Cowboys Week 1 studs and duds: Dak Prescott injured in brutal loss

This was easily one of the least productive offseasons in Dallas Cowboys history and it only got worse when the regular season started. After scoring a field goal on their opening drive against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the ‘Boys failed to score again the rest of the night and dropped the opener at home by a score of 19-3.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, they lost Dak Prescott late in the game when his hand was hit by Shaq Barrett. Once the game was over, it was revealed he needed surgery and would miss “several weeks.” Let’s look back over the frustrating loss and see who stood out for Dallas.

Cowboys studs and duds from Week 1 loss to Tampa Bay Bucs

Stud: Dalton Schultz, TE

The wide receivers in Dallas were the strength of the team in 2021, but that’s no longer the case. Dallas traded Amari Cooper to Cleveland and didn’t retain Cedrick Wilson. Throw in the fact that Michael Gallup isn’t back from a torn ACL and James Washington suffered a fractured foot and it became an even larger issue.

That was seen from the start against Tampa Bay, but they did at least have one player step up as tight end Dalton Schultz caught seven passes on nine targets for 62 yards. Schultz continued to be a bright spot in this offense and on Sunday night, he was one of the few.

Dud: Terence Steele, RT

When Dallas released La’el Collins, they made Terence Steele the starter. He responded by getting called for four penalties in Week 1, resulting in an already bad offense having to continually move in the wrong direction.

The only solace to take from this is the fact that the team as a whole was again terrible with discipline, so at least Steele wasn’t alone. The Cowboys had 10 accepted penalties (granted Steele was good for 40 percent of the flags) which cost them 73 yards. Not great.