Stephen A. Smith is still hating on the Dallas Cowboys, but CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott got paid. And the Cowboys crushed the Browns in the season opener. But here are two Cowboys overreactions after the dominant victory.
It’s easy to see the biggest overreaction. It happens almost annually in Dallas. When the Cowboys have a big early season win, no matter who it’s against, the Super Bowl dreams rush to the forefront. All the problems seem to be solved and it’s smooth sailing into February.
Overreaction #1
Cowboys clinched a Super Bowl berth
Winning games in September count the same as wins in any other month of the NFL season. But McCarthy said there’s a different mindset about winning early, according to dallascowboys.com.
“I think September football is what the league experiences.” McCarthy said. “You don't have the time that you used to have as far as fundamentals, and things like that. But everybody's on the same schedule, so it's not as if one team has an advantage over the other. It's just something to be aware of and coach against.
“Regardless of September football, you gotta find ways to win,” he said. “You can't lose sight that it was a hell of a win for us. It's the first road win. A tough environment and a very talented football team.”
Is McCarthy building up hope for a great season?
It almost sounds like McCarthy is catching a ride on the hype train. Why would a September win be described with that dramatic sense? Only in Dallas, it seems.
But at least McCarthy saw the issues. He said the Cowboys need to shore up things with penalties, an area that has dogged McCarthy’s teams through the years. Against Cleveland they had 11 penalties for 85 yards.
“You want to play cleaner football,” he said. “We had way too many penalties. Who the hell wants to be part of a game that has 20 penalties? So we'll spend time on that. We'll make sure we're clear with our players on what's being emphasized. It's ebb and flow of every year, it's about corrections and solutions.”
But the overreactions are there. Dig a few paragraphs into a cnn.com story and there it is. One win and the quantum leap to winning the Super Bowl.
“There are still plenty of hurdles for the team to overcome, with the ever-watching eyes of owner Jerry Jones resting on McCarthy, but it was the perfect start for Dallas as it seeks to win its first Lombardi Trophy since 1996,” wrote Ben Morse.
Overreaction #2
Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is the missing piece
It seems so funny that the Cowboys hailed Dan Quinn as the great defensive guru who made the defense special. But now that he’s the head coach in Washington, suddenly he became a flawed coordinator and Zimmer rides in to save the day.
Now, it is true that Zimmer has different ideas about how to play defense than Quinn had. But it’s hard to anoint him as the team’s missing piece based on one game, although it appears Nick Shook of nfl.com bought in.
“Well, they sure did make a statement in Week 1,” Shook wrote. “Zimmer relentlessly dialed up pressure in the first half of this game, capitalizing on Cleveland's weaknesses at both tackle positions and short-circuiting their entire offense in the process. Dallas finished with a jaw-dropping QB pressure rate of 44.6 percent (25 total pressures), racked up six sacks, forced two takeaways, held Cleveland to 2-of-15 on third down, and limited the Browns to just 230 yards of offense.
It turned into a frustrating day for receiver Amari Cooper, basically a no-show against his former team. Cooper said he struggled all day, according to news5cleveland.com.
“Yeah, I mean it's frustrating,” Cooper said. “You always want to protect your quarterback, especially like you just mentioned, coming off of the surgery. Obviously he's been rehabbing well but don't want the quarterback to get hit too much. I think he got hit a little bit too much. So we just got to be better, and that goes for everybody on the team. Us as receivers, we can get into our routes faster and things of that nature.”
Cowboys had Browns on their heels all day long
The Browns averaged a mere 3.3 yards per play and were constantly facing third-and-long — the perfect situation for Micah Parsons to wreak havoc in the backfield. All of it was a product of Zimmer's group, who feared no one and proved it with their dominant performance.”
First, it needs to be said those stats are pretty awesome. But it came against an offensive unit in disarray, led by a failing quarterback who may not keep his starting job. Also, the Browns didn’t have starting tackles Jedrick Willis Jr. and Jack Conklin. That’s a recipe for disaster against a bad NFL defense. Against a good one, well, you get what Dallas got. The Cowboys should have annihilated the Browns offense. And they did. Great job. It’s Week 1. It’s not all on Zimmer.
It will happen again in Week 2 when the Cowboys defense likely embarrasses the New Orleans Saints offense. But where Zimmer could make hay, and change the narrative, is Week 3 when the Ravens and Lamar Jackson pay a visit to Dallas.
Follow Us
Subscribe
