All the latest news off the first Victory Monday of the season!
‘This ain’t nothing yet’: Cowboys rookie CB promises bumpy ride for opposing QBs after Week 1 lockdown – Todd Brock, The Cowboys Wire
There is no shortage of confidence with rookie Caelen Carson being a surprise starter for the Cowboys without DaRon Bland.
In his NFL debut, rookie cornerback Caelen Carson lived up to the nickname given to him at Wake Forest and was instrumental in restraining the Browns’ air attack in the Cowboys’ 33-17 opening day win. The dominant Dallas defense limited Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson to a meager 3.75 yards per attempt and a 51.1 passer rating on the day, looking nothing like a fifth-round DB making his first pro appearance.
“Honestly, I didn’t know how the first game was going to go,” Carson said after the win, “but I knew one thing: I wasn’t going to come in here scared.”
The 22-year-old more than held his own despite being matched up against five-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper, with Carson holding the former Cowboy to just 16 yards and breaking up as many passes- two- as he let Cooper catch.
And he nearly came away with two interceptions.
“I didn’t capitalize on my opportunities today,” the rookie confessed. “I think I played okay, but I’ve got to capitalize on the opportunities. That’s the biggest thing with a Cowboys defense- turnovers.”
Dallas Cowboys have another defensive star in LB DeMarvion Overshown – Jesse Reed, Sporting News
It was a long time in the making, but DeMarvion Overshown’s much anticipated debut with the team couldn’t have gone better.
Overshown had 11 tackles, six stops, one sack, and two quarterback pressures. His sack of Deshaun Watson showed off elite closing speed, which caught the quarterback completely off guard.
The speed he showed there was jaw-dropping, and it had people in the NLF community rightfully jumping out of their chairs. After the game, Overshown commented on his spectacular play.
“As soon as he [Watson] broke the pocket, he was mine,” said Overshown, per Cowboys reporter Patrik Walker. “He thought he was gonna be able to get a throw off when he saw me but it was too late. I had him.”
That’s an understatement.
Speed wasn’t the only attribute he was working with on Sunday. Now check out the pure strength shown by Overshown here on this run play.
McCarthy pleased with Cowboys’ win over Browns, but not content: ‘We’ve got work to do’ – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys are 1-0 for the second straight season under McCarthy.
“I think September football is what the league experiences.” he said. “You don’t have the time that you used to have as far as fundamentals, and things like that, but everybody’s on the same schedule so it’s not as if one team has an advantage over the other. It’s just something to be aware of and coach against.”
That September football, as he labels it, usually involves a bit of rust and that usually leads to mistakes, though most of the errors made by the Cowboys were in the realm of penalties and not actually giving up big plays on a regular basis.
But having finished the contest with 11 penalties accepted, costing them a total of 85 yards of field position, it’s something McCarthy has already begun stressing as the Cowboys turn the page to the New Orleans Saints in the home opener for Week 2.
“You want to play cleaner football,” he said. “We had way too many penalties. Who the hell wants to be part of a game that has 20 penalties? So we’ll spend time on that. We’ll make sure we’re clear with our players on what’s being emphasized.
Report: Dallas Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson has sprained MCL, will miss ‘some time’ – RJ Ochoa, Blogging the Boys
The Cowboys may be without a big weapon in their passing game for a few weeks, but avoided a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 with Jake Ferguson.
Monday morning brought official confirmation that Ferguson did not suffer a season-ending injury which is great news; however, he did sprain his MCL according to NFL Network and will miss some time.
In terms of recovery time, recent history suggests it could be anywhere from three to six weeks depending on severity. It is worth mentioning that the Cowboys have their bye in Week 7 so perhaps they want to ride things out through then to give Ferguson extra time to rest and heal.
In the meantime, the Cowboys will have to depend on second-year, second-round draft pick Luke Schoonmaker to man the tight end position. John Stephens Jr. and Brevyn Spann-Ford will also be important options in the offense.
Update: 11:30am ET
For what it’s worth Adam Schefter mentioned Ferguson is considered week to week.
Dak Prescott got paid, now he needs to deliver – Richard Paolinelli, Inside The Star
So far, so good for the new highest paid player in NFL history.
A Regular Season Titan
There is no arguing with Prescott’s regular season numbers.
The Cowboys have finished 12-5 the last five seasons. Over his previous eight years, he is 73-41 as a starter.
If he plays out this extension as the starter in Dallas, he’ll likely finish with all of the franchise’s passing records.
He’s already just under 400 yards shy of eclipsing 30,000 passing yards. He has 203 touchdowns against just 74 interceptions.
In the regular season.
And there’s the rub.
The Long Road Ahead
If Prescott thought the pressure to win a Super Bowl for the Cowboys was intense the previous eight years, he hasn’t seen anything yet.
Now that he is the top-paid player, nothing less than a Lombardi Trophy in his hands in New Orleans in February is acceptable. That comes with all of those new Benjamins in his wallet.
He can’t get to the Divisional round and promptly throw two first-half interceptions. He’s done just that the last two playoff games he’s played in.
Those interceptions handed the 49ers six points in 2022 and the Packers 14 points last January.
The First Read: Biggest surprises from NFL Week 1; who’s up/down entering Week 2? – Jeffri Chadiha, NFL.com
The Cowboys winning as road underdogs was a nice reminder to the league that they’re not going away quietly as a reigning division winner.
3) Dallas rolling through the Browns: It wasn’t that long ago that critics were decrying everything that was wrong with the Cowboys, and how all those issues would undermine this team. The roster had holes (a revamped offensive line and no real weapons on offense aside from All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb), while the drama in the front office (with lingering contract talks surrounding Lamb, quarterback Dak Prescott and star linebacker Micah Parsons) were supposed to cause crippling distractions. So much for those concerns. The Cowboys’ 33-17 win in Cleveland told us one thing that should’ve been clear from the start: This team still has more than enough to win in the regular season. The Browns’ stellar defense didn’t create many problems for Prescott, while the Cowboys received strong efforts from their own defense (six sacks and two interceptions) and special teams (a punt return for a touchdown by KaVontae Turpin). There’s no doubt the ‘Boys earned plenty of scrutiny by not being more active this offseason. That doesn’t mean they stopped being a good team. There’s more than enough talent for this group to return to the playoffs, especially with those extensions for Lamb and Prescott finally being done. The question they have to answer is whether they can finally do something with this bunch if they get there.
NFL Team Needs: Prioritizing Every Roster’s Biggest Weaknesses Before Week 2 – Scouting Department, Bleacher Report
Mike Zimmer and Al Harris seem ready to get everything out of their current defensive backs group, but even more names with experience could be available to help.
Biggest Weaknesses:
Center
Left Tackle
Running Back
Linebacker
2nd Cornerback
Add Now: CB Ahkello Witherspoon
As mentioned last week, the Cowboys could use some experienced help at cornerback with DaRon Bland beginning the season on injured reserve. Meanwhile, it’s pretty perplexing that Witherspoon is still available.
He’s had injury issues in the past but is coming off a season where he played and started in all of the Rams’ games and logged a career-high 14
passes defended. Also, the seven-year pro surrendered a meager 76.7 passer rating when targeted, per PFF.
So, this could be a situation where the stars align given the team’s need at cornerback and Witherspoon’s starting experience.
