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Every week, we gather the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the Roundtable. This week we have David Howman, RJ Ochoa, Sean Martin, Brian Martin and Tom Ryle.
Before the game commenced on Sunday, Jerry Jones finally put an end to the Dak Prescott contract dispute and finalized the deal. What are your thoughts on the record-setting deal, and of the timing on the deal?
Moments before kickoff last Sunday in Cleveland the big news that surrounded Dallas all offseason finally came to a head. Yes, Jerry Jones and Dak Prescott finally put a stop to the speculation and made came to an agreement on a four-year deal. The deal came in as a $240 million extension, making this the most lucrative deal in NFL history. It came with a $80 million signing bonus and a 2024 base salary of $1.25 million. Again, there is a no trade and no franchise tag clause in the deal. Dak is now set to remain a Cowboy until March of 2029, by which time he’ll be 36 years of age, so in theory he could scrape one final deal before retirement. As it stands, Dak is the first player to average $60 million per year under his new contract, he also received the largest signing bonus in league history.
Tom: This was almost entirely predictable, at least in retrospect. Prescott was the next QB up, and he got a record-setting deal, which is just the cost of doing business. It went down to the last possible moment, getting signed almost as Dak was going out for warmups. We all know how “deadlines make deals” in Dallas. This was more extreme than usual, but still entirely consistent with the way the Jones family does business. They make a lot of salary cap noise in the media before finding a way to come up with the space. Now that one is off the table, and we can leave contract talk alone for a while. And the first one who mentions a certain pass rusher who is next up gets a wedgie.
Brian: While I was a little intrigued to see what Dallas’ QB situation would look like post-Dak, locking him up with a contract extension was definitely the right move by Jerry Jones and Company. I was a little surprised he received record-setting deal, but that just goes to show you what the Cowboys think of him and how hard his reps worked to get the deal done. As for the timing of the deal, better late than never and it seemed to give the entire team a little boost of energy against the Cleveland Browns in the season opener.
RJ: It feels like we have all said everything that we need to say on this front. I am of the mindset that Dak is one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. If you want to pay a guy like that, there are certain things that are non-negotiable. It took the Cowboys, as it always does, a lot longer than necessary to come to terms with that. Thankfully they ultimately did.
Sean: With this deal coming down so close to when Dak Prescott actually took the field and earned his first win of the season, it’s nice to be able to answer what was clearly the longest drawn out topic of the offseason with something related to the game. There just aren’t a ton of QBs that can recognize the blitz like Prescott did on his touchdown throw to Brandin Cooks, stand in, and deliver the throw. The Cowboys never looked back from that point and looked every bit the team that can compete for a high seed in the NFC again with Prescott as the focal point.
Howman: It’s about time. After all that, all the posturing and delays and talk of pie, the Cowboys gave Dak Prescott exactly what he wanted all along: a record-setting deal with a ton of guaranteed money. On one hand, I’m glad they actually got it done, as I had resigned myself to the notion that it wouldn’t happen. On the other hand, it’s ridiculous that it took this long and would be considered malpractice by any other team that isn’t run by the owner and his son. My hope would be that they learn from this and are proactive with Micah Parsons, but I may be holding my breath until I’m blue in the face.
The Cowboys put on a clinic in Ohio and stomped the Cleveland Browns into a 33-17 victory on the road. What are two big positive takeaways from the game that you saw?
The season opening game couldn’t have gone any better for Dallas. The defensive display the Cowboys put on was so dominant that Cleveland fans could be heard booing from the stands for most of the second half. Dak came out to lead the offense and hit Brandin Cooks with a beautiful pass to take an early lead. Then Ezekiel Elliott reopened his Cowboys account scoring the next touchdown. The best play of the day came from KaVontae Turpin on a punt return. He had come close last year a few times to breaking a score and n special teams, this year he didn’t have to wait long.
But the Cowboys defense stole the show completely demoralizing the Cleveland offense and put Deshaun Watson to shame, who could barely initiate drives.
Tom: I’m glad I got to jump in first on this, because I get the low-hanging fruit. First is that Mike Zimmer has the defense roaring. While the Browns got some points in the second half, the Cowboys completely shut them down in the first, only allowing 56 yards and one first down before intermission. Micah Parsons was a force, but DeMarcus Lawrence was step for step with him while Eric Kendricks and DeMarvion Overshown were making tackles everywhere, and Kendricks and Trevon Diggs both picked off passes. The only note of concern here is that this may have been as much about Deshaun Watson not playing well as anything.
The other big plus was that the running back by committee went just fine, led by Ezekiel Elliott, who looked at times like he was 25 again. However, the offense as a whole seemed to take their foot off the gas after KaVontae Turpin basically put the game away with his scintillating punt return TD. They only mustered 26 yards on the ground after halftime, giving us something to consider for next week.
