As the Dallas Cowboys regroup from Sunday’s smackdown from the New Orleans Saints, players and coaches alike are reflecting and trying to figure out exactly what happened. We’ve already discussed who’s to blame and, in all honesty, not one soul on this team should be spared.
It takes a team to win and lose no matter how much load a few players may have from game to game. Here’s some news and notes out of Big D following the massacre.
Micah Parsons: Sometimes it’s good to be humbled
Cowboys defensive leader Micah Parsons spent his day off working at “Post Malone’s, Raising Cane’s restaurant in Dallas trying to forget about Sunday’s loss to the Saints. Parsons called the loss “humbling" but also added that the team is “restarting, resetting and refocusing” after that embarrassing home opener.
“The team this season is the newest and most diverse team I’ve ever been on and we’re really creating a new identity for ourselves,” stated Parsons. “For me, I look at my mistakes and it helps hold me accountable and push the guys throughout the week to get back to the basics and fundamentals, which is our priority.”
“You never know how many Sundays you have, so you always have to stay humble. After Sunday’s game, we need to restart, reset, and refocus and God always has a way of humbling. You never want to stay too high or too low, you have to stay neutral.”
DeMarvion Overshown: Rookie’s got the juice
DeMarvion Overshown missed his original rookie season last year due to an injury in the preseason. This season through two games Overshown has already made a positive impact on the defense but after only playing 18 snaps Sunday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.
"They want to get him out there more and recognize that he got limited, less snaps than they had planned on, and I think you'll see more of him in the future."
As bad as Sunday's game with the Saints was, the Cowboys could’ve used Overshown’s youthful energy to help stop the bleeding. One player certainly wouldn’t have turned that game completely around but for Overshown to get less than 20 snaps is criminal.
In his 18 plays against the Saints, Overshown had four tackles compared to Week 1 against the Browns where he played most of the game and had nine total tackles and the first sack of his NFL career. Although Jones shouldn’t have to say it, he’s correct in his assertion regarding Overshown’s playing time moving forward. Get Overshown on the field and let him run wild.
Mike Zimmer: Accountability equals growth
After Week 1, new Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer was the talk of the town with how the defense looked in Cleveland. Just a week later all eyes are on Zimmer once again but this time for the wrong reasons. Dallas’ defense was outplayed and outcoached at home against New Orleans and Zimmer knows it.
“Yeah, I talked to [the defense] for a while,” Zimmer explained. “We watched film together. We talked about things we need to do better, things I need to do better and we’ll just keep working on it. My first game here as coordinator was the Pickle Juice Game. I saw how to fix it after that.”
Coach Zimmer even took the blame for New Orleans’ six consecutive scoring drives which opened the game and put it out of reach early. He didn’t think it was a question of effort but put it all on his shoulders blaming the scheme.
“I don’t know that’s the case,” Zimmer said. “I think we got lined up fine. We were trying to move the front some, and they caught us a couple times, and when they were moving guys, so I’ve just got to do a better job. . . . I said, ‘I’ve watched you guys for over three months now, right? I’ve never seen us at one practice like that. I’ve never seen us [give up] plays in a practice like that.’ I mean, these guys, typically, they are on point and do everything the right way. They play very, very hard. They like to compete.”
Cowboys rumors & notes: Dak’s assessment
- Doesn’t think the offense was “pressing”
- Got better on third down
- Know it’s the red zone that needs to get better
"I can't say that we were pressing, necessarily, going from last week to this week," Prescott explained. "As I said, there's some things that we wanted to get better at. We got better at third down this week, but now it's the red zone. I think if we scored some touchdowns, it makes the defense feel a little bit better and it's a whole different feel within the game for both sides of the ball."