Blogging The Boys
Two weeks of the new season are in the books, and the Cowboys sit at 1-1. Ironically, most fans felt more confident after last week’s loss than after this week’s win, as needing overtime to beat the Giants is hardly reassuring.
Right now, the vibes around this team are a bit of a mixed bag, and there seems to be good news and bad news through two games. Our own Tom Ryle and David Howman break down all the takeaways from this one.
Tom: The best news is that the team didn’t start the season 0-2. That’s certainly important, and hardly the only plus to take from the win. But there were some huge red flags that have to be acknowledged, and the biggest for me is how the secondary just completely melted down repeatedly. Russell Wilson completed long throw after long throw for a staggering 450 yards, with Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson accounting for 309, and Darius Slayton had the longest play of the game on a 52-yard catch. If this were a high school team, the entire secondary would have done nothing but run gassers the first practice of the week. Now we have to ask if they can fix this with the Chicago Bears next up at their place.
David: I have a higher opinion of Russell Wilson than most, so I’m not as concerned about it as you are, but it’s certainly an issue. Matt Eberflus builds his entire coverage scheme around giving up dink and dunk stuff but preventing the big play, and the Cowboys did the exact opposite of that in this game.
That said, it’s only Week 2 and they were playing without DaRon Bland. In many ways, guys are still learning the scheme, and this was a major teaching moment. You expect to have these moments early in the year; it’s a much bigger problem if it’s happening in November. I think it’s encouraging that this teaching moment came in a win, thanks to some great quarterbacking from Dak Prescott, rather than having to learn the hard way.
Tom: Well, that’s putting a happy face on things, for sure. The problem is that the issues were so egregious, and just kept happening.
A related issue is the pass rush, but it was not really terrible. They got three sacks. Most of the credit for that seems to be pressure up the middle, which is nice for a change, and the addition of Jadeveon Clowney shows they are at least trying to address the lack of a certain former member of the team.
The other major concern for me is the offensive line. Cooper Beebee’s injury means having to go to the depth very early in the season. These kinds of injuries are happening all over the league, as they do each year. But the offensive line is one of the most important factors for any success this year. This one bears a lot of nervous watching.
And for heaven’s sake, could...
