Dallas Cowboys Week 1: The good, the bad and the ugly

Dallas Cowboys: The Bad

Last year, when a new regime was brought in, the excitement surrounding the hiring of long-time Rams’ special teams’ coach John Fassel was supposed to be a coup of sorts. In 2020, the Cowboys were average at best in all facets of this portion of the game.

This preseason, kicker Greg Zuerlein missed all of training camp recovering from back surgery. For some reason, it was decided upon to not bring in an actual kicker. Not only did that occur, but, by and large, the Dallas Cowboys spent an absurdly low amount of time on kicking in general.

As game time made its arrival, this rust showed up as well. Zuerlein’s first attempt was a badly missed snap-hook from 31 yards. Moments later, the Dallas Cowboys would score a touchdown, however, Zuerlein would miss the extra point. Later on, another kick, this time from 60 yards was also missed.

While that miss is excusable and Zuerlein did make amends of sorts drilling a should-have-been game-winning 48 yarder late in the game, the four points left off the board with the other misses could be looked upon as difference-making as well.

Why Zuerlein was not better prepared for the season opener or why another kicker wasn’t prepped just in case seems odd at best. For a team that could not afford easily correctable mistakes, this oversight bordered on egregious. Other bad things from game one would certainly include receiver CeeDee Lamb’s drops and the lack of a rushing attack.