit and do things when you have to count on 1 and 1 being 3. I'm not trying to play games, but that's where the biggest payoffs are, is out there. If it's there for everybody to grab at 1 and 1 is 2, you have to look for the best and look for the best outcome."
It's probably best Jerry doesn't show his work.
Most NFL prognosticators have the Cowboys between .500 and a playoff team, but not much of a threat to contend for a championship. The recent injury to Smith, who is expected to miss at least months, left the biggest question mark for Dallas, which brought in 41-year-old Jason Peters to help strengthen the line.
Perhaps only Vegas has a good amount of faith in the Cowboys, setting their season over/under win total at a lofty 10.5.
It's not all bad: The Cowboys still have no shortage of offensive weapons, namely a healthy quarterback in Dak Prescott and an explosive option at running back in Tony Pollard.
Receiver Michael Gallup is still recovering from a torn ACL, but he'll form a nice tandem with CeeDee Lamb.
On defense, the Cowboys still have linebacker Micah Parsons, who was one of the top defenders in the league as a rookie last year. Defensive end Demarcus Lawrence anchors a deep defensive line.
An optimistic Cowboys supporter - say, a billionaire oilman who's struck gold a time or two before - could see a glass half full.
A strong defense could stay consistent, or even improve; a fully-healthy Dak could take a leap into the top tier of NFL quarterbacks; and a speedy Kavonte Turpin could become the best special teams weapon in the league.
All of which could result, if that billionaire oilman is lucky, in some newfound glory hole.
His words, not ours.
