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After a decade of futility for this storied franchise, 2007 will see a return to glory for the Dallas Cowboys. In some ways this is the same team that lost to Seattle in the first round of the playoffs last year, but in some key areas they are completely different. This year they have a new coaching staff, are settled at quarterback for the first time since Troy Aikman retired, and enter the season with very high expectations.

Wade Phillips starts his first season leading the Cowboys with his key roster spots decided, most importantly at starting quarterback. His reputation as a defensive guru at San Diego is expected to breathe new life into a defense that faded down the stretch the past two seasons under former head coach Bill Parcells, with Parcells' failure to make adjustments late in the year receiving much of the blame.

Expectations are higher for the 2007 Cowboys than they have been since Troy Aikman retired. The team enters this training camp with no quarterback controversy for the first time in a decade, and has made upgrades in talent to a team that was one bobbled snap from advancing to the second round of last year's playoffs. And the NFC race is, as has been the case for several years now, wide open.

The Cowboys have an excellent trio of receivers in Terrell Owens, Terry Glenn, and Patrick Crayton. Jason Witten should have another Pro Bowl year. Julius Jones and Marion Barber will once again make up a dangerous tandem in the backfield, and the team has worked hard to upgrade the offensive line.

On the defensive side of the ball, an extremely talented group will benefit from Coach Phillips' looser, more aggressive style. Freed from Parcells' rigid style, defensive lineman Marcus Spears should have a breakout year. DeMarcus Ware and Bradie James will excel in a system that prizes speed in its linebackers. And Terrence Newman is on the verge of becoming one of the best cornerbacks in the game.

The key to the Cowboys' success this year, however, will not be the receivers, the defense, the new head coach, or the weakness of the conference. It will come down to the man who has only ten regular season starts and one playoff start on his resume: Tony Romo. Romo took the starting quarterback job from a struggling Drew Bledsoe midway through the 5th game last year and went 6-4 the rest of the year as the starter. The magic ended with a fumbled hold on a field goal attempt that could have given Dallas its first playoff win in ten years.

That bobble will not affect Romo in the least this year. The reason he won the job in the first place, besides obviously being talented and much more mobile than the statuesque Drew Bledsoe, was confidence, perhaps even overconfidence. Romo has a swagger that hasn't been seen around Big D since Deion retired. He is not the methodical surgeon Aikman was; he is much more of a gunslinger in the mold of a young Brett Favre. If new offensive coordinator Jason Garrett can harness that confidence and minimize Romo's mistakes, this team will make a very deep run into the playoffs this year.

Learn more about this author, Bruno Somerset.
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