Cowboys How Low in SI Power Rankings? With Dak Prescott Injury, Dallas is 'Powerless'

Rankings like this should not be taken too seriously, especially when the NFL actually provides us official "rankings'' that we like to call "standings.''

FRISCO - Some of this stuff is pretty easy. Some of it - thanks to the Dallas Cowboys' Week 1 failings - make it more difficult.

Consider ... The Buffalo Bills came into Week 1 of the NFL season feeling like they were ready to do so many things right ... And then came a 31-10 victory at the Los Angeles Rams in which they did exactly that.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys came into Week 1 having said all the right things, even in the face of an offseason in which critics wondered if they'd done so many roster-building things wrong.

And then came a 19-3 home loss to Tampa Bay, a debacle capped by the serious injury and now surgery for QB Dak Prescott.

It was pretty common for observers to have viewed the Bills as being the class of the NFL, with an MVP quarterback and a loaded roster and a last-year's-playoffs motivation.. So, especially given their Week 1 successes on so many levels, it is the most natural thing in the football world for our Sports Illustrated experts to Power Rank them right at the top of the heap.

But what about Dallas? How far down do we need to scroll? Via SI ...

24. Dallas Cowboys (0-1)

Last week: Loss vs. Tampa Bay, 19-3
Next week: at New York Giants

"No Dak Prescott for roughly half the season on a team already primed for chaos? Good luck to everyone in Frisco right now.''

Now, we can pick away at this. It turns out all might not be lost with Dak. The "primed-for-chaos'' remark isn't exactly "straight-news reporting'' (though it's an opinion, again, that many spent the offseason predicting.)

And more picks: How is Dallas at 0-1 and with the NFL's worst offense ranked ahead of four teams with better records? And on the flip side, how is Green Bay - which looked positively Cowboys-like in a blowout loss to Minnesota - ranked sixth? While Minnesota is ranked 13th?

Maybe we should remind ourselves of a trio of things here.

1) Rankings like this should not be taken too seriously, especially when the NFL actually provides us official "rankings'' that we like to call "standings.''

2) Nobody. Knows. Anything.

3) Dallas deserves to be 24th, or 32nd, or 2 millionth - but that does not mean the "chaos'' has to last forever. Owner Jerry Jones' opinion at this moment isn't much-valued in Cowboys Nation, but maybe he's not wrong when he said, “It can be looking very dark for you and then it can go positive in an instant. ... We've got a lot of positive things we can do.”

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