Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images Name one good, bad, and ugly thing from the Cowboys 2024 season opener. The Dallas Cowboys looked surprisingly as if they were already in midseason form in the season-opener against the Cleveland Browns Sunday afternoon. They completely dominated in all three phases of the game against what is expected to be a really good team on their home turf and ended up walking away with the 33-17 victory. This impressive road victory answers a lot of concerns we may have had about this year’s team, but only time will tell if they can continue to play with this type of dominance while also continuing to improve as a whole. Like with any game though, there was some good, some bad, and a little ugly sprinkled in there as well. Today, we’ll take a look at each one. THE GOOD – Dak Prescott The ink on his new four-year, $240 million contract probably wasn’t even dry yet before he took the field against the Cleveland Browns in Week 1, but Dak Prescott went out and showed why he’s now the highest-paid player in NFL history Sunday afternoon. His stats of course won’t wow you (179 passing yards, 1 TD), but he was decisive and accurate with most of his throws against one of the better defenses in the entire league. His command of the offense this early in the season will hopefully only continue improve as the season progresses. THE BAD – Jake Ferguson’s injury Jake Ferguson is coming off a Pro Bowl season with the Cowboys and was expected to be an integral part of their offense once again this year. Sadly, he suffered and injury to his knee against the Cleveland Browns in the game. The severity of his injury is unknown as is how much time he could possibly miss, but if he misses time it will be a significant blow to the offense. There’s no one else currently on the roster anywhere close to his level of play as both a block or and receiver. THE UGLY – The Browns offense against the Cowboys defense The Cleveland Browns may have been without their starting tackles Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills Jr. in the season opener, but even if they were available it might not have saved them from being completely dominated by the Cowboys defense. Dallas’ defense finished the night with 26 QB pressures, six QB sacks, and two interceptions. They did give up a total of 17 points, but there’s no denying they made Cleveland look absolutely ugly. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for them under Mike Zimmer’s new defensive scheme.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images The Cowboys are big-time favorites in Week 2. The Dallas Cowboys came out of the gate red-hot for the 2024 season. They crushed the Cleveland Browns, who were 2.5-point favorites going into the game, by a score of 33-17. Besides the Browns brief three-point lead early in the game, it felt as if they were never really in it. The Cowboys defense throttled Deshaun Watson and company. The Cowboys get to go home and prepare for Week 2 when they host the New Orleans Saints. The Saints also got off to a banging start with a 47-10 beatdown of the Carolina Panthers. So we have two hot teams coming into a Week 2 showdown. The difference is the Cowboys went on the road and played a playoff team from a year ago, while the Saints were at home versus what is the consensus worst team in the league. That, and homefield advantage, helps explain the Cowboys opening up as 6.5-point favorites (FanDuel) for the Week 2 game versus the Saints. So what’s your call BTB? Would you give those points and bet on the Cowboys? Check out our partner FanDuel for you betting needs.

Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images The Cowboys open their season against the Browns in Week 1. More chat for the Cowboys and the Browns game. This is an open thread for game chat.

Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys lead the Cleveland Browns after one. 1st Quarter The Browns won the toss and deferred which put the ball in Dallas’ hands. A Jalen Tolbert penalty and sack on Dak Prescott made things rather tough against a ferocious defense so the Cowboys wound up punting. A nice return put the Browns in position to do damage, but they ran into some penalty issues themselves. Ultimately they settled for a field goal to draw the game’s first points. The Cowboys got back to work though and began to feed the CeeDee Lamb well. Unfair (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/ZRkC38yBII — Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) September 8, 2024 This put the team in striking distance and on third down Cleveland sent an all out blitz and paid dearly. Prescott found Brandin Cooks for the first touchdown of the season. DAK TO COOKS TOUCHDOWN! (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/tEd3oC5WZA — Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) September 8, 2024 Cleveland and Dallas would go on to trade punts after this and the Browns did so again right as the first quarter expired. Follow Blogging The Boys Everywhere Follow Blogging The Boys on X (formerly Twitter) Follow Blogging The Boys on Instagram Follow Blogging The Boys on Facebook Subscribe to the Blogging The Boys YouTube Channel Notable Recent News The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott agreed to a massive four-year, $240M extension with $231M guaranteed on Sunday morning. Injury Updates Nothing new to report for the Cowboys. NFL News Relevant To The Cowboys The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers on Friday night in Brazil. Meanwhile the New York Giants lost to the Minnesota Vikings early on Sunday. Up Next For The Cowboys Dallas hosts the New Orleans Saints in their home opener next Sunday afternoon, September 5th, at 1pm ET.

