The simple truth is we controlled the game and were up by 17 points with five minutes to play. The Austin TD helped but this game was never in doubt.
SI had the Cowboys and Giants at 8-8 and the Commanders at 5-11 in August. ESPN predicted the Cowboys at 10-6 and the Giants at 8-8.
The point being, I don’t think anybody is really surprised the Cowboys got a win against the Giants, being a division rival.
It was a given that whether we won by 3 TD’s or by a FG, it wasn’t going to be a worthy win, even when most pundits were saying the Giants were better than the Cowboys just a month ago, and even when prognosticators predicted a win for the Giants leading up to game.
Cliche or not, it was only game 2 and something to build off of.
Agree. I said last week it was just one game, and I'll say it again this week. But it was against a division opponent and that ALWAYS ratchets up the difficulty. And a win is a win is a win. The board would've absolutely blown up had they lost.
Look around the league and there are maybe 2 or 3 seemingly dominant teams - LAR, Jax and KC. But you can put question marks by everyone of those teams. LA has looked impressive, but Arizona look atrocious and the Raiders certainly don't look very good. Jacksonville and Blake Bortles looked good yesterday and their defense is legit, but the question is whether Bortles is who he has shown to be or has had an epiphany. KC looks unstoppable offensively, but their defense, led by their prime FA signing, Anthony Hitchens, looks leakier than the Titanic.
Bottom line is we won't really know what this team is for several weeks, but that's true for just about every team.
I am not convinced the fan base learned much yesterday. The defense was playing against a horrid offensive line. Frankly I thought the Dallas defensive front allowed the Giants to stay in the game more than a massive domination. The offense had one good long pass and a solid drive at the end. But the opponent was obviously worse than Dallas.
I am enjoying the win, because at this stage, I think they might be few and far between this season.
As far as Dak goes, he was better than last week. But I don't know that anything but that deep pass to Austin would suggest he was remarkably better.
Still wait and see. And I do understand we as fans are seeing a patchwork offensive line, which means the defense focuses on taking Zeke away. (And any one of the Ramsey fans here who want to make the argument Zeke is not better, that comment would be made out of bias and not the fact this offensive line would have a difficult time blocking the sun with a tent.)
It's a win. Nothing more, nothing less.
You don’t have to guess. It was a win. If this coaching staff,especially the Offensive coaching staff can put our players in position to make plays they will start making more plays. The D has an extremely high ceiling. If they reach it they WILL be dominant!!( no Gregory suspension, Lee stays healthy etc).Wins are wins and all that, I know. Sitting atop the division is a good place to be.
But where does this thing really go from here? A couple of winnable games coming, and then the gauntlet begins. A bunch of high-octane offenses and/or good defenses await Dallas soon. A 3-1 start could offer fool's gold for a crash and burn.
This offense has to find itself, somehow, someway. I really don't know what to call, but they have to figure out something.
Unfortunately, last night looks to be about the best this offense can do against a reasonable or better defense. That. Whatever that is, which looks painfully frustrating. That game was begging for an easy 20-point cakewalk victory. It was just laying there to be had like a wounded duck.
The simple truth is, if not for a huge play in the first five minutes of the game, that game very well might have been lost. This offense has a very low ceiling, almost as low as the Giants'.
This will be the approach from every opponent until further notice. Just stack the box and play one-on-one against the wideouts. Occasionally, they'll get beat like BW Webb did, but most of the time, they'll be defending Zeke and quick slants. There's no real big-play threat to worry about.
Yes, I understand that will beat some teams. I'd say about half of them. So 8-8, 7-9....that's where this is.
The Giants are putrid. Their offensive line is a train wreck, and Eli is antsy as can be because of it. Barkley has to gain every yard all by himself. He's special, but he's not that special. Beckham is relegated to hitch routes and quick slants because there's no time for anything else. The Giants made a colossal mistake in drafting Barkely because as soon as they get their offensive line together, they'll be looking for a quarterback. That's a dumpster fire.
I can EASILY see the Giants at 0-7, so they may have a second shot at drafting a QB soon.
Meanwhile, this passing game in Dallas is just nauseating to watch. Dink, dink, dink, punt. The Cowboys were last in the NFL in 20-plus-yard plays going in, and that's probably still true.
