UCLA Bruins Osa Odighizuwa and Jay Toia could be in store for a wild ride with the Dallas Cowboys this season.
Football is the ultimate team sport as 11 men can get together, play in unison, and put in an all-time performance, and it won’t matter because their teammates on the other side couldn’t get the job done.
There are many Hall of Fame quarterbacks throughout the history of the NFL who have never won a Super Bowl because their defense could not show up when it mattered.
In the same breath, many top defenses never get a chance to show their skills in the playoffs due to poor quarterback play and/ or non-existent offensive production.
However, when it all comes together, teams reach ultimate levels of success, sometimes culminating in a Super Bowl victory, as in the case of the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles.
The Dallas Cowboys look to knock the Eagles off their porch as star defensive end Micah Parsons, a critical teammate of UCLA alums Osa Odighizuwa and Jay Toia, make a bold claim about the Cowboys’ expectations in 2025.
“Honestly, I see us having another 12-win season,” Parsons said during a Dallas Cowboys live stream. “That’s my prediction. 12 wins minimum. I see 12 wins,” Parsons said, seemingly looking at the team’s schedule on his phone.”
Parsons isn’t necessarily wrong, as he helped the team achieve three straight 12-win seasons under head coach Mike McCarthy, but the Cowboys will have a new head coach in 2025 in Brian Schottenheimer and a new defensive coordinator in Matt Eberflus.
The Cowboys, if they wish to reach 12 wins in 2025, will have to overcome their 7-10 mark in 2024, while the team looks to make many new players fit into a scheme that has yet to prove its success to the level the team can be comfortable at.
In order to achieve 12 wins, the Cowboys can only afford to lose five games. They play their NFC East rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders, twice next season, they play the challenging AFC West, including the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving, and they play both the Packers and Lions.
Not trying to say Parsons is wrong, but a lot needs to happen for his Cowboys to walk away from the 2025 season with 12 wins against such a gauntlet of opponents.