As is common for the Dallas Cowboys franchise, a close loss to a solid team seemingly constitutes a victory — according to some of its fanbase. But there truly are positive takeaways that can be gathered from their defeat.
Opening up the season against the Los Angeles Rams, the Cowboys helped christen the new stadium and its multi-billion dollar price tag. The offense looked to be on point in its first season under new head coach Mike McCarthy, and the three-headed WR monster that is Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb proved their worth early on.
However, not all things are peachy in Dallas.
Defensive secondary is still a mess – like everyone thought
Byron Jones departed in free agency for the Miami Dolphins, and with it went the best cornerback that the Cowboys had. Jones had more than justified a monster free agency deal, something that the Cowboys were not willing to throw out there, hence why Jones traded in his blue for teal.
On the depth chart, Anthony Brown and rookie Trevon Diggs are listed as the top two options on the depth chart, with Jourdan Lewis and Chidobie Awuzie next up in a two-deep look. Those names are decently household, but outside of that, they are absolutely a work in progress that opposing offenses can take advantage of.
While allowing 269 passing yards is not a huge amount, giving up 8.4 yards per pass is quite a huge amount. 105 of those yards came on six catches by Robert Woods, and eight different Rams were allowed to catch at least one pass from QB Jared Goff.
The team’s next matchup pits them against a huge passing threat in the Atlanta Falcons and both Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley will get to run wild in the secondary – this defensive unit is going to be in for a long day on Sunday.
Offensive Line has a lot of work to do in replacing Frederick
With the sudden retirement of former Wisconsin center Travis Frederick due to complications of Guillain-Barre syndrome over the offseason, the Cowboys were left without one of the best centers in the league.
From left to right, the team’s current offensive line situation looks like this: LT Tyron Smith, LG Connor Williams, C Joe Looney, RG Zach Martin, and RT Cameron Erving. While that is not a bad unit by any means, it is still looking to get a sense of consistency moving forward.
This unit allowed Prescott to be sacked three times by a pretty stout front seven, but they were able to help Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard rush for a combined 136 yards on 27 attempts, putting up a 5.0 yard per carry average.
But they were inconsistent, and Prescott had to consistently make plays with his feet outside of the pocket because the OL let it collapse, showing that this unit is not quite where it needs to be at this point.
Facing a bit of an easier front from the Falcons this week should help give this unit a bit of a resurgence in what projects to be a shootout.
McCarthy looks to be in the right place – in an offense built for his talents
In Green Bay, Mike McCarthy was able to instill a West Coast-inspired offensive scheme for Aaron Rodgers and his plethora of weapons. And while the lone Super Bowl trophy in 2010 is all that McCarthy truly has to show for his tenure as a cheesehead, he did way more than stats and records show in Green Bay.
But after his tenure in GB came to an end, somewhat caused by his lack of willingness to change his play-calling and style, he was brought in as probably the best option to help catapult this offense to the next level.
And while it was only one game, McCarthy’s usage of Prescott and his weapons helped paint a clear picture for what can be expected moving forward – and it looks to be real, real nice.
Prescott attempted 39 passes, Zeke earned 22 rushes, and the trio of Cooper, Gallup, and Lamb earned 25 targets (securing 18 of them), showing that the offense is built to sustain many mouths that need to be fed.
McCarthy helped lead a Green Bay offense that needed Rodgers to get Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Jermichael Finley, and James Jones the ball in one season – he has experience in needing to make everyone healthy. And so far, this year looks to be a solid-looking year for the Cowboys, even if they did lose their first game.
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