I might a little more objective than most because the Garrett tenure damaged my fanhood so badly that I'm not emotionally invested anymore... but I really feel like this team is fine. The Rams and Hawks are probably two of the best teams in the NFC, so losing close games to them isn't that bad. Losing to Atlanta would've been a disaster, but at least they managed to win that one no matter how ugly.
The truth is, this division is easily the worst in football, so the Cowboys will make the playoffs. Only question is can they get these things ironed out by December, and I think they will. This offense is going to be crazy good once the OL is patched up a bit. And I think the defense will at least be okay. There are some decent signs, really. Diggs is going to be very good, the corners will be back, and obviously Aldon is showing what a real pass rusher looks like. Maybe LVE's exploding neck will even return.
I agree that because the division is so shit the only thing that really matters is whether or not McCarthy has the team firing on all cylinders late in the year. I'm fairly sure 9-7 will take the division this year, maybe even 8-8, and I just can't imagine us not getting to at least 8 or 9. If by December these guys are still fucking up kick returns, missing XP's, turning the ball over 2-3 times in the first half, and so forth on a regular basis I'm going to be 100% out on McCarthy.
As far as the defense, I don't care what happens but Nolan and the rest of the coaches need to figure out some way to keep these fucks from giving up 400+ yards and 30+ points every week. If we can get Smith/Collins back the offense will put up 27+ at least 80% of the time, so the defensive coaches have three months to figure out how to keep the defense from shitting all over themselves every 5th play, whether that means dumbing down the coverages, letting Lawrence/Griffen play in a 3-point stance 100% of the time or whatever, I don't really care.
Like I said previously, not only is the defense in general a shit show, but the personnel isn't structured to where we're building something for the future. We aren't a young team defensively where the coaches are trying to teach them how to play in the scheme and we'll reap those rewards 2-4 years down the line. There are literally no long-term building blocks on defense aside from Diggs, LVE (if healthy) and maybe Hill/Gallimore. Maybe someone random like Anae turns into a building block but he isn't even playing at this point.
Almost every single one of Woods/Awuzie/Lewis/Thompson/Poe/Worley/Lawrence/Griffen and probably even Aldon/Jaylon Smith will be gone in 3 years, so just do whatever it takes to get the most out of them right now and fuck trying to build something for the future, schematically speaking.