Cowboys’ weekly superlatives after Week 1 loss to Buccaneers

Offensive Player of the Week: Noah Brown

This is no offense to Noah Brown at all, but the fact that he is the Offensive Player of the Week is not a good thing for this offense. CeeDee Lamb was practically double and triple covered all night because the Bucs defense knew that what was behind Lamb wasn’t necessarily super threatening.

Regardless, Brown was one of the most consistent targets on Sunday and he took advantage of the opportunities he was given. On nine targets, Brown reeled in five catches for 68 yards. He accounted for 24 yards after the catch and four first downs. He led the team in receptions as well.

The wideout was also the highest graded player on offense based on PFF’s grading system, with a 69.3. He also had the highest passing game grade with a 68.7. These grades aren’t stellar, but he was far and away the best receiver in the game, and he should be given credit for that.

Runner-up: Dalton Schultz/Ezekiel Elliott

Defensive Player of the Week: Leighton Vander Esch

Be reminded, Parsons is not eligible for this award because he already won MVP, otherwise he would’ve won this by a landslide. The whole point of this is to give different players a spotlight. While Parsons stole the show, Leighton Vander Esch had a very good game himself.

After having a strong finish to the 2021-22 season, he built off that very well with a great performance Sunday night. LVE led the team in total tackles with nine, while also leading in solo tackles with six.

He fared well against the run game, with four stops and no missed tackles, while also succeeding in coverage. While he allowed three catches in four attempts, he only allowed eight yards. LVE graded out very well in coverage by PFF, posting a team-leading 84.4 coverage grade

Runner-up: Donovan Wilson/Osa Odighizuwa