Dak Prescott and Tom Brady dueled it out on Thursday night but the Dallas Cowboys came up short in a heartbreaking 31-29 loss. There are no moral victories in the NFL and this loss will sting until they take the field again next Sunday in Los Angeles.
Let’s get right into the top 5 takeaways from the season opener.
Dallas Cowboys: Dak is back
Wow, what a performance from Dak Prescott in this game. This was the first time seeing him on the field since week five of last season, and he did not miss a beat. Dak completed 42 of 58 passes for 403 yards and three touchdowns. His passer rating was 101.4. After not seeing him in the preseason Dak showed no rust and he was spectacular all night.
The Cowboys’ offense asked a lot from Dak in this game, throwing it 58 times which tied his career-high is something I doubt we see very often. Tampa has an elite rush defense which is why the game plan was to beat them through the air.
Prescott is truly one of the league’s elite quarterbacks and his performance in this game was all we needed to see. He is back and looks better than ever.
Dallas Cowboys: Special teams struggled mightily
This was a pretty abysmal performance from the special teams on Thursday night. Greg Zuerlein missed two field goals and an extra point, and in a two-point game, you simply can not have that happen.
Greg “the Leg” is officially a question mark on this team even after making his last two field goals, one to give them the lead with under two minutes left. He will need to perform much better next week if he plans to remain the team’s kicker.
The kickoff/punt teams were not good either. The Cowboys’ offense was consistently pinned inside their own 10-yard line. Also, the Bucs had multiple big kickoff and punt returns putting the defense in bad spots.
Special teams have been a problem in Dallas for years and this was not the start we were looking for. Special team coordinator John Fassel will hopefully correct these issues and start to get some positive plays from his unit.
Dallas Cowboys: Wide receivers are awesome
Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb made play after play for the Cowboys’ offense in the opener. Cooper finished with 13 catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns, while Lamb hauled in seven passes for 104 yards and one touchdown.
These two were targeted a combined 31 times in the game. Michael Gallup even chipped in four catches for 36 yards but left the game early due to an ankle injury.
We knew coming into the season that the WRs were going to be good and they performed as advertised. Despite the big statistical game from Lamb, he did not have his best performance. He seemingly dropped three balls and one ended up in an interception for Tampa Bay.
But, despite the drops, I have no worries about Lamb or any of these receivers. I still believe this is the best receiving core in the league and they must continue to play like it.
Dallas Cowboys: The cornerback situation is a major problem
The secondary had many question marks coming into this game and after Trevon Diggs, none of those questions were answered. Anthony Brown was bad in this game. Tom Brady found where he was early in the game and picked on him.
According to Next Gen Stats, Anthony Brown shadowed Bucs WR Antonio Brown on 73% of the snaps in the first half. Giving up 3 receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown. Including a long 47-yard TD pass from Brady to Brown.
I partly blame the Cowboys coaching staff for continuing to trot Brown out there despite his poor play. I would have given Maurice Canady or Nahshon Wright a chance in the second half.
With second-round pick Kelvin Joseph on the injured reserve to start the year. Someone else must step up and grab hold of the number two CB job, and they must do it now.
Dallas Cowboys: The state of the coaching staff
It may be unfair to use one game to assess the coaching staff but I think there were some key moments worth mentioning.
Kellen Moore had great game-calling plays. He was creative with the formations and did not rely on the run when he knew it wouldn’t work. He even called quick plays that would get the ball into our offensive playmakers’ hands.
Scoring 29 points in game one even with a few missed field goals is a good sign for the offense going forward, if the Cowboys can consistently score 30+ points per game they will be in good shape.
Dan Quinn’s defense looked shaky in this game, there seemed to be some communication issues between the players. Also, they gave up 31 points which are far too many despite facing one of the best offenses in the NFL.
The good thing was the defense created four turnovers which is something we are not used to seeing. Most times when you win the turnover battle you win the football game, unfortunately, that was not the case here.
For head coach Mike McCarthy, I was not thrilled with some of the in-game management. He fell in love with field goals despite the kicker have a rough night. He sent Zuerlein out for a 60-yard field goal which was short and gave the Bucs a chance for points before the half.
But, I was impressed by the team’s readiness for the game. They were not overwhelmed or afraid of the moment. They competed for all four quarters but as I previously stated there are no moral victories and they must turn these impressive performances into wins.