The 2014 Cowboys had a lot of continuity on offense. Each of the team’s 11 main starters on offense started at least 11 games. Quarterback Tony Romo started 15 games, while running back DeMarco Murray, wide receivers Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams, and tight end Jason Witten each started 16 games. The sixth non-lineman starter was usually James Hanna who started 12 games, but even that sells the team short. Hanna played in all 16 games, but started only 12; in four other games, Dallas instead started off with either slot receiver Cole Beasley, third-string tight end Gavin Escobar, or fullback Tyler Clutts on the field over a healthy Hanna.

On the offensive line, Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, and Zack Martin each started 16 games and made the Pro Bowl; left guard Ronald Leary started 15 games, with the most major injury hitting right tackle Doug Free, who missed three games in the middle of the year with a foot injury, and the final two games (and both playoff games) with an ankle injury.

Things were only slightly hairier on defense. In the secondary, safeties Barry Church and J.J. Wilcox started every game, while cornerback Brandon Carr also played the full slate. Orlando Scandrick started the final 14 games of the year at corner after being suspended for the first two games of the year.

On the defensive line, Jeremy Mincey and Nick Hayden started 16 games, Tyrone Crawford started 15, and George Selvie started 13 games (but played in all 16). The most serious injuries came at linebacker: Rolando McClain started 12 games, Anthony Hitchens started 11, and Bruce Carter started 8 games. Of course, Sean Lee also missed the entire season after tearing his ACL in May.

If you sort the Cowboys roster by number of starts, the top 22 players started 318 games, or 14.5 games per play. That, as you might have guessed, was the most of any team last season:

Rk Tm Avg of Top 22 1 DAL 14.5 2 GNB 14.4 3 MIA 14.3 4 CIN 14 5 DEN 13.9 6 BAL 13.8 8 PHI 13.7 8 HOU 13.7 8 DET 13.7 10 KAN 13.6 11 IND 13.6 12 ATL 13.5 13 SEA 13.5 14.5 NYJ 13.4 14.5 BUF 13.4 17 SFO 13.3 17 STL 13.3 17 PIT 13.3 19 SDG 13.3 20 OAK 13.2 21 WAS 13.1 22 CHI 13 23.5 MIN 12.9 23.5 ARI 12.9 25 NOR 12.8 26 NYG 12.7 27.5 NWE 12.6 27.5 CAR 12.6 29 CLE 12.6 30 TAM 12.5 31 JAX 12.4 32 TEN 12.3

While Dallas looks pretty good in this analysis, it’s far from exceptional historically. Since 1978, 185 teams have had their top 22 starters average at least 14.5 starts.

The table below lists the top 56 teams (a 9-way tie at 48 enlarged a top-50 list) by this metric since 1978. I’ve also displayed each team’s winning percentage in Year N and in Year N+1, with Year N being the initial year in question.

Rk Tm Avg of Top 22 Year Win % N+1 Win % 1 GNB 15.8 1978 0.531 0.313 2 CIN 15.5 1988 0.75 0.5 3 TAM 15.5 2000 0.625 0.563 4 PHI 15.5 1980 0.75 0.625 5.5 KAN 15.4 2003 0.813 0.438 5.5 MIN 15.4 1994 0.625 0.5 7 NYJ 15.4 2002 0.563 0.375 8 DEN 15.3 1996 0.813 0.75 10 DAL 15.3 1994 0.75 0.75 10 RAI 15.3 1983 0.75 0.688 10 BUF 15.3 1980 0.688 0.625 13 SFO 15.2 2001 0.75 0.625 13 RAI 15.2 1990 0.75 0.563 13 HOU 15.2 1990 0.563 0.688 15.5 SDG 15.2 1994 0.688 0.563 15.5 RAI 15.2 1993 0.625 0.563 19 NYJ 15.1 2001 0.625 0.563 19 HOU 15.1 1991 0.688 0.625 19 HOU 15.1 1988 0.625 0.563 19 CLE 15.1 1986 0.75 0.667 19 HOU 15.1 1979 0.688 0.688 24.5 PHO 15.1 1990 0.313 0.25 24.5 HOU 15.1 1985 0.313 0.313 24.5 DAL 15.1 1983 0.75 0.563 24.5 DAL 15.1 1980 0.75 0.75 24.5 CLE 15.1 1980 0.688 0.313 24.5 ATL 15.1 1978 0.563 0.375 28.5 DEN 15 1998 0.875 0.375 28.5 PHO 15 1988 0.438 0.313 33 TAM 15 2001 0.563 0.75 33 WAS 15 1999 0.625 0.5 33 STL 15 1999 0.813 0.625 33 ATL 15 1981 0.438 0.556 33 BUF 15 1979 0.438 0.688 33 ATL 15 1979 0.375 0.75 33 DAL 15 1978 0.75 0.688 41.5 ATL 15 1998 0.875 0.313 41.5 TEN 15 1997 0.5 0.5 41.5 DET 15 1995 0.625 0.313 41.5 RAI 15 1991 0.563 0.438 41.5 MIA 15 1990 0.75 0.5 41.5 CIN 15 1985 0.438 0.625 41.5 WAS 15 1983 0.875 0.688 41.5 SFO 15 1981 0.813 0.333 41.5 CHI 15 1980 0.438 0.375 41.5 NWE 15 1978 0.688 0.563 51 CAR 14.9 2005 0.688 0.5 51 IND 14.9 2000 0.625 0.375 51 GNB 14.9 1989 0.625 0.375 51 NYG 14.9 1986 0.875 0.4 51 PHI 14.9 1985 0.438 0.344 51 NOR 14.9 1983 0.5 0.438 51 DET 14.9 1981 0.5 0.444 51 RAM 14.9 1978 0.75 0.563 51 MIN 14.9 1978 0.531 0.438

As you might suspect, these teams tended to fare better in Year N than they did the following year. While some regression to the mean is expected, these 56 teams had an average winning percentage of 0.640 in Year N, and then 0.519 in Year N+1. This is too general a study from which to conclude much, if anything, about the 2015 Cowboys. It should go without saying that “starts” are not a perfect proxy for “team health” and even if it were, “team health” is not a good proxy for “amount by which a team was helped/harmed by injuries.” But I did find today’s results interesting enough to share.