Did the Dallas Cowboys make a statement with their 40-0 thrashing of the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football? Just ask DeMarcus Lawrence.
“That’s for y’all to write,” Lawrence said postgame. “Only thing we do is go out there and play the game. If y’all feel like a statement was made, go ahead and put that mug on the front page, bold letters. I definitely feel like we did our job to the maximum of our ability. And I feel like we can still learn and get better from it.”
Pretty easy to read between the lines there.
A confidence-soaked Micah Parsons wasn't as obscure as Lawrence, but it's quite obvious the Cowboys' sent a message to the NFL.
It's nearly impossible to recap a defensive performance of that magnitude, but these three mind-blowing stats did that, and then some.
3. Dallas dominates player pass rush win rate
The Cowboys sacked Daniel Jones seven times, but the pass rush's dominance went beyond quarterback takedowns. Jones had no time to throw all night, as the entire Dallas defensive front lived in New York's backfield.
Per Next Gen Stats, Dallas had three players rank in the top 10 of pass-rush win rate for Week 1 leading into Monday Night Football. Dorance Armstrong, who finished with two sacks, was tied with Titans DL Arden Key for the top spot.
Dante Fowler and Sam Williams checked in tied for six, ahead of Defensive Player of the Year candidates Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt.
You have to think Micah Parsons is somewhere near the top 10, but the two-time All-Pro navigated double teams (by design) for most of the night that allowed his teammates to overwhelm their individual matchups.
2. Incredible Cowboys' pressure rate
According to Next Gen Stats, Dallas generated pressure on 23 of 37 dropbacks. That 62.2% percentage is the fourth-highest pressure right in the last four years.
Fans and talking heads have waxed poetic all offseason about the Cowboys' cavalcade of pass rushers and each one of them stepped up Sunday night.
Micah Parsons, Dante Fowler and Osa Odighizuwa logged six pressures apiece (!), while Dorance Armstrong and DeMarcus Lawrence added five and three pressures to the tally, respectively. In total, Dallas had eight players generate multiple pressures.
The Giants' offensive line is a work-in progress, but the general consensus was that the unit was improved this offseason. That might have been a reach, but don't use that as grounds to discredit what Dallas' pass rush accomplished in East Rutherford.
1. Giants' offensive EPA (expected points added)
It was obvious after the game's initial drive that the Giants would struggle moving the ball. What wasn't as clear, though, was that New York's would post one of the worst EPA's the league has seen since the COVID 2020 season.
Per ESPN's Bill Barnwell, the Giants logged a -.23.8 EPA, which is somehow barely better than the Broncos -23.7 EPA against the Saints in 2020 ... when Denver was forced to start Kendall Hinton at quarterback. That's a hair better than what the Broncos produced
A then-rookie UDFA out of Wake Forest, Hinton was thrust into action after a trio of Broncos quarterbacks -- including Drew Lock, Jeff Driskel and Brett Rypien -- were unavailable due to an exposure to COVID-19.
Essentially, Daniel Jones and the Giants offense were the equivalent to that, which is almost impossible to fathom given NY was fully healthy.
Back to the drawing board for Brian Daboll and Co.