Brian: My two positive takeaways was how well the Dallas Cowboys played in all three phases of the game (offense, defense, special teams) and how good a lot of their first- and second-year players looked. Both the running and passing game showed a lot of promise against a good defense, Mike Zimmer’s defensive scheme looks legit, and Brandon Aubrey and KaVonte Turpin look like game-changing weapons on special teams. Then there’s how well Tyler Guyton, Cooper Beebe, Caelen Carson, and DeMarvion Overshown played and that’s a lot of positive things that can be taken away from how the regular-season has started for the Dallas Cowboys.
RJ: My first is that the Cowboys were comfortable putting the game on ice and not trying for style points once things got out of hand. We always want to see the most everything possible, but they cannot avenge the playoff loss by putting on a show in the second half of Week 1. That they took their foot off of the gas shows that they know how good of a team they are and are willing to live for the next day. Secondly, that CeeDee Lamb looked so good while missing all of the time that he did remains impossible. He is one of one.
Sean: Everybody is going to want to single out this player or that one on the defensive side of the ball to point out how dominant of a team effort it was in Mike Zimmer’s debut, but I’ll go with the bigger picture of his scheme as my first takeaway. The Cowboys weren’t flying upfield and abandoning run lanes like they did at times under Quinn, they stayed disciplined and made the Browns earn every yard. There aren’t going to be many offensive coordinators feeling great about having to prepare for this defense on a weekly basis.
On offense, it was a pleasant surprise how Ezekiel Elliott looked. The stats weren’t gaudy even with ample opportunity for Dallas to run the ball in the second half to close the game, something they didn’t really do. It was not all that long ago at all when most of us were resigned to the fact Elliott would be just a short yardage or goal line back in his return. Instead he looked like he can help this committee approach surprise teams and provide a different look alongside Rico Dowdle.
Howman: I’ll go ahead and list the two things I was most worried about in this game, which turned out to be non-issues, and that’s pass protection and run defense. Myles Garrett got a few wins, but he was far from the game-wrecker we know he can be. That’s a testament to this offensive line, as well as the way Mike McCarthy called the game to help out rookies Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe. On the other side, the Browns’ usually-strong run game never got going, a really positive first sign for a run defense that struggled all too often last year.
This weekend the Cowboys take on the New Orleans Saints for the season home opener. What is the biggest key to victory against the Saints, who scored 47 points last week?
It’s onto Week 2 which sees the Dallas Cowboys at home for the first time this season. The game commences at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. The Saints are coming off a 47-10 win against the Carolina Panthers last week. The last time the Cowboys and Saints met was in December 2021, the Cowboys won 27-17. Historically the Cowboys lead the series between the teams 18-13-0. Last season, the Cowboys never lost a regular-season game at home, in fact, the last regular-season home game loss was in Week 1 of the 2022 season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tom: To play a complete game. The big win in Week 1 was clearly a tale of two halves, with the foot seeming to come off the gas once they had a very comfortable 27-3 lead. That is understandable, but this week is a different story. Derek Carr certainly looked like a far superior QB to Watson in the Saint’s thrashing of the Panthers, and they put up 180 yards on the ground. Dallas has to play a complete game to get a win in their home opener. Also, they certainly can’t afford another eleven penalty game.
Brian: I think the key to victory in the Week 2 matchup with the New Orleans Saints is to win in all three phases of the game once again like they did in the season opener against the Cleveland Browns. The Cowboys will be entering their home opener with a lot of confidence after dominating the Browns in Week 1 and should get an extra boost of energy from their hometown crowd. If there is one area that can really sway the game in the Cowboys favor, it’s probably Micah Parsons and Dallas’ pass rush flustering Derek Carr, hopefully causing him to make a mistake or two.
RJ: Ultimately I think generating consistent pressure on anyone is the key to victory. The Cowboys appear to have not lost much of a step at all on defense so keeping New Orleans in check will help everything else around it sort out.
Sean: My only firm takeaway so far from the Saints drubbing of the Panthers is that Carolina should expect another long season. It is hard to know how good they are, but Browns fans will likely want to say the same if they’re seeing the hype around a Cowboys team that just beat them without either starting tackle or Nick Chubb. The Cowboys need to play like the team they were at home last year on offense, and remain competitive in the secondary on defense to not allow Derek Carr to throw the ball over their heads. If they do so, the Cowboys could be looking at a second straight 2-0 start against much more quality opponents than 2023.
Howman: The biggest key for this game is having a plan to move the ball against a Saints defense that’s been pretty consistently great the last decade or so. Dak Prescott couldn’t do much against the Browns, which is fair given the circumstances, but he should be able to cook any defense in the comforts of AT&T Stadium. And if that happens, I’m not even worried about the Saints offense, because an in-tune Dak can beat Derek Carr in a shootout any day of the week.