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images Check out some Sunday NFL action. We’re waiting for the Cowboys to start their season, but in the meantime enjoy some other NFL games. This is an open thread for game chat.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images Our writers have submitted their predictions for Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys game. At long last, football has returned! The NFL kicked off its new season with close games on both Thursday and Friday, but Sunday marks the return of America’s Team as the Cowboys take on the Browns in Cleveland. Both teams made the playoffs last year before getting blown out by a pair of young superstar quarterbacks. The quest to get back to the postseason begins with this matchup, in which the Cowboys are a 2.5 point underdog. Can they come away with a win? Let’s see what our writers expect to happen. When Cleveland has the ball Protect Caelen Carson The Cowboys will be starting rookie Caelen Carson at cornerback opposite Trevon Diggs, though not necessarily by choice. The move comes as a result of DaRon Bland’s injury, suffered in training camp. Carson, a fifth-round pick, impressed in camp and the preseason, earning the right to be the next man up, but he’s still the next man up. The Browns have one of the more formidable receiving corps out there, featuring Amari Cooper and Jerry Jeudy. It’s unclear if new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer plans to have his cornerbacks follow specific receivers or stick to one side of the field – he’s done both in the past – but limiting Carson’s exposure to these two receivers has to be priority number one. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski will surely look to target Carson, but Zimmer needs to help his rookie out a little bit in his NFL debut. When Dallas has the ball Quick hitters One of the features of the West Coast principles that Mike McCarthy infused into this Cowboys offense last year was a quicker trigger for Dak Prescott. That led to the quarterback averaging 2.71 seconds per attempt, eighth-fastest among starting quarterbacks last year. He’ll need to continue that trend in this one, if not speeding it up even more, as the Browns feature an elite pass rush. They finished in the top 10 last year in pressure rate, sacks, and quarterback knockdown rate. Cleveland also played the second-highest rate of Cover 1 (press man coverage) last year, something Prescott thrived against. If Prescott can find the open receiver quickly, he can thwart this defense’s strengths and lead the offense to a successful first day of the new year. Dak Prescott was the NFL’s best quarterback against Cover-1 last season. Here are five examples of him shredding it. The Browns, who played the second-highest rate of Cover-1 last season behind the Cowboys (go figure), should be aware. pic.twitter.com/9HcTszfgqD — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 6, 2024 Now onto the predictions from your BTB writers… Tom Ryle: I’m in agreement that the Cowboys are asking a lot of rookies and a near rookie in DeMarvion Overshown, and they are going to take a bit to get things together. The Browns seem to be on the rise, while it is hard to see Dallas as heading up after their typical passive approach to roster building. Cowboys lose, 17-16. Matt Holleran: I think this game is going to have a similar feel to Dallas’ opener back in 2016 against the Giants. If you remember, that was a low-scoring game that came down to the wire. Dallas’ offense wasn’t able to get in field goal range, aided by a Terrance Williams game-ending mistake, and they ultimately lost 20-19. It’s not uncommon for offenses to struggle early on, and I think both Dallas and Cleveland will come out a bit rusty on offense this Sunday. Just like 2016, the Cowboys get the ball back trailing by one score late, but they ultimately suffer the same fate. The Browns’ defense holds giving them a big-time Week One win. Give me Cleveland, 19-17. Jess Haynie: I think Mike Zimmer’s going to have fun terrorizing Deshaun Watson and that makeshift Browns offensive line. While I am worried about the Cowboys’ rust on offense, they have the better QB this weekend and the more complete team overall. Cowboys win, 30-20. Brandon Loree: Another season of fun is about to begin! The Cowboys’ trip to Cleveland to face each other in Week 1 is intriguing on many levels. Both teams have an alien on defense who’s in the race for Defensive Player of the Year, a fan base who expects more from their quarterback, and the teams looking to start the season on a high note after disappointing losses in the postseason. The Cowboys will face a daunting defense headlined by one of the best secondaries in the NFL. Luckily, Dallas has CeeDee Lamb back in the fold to pick apart their man coverage. Speaking of man, Dak Prescott earned the highest completion percentage (66.0%) and the 2nd-most yards per pass attempt (8.8) against man coverage among qualified quarterbacks last season. Conversely, the Browns defense allowed the lowest completion percentage (45.8%) and 3rd-lowest yards per pass attempt (5.6) in man coverage last season. Something has to give. I think the game will be close, but I’ll give Cleveland the advantage this week because it is at home and wins 20-17. Mike Poland: Deshaun Watson hasn’t played an NFL game since Week 9 of last year. He has to hold back the tide and deliver against a defense that ranked third in interceptions last year and eighth in sacks. Watson has 14 touchdowns in the last two seasons while Dak led the league last year with 36. Cowboys win this one 24-21 – thank you Brandon Aubrey. Dana Bartholomew: There are just too many questions about how this Cowboys team will look this season to confidently pick them over the Browns. There are four rookie draft picks that will be starting on Sunday and while I believe they will end up being great contributors in the future, they will have a very big challenge in their NFL debut. Most notably, Cooper Beebe and Tyler Guyton will be battling against one of

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images Here is all of the information you need on how to watch this week’s Dallas Cowboys game. The Dallas Cowboys are finally going to play a game that means something. After all the wait, it’s an opportunity to get rid of the playoff trouncing that ended last season and look forward to a new season. The Cowboys will visit the Cleveland Browns in an intra-conference game. The Cowboys offense will be breaking in two new linemen in Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe. On defense, they will be without DaRon Bland because of injury. The Browns get Deshaun Watson back after he missed much of last year with injury. But they will be without left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. The offseason is over, let the games begin. Let’s go! Cowboys at Browns game info Important links: Cowboys depth chart | Roster Date: Sept. 8, 2024 Game time: 4:25 PM EST Location: Huntington Bank Field – Cleveland, OH TV channel: FOX Coverage Map: 506 Sports Radio: 105.3 The Fan | SXM Streaming: FOX Sports, Sling Cowboys record: (0-0) Browns record: (0-0) Odds: Dallas +2.5, courtesy of FanDuel Prediction: Cowboys 24 – Browns 17 Enemy blog: Dawgs By Nature Twitter: @BloggingTheBoys Facebook: Please Like us!