Inside The Star
The 2025 Dallas Cowboys had their season premiere on Thursday night. While it wasn’t a bust, it wasn’t a rousing success either.
Still, the Cowboys stood toe-to-toe with the defending champions and on their own turf.
The four-point loss on the road should give Dallas some hope for the rematch at AT&T Stadium in November.
With that in mind, it’s time to pass out the final grades for the first week of the year. Starting with an overall grade of C+.
Dallas didn’t win the game, and they do have some areas that need to be cleaned up going forward.
Here’s a look at the coaches, and the position rooms, from the season opener.
Brian Schottenheimer didn’t get the win in his debut. But remember, neither did Tom Landry nor Jimmy Johnson, and they turned out well.
So it’s still far too early to say if the loss is a bad omen or not.
The biggest noticeable difference between this year’s team and the 2024 edition is that this team came out ready to play.
They also came out ready to hit. On both sides of the ball.
Schottenheimer individually gets an A-.
His offensive coordinator, Klayton Adams, also draws an A- grade.
The Cowboys’ offense was far from predictable. Something that could not be said when Jason Garrett and Mike McCarthy helmed the team.
Dallas had plenty of pre-snap motion and, in the early going, stuck with the run game and held the lead on three different occasions in the first half.
One big complaint is that they went away from the run in the second half, throwing 18 passes against just nine runs.
On the defensive side, Matt Eberflus’ defense couldn’t stop a lady bug in the first half. To his credit, after the weather delay, he made some adjustments.
But he had to dial up the blitz to get any pressure on Jalen Hurts.
He’ll need to get his front four to step up their game going forward.
Eberflus gets a B- grade. That drags the coaches overall grade down.
Yeah, I know. Everyone and his brother was saying Prescott was the second coming of Tom Brady after the game.
Yes, he had a good game.
Yes, he looked good after missing nine games last year.
No, he isn’t the second coming of Brady. Let’s get real here.
Prescott was 21-for-34 for 188 yards. While he didn’t throw an interception, he also didn’t throw a touchdown pass either.
He threw two medicine balls to his tight ends that nearly got both Jake Ferguson and Brevyn Spann-Ford killed though.
He could have had three picks and probably should have had one at the very least. He has a defensive back with hands of stone to thank for not having that one pick.
Prescott did make a touchdown-saving tackle after Miles Sanders’ fumble that kept the Cowboys close.
But he needs to stop throwing the “Hero Passes” downfield when all he needs is...
