The Cowboys defense and the biggest disappointments from Week 1

Week 1 was exciting in the NFL ahead of Monday Night Football. There were some high-scoring games, some blowouts and some close games that gave teams a chance to see how they’ll look in the clutch. With the excitement came the sobering reality that some teams didn’t have the week they were expecting. Here are the players, units and overall moments from Week 1 who were disappointments. The good thing is, the season is only one week in so there’s more than enough time to get back on track.

The Cowboys defense

When you look at New York’s final scoring drive, you’ll see a pattern. The first play was a swing pass to the running back, the next play was a halfback pitch into the boundary as well (left side of the offense) the third play was another pass to the running back to get a first down and the next play was (you guessed it) a swing pass that finally scored. That sequence of plays proved why the Cowboys defense isn’t as good as they were originally hyped up to be. The Giants went up 28-14 with more than eight minutes left, putting Dallas away. 

Dallas had some good moments on defense, but they couldn’t stop the Giants. Credit to New York for their offensive scheme and rejuvenation under John Harbaugh. This isn’t to say the Giants are bad, but for the Cowboys to repeatedly let the Giants abuse the short-side of the field isn’t conducive to winning. Dallas has 16 more games to correct their scheme and first-year defensive coach Christian Parker to get back on track.

Myles Garrett

The Los Angeles Rams went after Myles Garrett as a way to make this defense bulletproof. Instead, this defense gave up 27 points in the season opener, Garrett was a non-factor and now he’s out for at least for weeks for a surgery. We’ve all seen how destructive Garrett is as a pass rusher so for him to have not recorded a single stat is alarming. Clearly he was ailing with knee injury, but he was nonexistent in the season opener, that’s not what Los Angeles expected from Garrett. They also didn’t expect their defense to give up 27 points. 

Daniel Jones

Yes, Daniel Jones is coming off a torn Achilles, but he didn’t look anything close to what he should have, considering the Colts just threw $80 million at him this past offseason. Baltimore has a really good defense, but this was the version of Jones that got jettisoned in New York. That can’t linger throughout this season. He completed less than 50 percent of his passes with less than 200 passing yards while throwing an interception. The offense didn’t look good at all aside from Jonathan Taylor, which isn’t a good sign for the Colts at all. 

Bears pass rush

The Carolina Panthers scored 37 points and worse than that, Bryce Young was hardly under duress in the season opening loss to the Chicago Bears. Chicago refused to invest in their pass rush and it showed. It is not a winning recipe in the NFL to give up a lot of points and expect to be good. There’s no question their offense is good enough to run the score up on teams, considering they scored 59 points on Sunday. But they can’t remain complacent if they want to be real playoff contenders this season. Chicago recorded just two sacks in the win and five total quarterback hits.

CJ Stroud

CJ Stroud had the perfect opportunity to prove he’s a $60 million quarterback. He led the Houston Texans on a potential game-winning drive that reached the red zone on Sunday. Unfortunately, he never made it to the end zone after the Buffalo Bills recorded a strip sack of Stroud, ending the threat. Those are the types of plays Stroud can’t be making if he wants to be in the top tier of NFL quarterbacks. It’s just one game and it’s not fair to judge him on just one game. But in the NFL, as a quarterback you have to prove you can win in the clutch and Stroud once again proved why the Texans are complacent with stalling contract negotiations.

Los Angeles Chargers offense

The entire offense was bad. They had a few moments of success, but for the most part, it was a bad showing, considering the Arizona Cardinals aren’t trying to win. This should have been a tune up game, and instead it showed how bad this new-look Chargers offensive line looks and how long this season is going to be. Mike McDaniel joined Jim Harbaugh’s staff and it was a bad first week. Justin Herbert threw for just over 200 passing yards and was sacked three times. The run game was non-existent with Omarion Hampton as the leading rusher with 43 rushing yards (81 total for the offense). It can get better, but it was not a good start.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow