LAST SEASON: 5-11, 5th in NFC East
PROJECTION: 4th in NFC East

	Coakley wants to go back to Hawaii.

STRONG SIDE

How 'bout them Cowboys? Well, the D looks good and Emmitt's rushing record will be a feel-good for the fans, but 6–10 won't get Dallas out of the NFC East basement.

LB: Want to know how the Cowboys finished next-to-last in sacks (24) but fourth in total defense? Just watch LBs Dexter Coakley and Dat Nguyen run around and make tackles from sideline to sideline. Both had Pro Bowl seasons in 2001, but only Coakley got a ticket to Hawaii. So what if they're both buffed-up safeties? These guys hit and pursue with as much gusto as any LBs in the game. The addition of former Jaguars OLB Kevin Hardy, who had 10.5 sacks in his 1999 Pro Bowl season, will improve the sack total and the overall D. Hardy, along with a better D-line, will also improve Nguyen's chances to make that Hawaii trip.

WEAK SIDE

QB: All the rebuilding Jerry Jones has done will be wasted if QB Quincy Carter doesn't develop into the Donovan McNabb-type runner/passer/ leader that Jones envisions. Jones paid big bucks to upgrade the D to shorten the field for Carter and hired Bruce Coslet to simplify the O. He also invested $3.1M in golden-boy backup QB Chad Hutchinson. Chad plays only if the Boys are in trouble. Problem is, that could be often.

NFC East

1. Eagles

2. Giants

3. Redskins

4. Cowboys

Scouting Report Index

OTHER UNITS

RB: With 540 more yards, Emmitt Smith will top Walter Payton as the NFL's all-time rusher. At 33, the work ethic and heart are still there, but Emmitt's more saccharin than Sweetness. He definitely hears the footsteps of backup Troy Hambrick, who averaged a Marshall Faulk-like 5.1 yards per rush in 2001.

WR: Longtime Bengal Tony McGee is an upgrade at TE. Joey Galloway (career-low 13.4 ypc in 2001) has to prove he can go deep again. Raghib Ismail's season-ending neck injury will give rookie Antonio Bryant the chance to prove a lot of teams made a big mistake by not taking him in the first round.

OL: Larry Allen is the best guard -- ever. If their intensity doesn't flicker, T's Flozell Adams and Solomon Page could become dominant bookends. It's not like they're not pretty good already. Dallas was No. 3 in the NFL in rushing offense (136.5 ypg) in 2001.

DL: Free agent DT La'Roi Glover (50 sacks the past five years with New Orleans) will elevate the play of the whole line, including DEs Greg Ellis (only 6 sacks in 2001) and Ebenezer Ekuban, who missed 15 games last year with a back injury.

DB: Perennial All-Pro S Darren Woodson (21 career INTs) teams up with versatile rookie Roy Williams. But for the whole system to click, the Cowboys corners, particularly former Lion Bryant Westbrook, have to stay healthy and get more physical.

ST: Who knows what P Micah Knorr (40.2 ypp) and rookie K Billy Cundiff will do now that long-snapper Jeff Robinson is out for the season with a knee injury.

This article appears in the September 16 issue of ESPN The Magazine.