WILL THE 2025 COWBOYS BRING THE WOW?

You ever throw up the X in your living room?Yeah, me tooAnd for the first time since Dez, I’m thinking… we might need to bring it back.

It starts with George Pickens.

Just roll that Pickens trade announcement and hit play on the highlight tape—you’ll see why I’m all in. Watching him go up for a ball feels like reading one of Newbear’s features, pure poetry—just like every year at Oxnard when Dez made the impossible look routine. I was never not in awe of the athleticism and sheer will he produced in every moment to do what nobody else could.

Now line up Pickens across from All-Pro CeeDee Lamb. Talk about catch radius. Talk about YAC.  Let's talk

about my latest nickname for DFW sports figures. The Double YAC Twins?

(Getty Images)

But seriously, will anybody ever bring the fire like Bryant?

No one—and I mean no one—brought sideline fire like Dez. From day one, he was raw and unfiltered. Pure emotion, fully charged. He was shouting, pacing, willing the team to believe in moments that felt lost. It wasn’t always clean, but it was always real.

Maybe that kind of electricity only shows up once a generation. Maybe we’ve been chasing that lightning ever since Dez walked out the tunnel for the last time. Here’s hoping the shoe fits for Pickens—and that he can find the same late rookie contract maturity Dez did, evolving past the headlines into a fully maxed-out X.

From day one of training camp, He didn’t just make plays—Him made moments. NFL Films captured it all—Dez going at it with Darrelle Revis and Patrick Peterson in year two. Two of the best corners alive, and Dez made them look somehow vulnerable to his superior skillset. 

He played loud. He played proud. And for every fan in the stands or on the couch, he felt like one of us. The crowd knew it. The sideline knew it. And when the heartbreak hit, he took it harder than anybody. He wasn’t wearing #88. He was living it.  Like Mike. He dreamed it. He did it. And he was never made cynical by the experience in a way that took away his love for the star. 

The 2025 Cowboys could use that kind of wow.

I wish I could say they need it like they need breath but the brilliance of Jerry Jones has built a business plan immune to three decades of postseason incompetence. That’s why Dez like wow is so important.  Players that cut through thirty years of cultural cacophony (I don’t know what that word means).  Stats are nice. Highlights are fun. But what lights up AT&T Stadium, what wakes up legends and calls fans back to the edge of their seats—is the spark. Who knows when the Cowboys will reign again, but with players like Dez you know you better have your popcorn popped.

Confession time. I didn’t always see it through the noise. Sometimes Dez’s fire felt excessive. I see the world different now, but no excuses.  I was wrong, he was right.  Now I get it. Guy just wanted to win and was not happy when the game turned for the worse. Just like George.

That kind of roar—that moment-making magic, where a punch might be thrown and feelings do get hurt—it creates a standard that when the team loses, it hurts bad. Jimmy knew that. Johnson always wanted those Cowboys to feel the sting of defeat and remember it.

It’s too easy in Dallas to relax and enjoy the NFL lifestyle.  Hell, the owners are doing it.

You not only need good players, but players who are good at hating losing.

So here we are, going into 2025, with the potential to have the right combination of highlight plays and losses-mean-bad-days.

If Pickens and Lamb light it up like Dez X 2, and the run game clicks under new coaching and newer runners, the offensive equation turns nuclear…….wait….what?

That gives me an idea.  I’m going to cut this here. Standby for what if "Schottenheimer is football’s…”