Yes, the pass to Tavon Austin was beautiful. He shook Webb to the ground, then ran under a great ball. The first couple of drives were nice. But as soon as the script plays dried up, so did the offense. There is nowhere for Zeke to run. Even with Frederick, trying to run through 8-man fronts is tough to do with consistent success.
After that Austin beauty on the second pass of the game, it was 15 for 24 for 94 yards thereafter. Bleh.
Zeke added 78 yards rushing. So much for that run at 2,000 yards.
Looks like it's going to be the Beasley/Thompson/Austin show for the most part. Slot receivers, running backs, and tight ends. Quick, short throws. It's hard to march the field and score touchdowns with that. Not a single pass down the deep middle of the field. Some nice slant throws, and a couple of outs. Some nice high-school RPO runs. A little bit of Zeke flash every now and then.
And yes, that was enough to beat the Giants. Whoopee.
The defense is really fun to watch. It's exciting to finally see this franchise play some, at times, dominant defense. But that won't hold up against everybody. There are some ferocious offenses down the road that will require Dallas to put up 30 to win. You know, the real teams that will be in the playoffs.
Much needs to change somehow. I don't know what the answer is. I really don't think it's here.
Go watch that last drive,they kicked em in the gut good there. Didn’t see that spirit all last year.What I wasn't impressed with was after scoring 10 quick points, the offense struggled to sustain a drive the rest of the 1st half. I wasn't able to see the 2nd half but by the score, it wasn't much better I take it.
Well what happens when we fail week after week on onside kicks?The simple truth is we controlled the game and were up by 17 points with five minutes to play. The Austin TD helped but this game was never in doubt.
Well he didn't seem like he was shaken like he was last week. He did play much better but I don't think we'll know much of anything until midseason.I am not convinced the fan base learned much yesterday. The defense was playing against a horrid offensive line. Frankly I thought the Dallas defensive front allowed the Giants to stay in the game more than a massive domination. The offense had one good long pass and a solid drive at the end. But the opponent was obviously worse than Dallas.
I am enjoying the win, because at this stage, I think they might be few and far between this season.
As far as Dak goes, he was better than last week. But I don't know that anything but that deep pass to Austin would suggest he was remarkably better.
Still wait and see. And I do understand we as fans are seeing a patchwork offensive line, which means the defense focuses on taking Zeke away. (And any one of the Ramsey fans here who want to make the argument Zeke is not better, that comment would be made out of bias and not the fact this offensive line would have a difficult time blocking the sun with a tent.)
It's a win. Nothing more, nothing less.
Who on the schedule really scares you that much? A lot of the teams we thought might be stout look very human right now. I’m not saying Dallas is going to mow through this schedule, but they should be competitive in a lot of the games that people wrote down as Ls coming into the season and I would expect them to win some of those here and there if they can avoid the injury bug.
I think everyone understands that upsets happen. But I’m talking about games that people felt Dallas would have a tough time competing in, much less winning. There appears to be fewer of those now that we are 2 games in.For me since I am an any given Sunday type of fan, every game scares me. I tend to take no game for granted
as far as the missed tackles, I think it was more Barkley making them miss than them actually using bad form.Relax and enjoy. Last night looked like the rookie year Offense. Only difference is the running game wasn’t as explosive yet. If Dak can continue to find those 1 on 1s and get some deep passes it will eventually change the way teams down the road play us. Opening the run game up.
Dak looked poised and decisive. Got rid of the ball pretty accurately also. Missed Rico on a corner end zone play. Rico stumbled a little or may gotten it. We had a few drops from receivers. Dak is not going to have 400 yard passing games. Not our style but I was shocked he had that little of passing yards. But he had some good RPO runs. Had me fooled on a few and it was giving that DE fits. Go up to the line looking at him and fools him and runs right past him. Teams are so selling out to stop Elliot.
Now our Defense is real and will get better in a few weeks. They need to work on tackling. Should have had quite a few tackles for loss they missed. This Defense will keep us in a lot of games and maybe win a few for us.
Our new kicker did ok.
Our Offense will get better each week.