FRISCO, Texas – So much to talk about, so little time.
That's what happens when the Cowboys lose the season opener in back-to-back years and for the fifth time in seven seasons, going down this past Sunday night to the New York Giants, 28-20, at MetLife Stadium.
That leaving so many surprised, you, me, and oh, by the way, guarantee you, this coaching staff, too. Was something like a hit-and-run, scratching your head wondering where in the world did that come from.
Well, still trying to make sense of how the defense allowed the Giants to control the ball for 36 minutes, 40 seconds, thus leaving this expected high-potent offense only two possessions in the second half and a mere total of six, if not counting the 20-second one at the end of the first half. In 2025, with the No. 2 offense in the NFL, the Cowboys averaged 10.4 possessions a game and only once had fewer than nine (8) with a high of 14 (uh, against the Giants in OT), totaling double-digits 12 times. Some discrepancy.
Plus, when it came to scoring just the 20 points, last year, why, these Cowboys only scored less than 21 points four times, if not counting the season finale when Dak Prescott just played a half (17 to, uh, the Giants). But then, coincidently, they earned the same 20 in their opener against Philadelphia.
"Just excellent to get back to work today," Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer proclaimed.
So we are, too. Now, let's get going, plenty of shots to go around.
- Newbies Galore: Many of us failed to consider how much newness there is to this defense, including players, defensive coordinator and defensive assistants. Look at it this way: Of the 20 players taking more than one defensive snap, 12 of them were in their first year with the Cowboys. Not an excuse for giving up 28 points and 394 yards of offense that would have been 400 if not for the Giants' close-out three kneel-downs for minus-2 each. Dallas also allowed 165 yards rushing that would have been 171 without the kneel-downs, which would have ranked as the fourth most last year. Just fact, OK. Counting eight of the 11 new starters, too.
- The Eyes Have It: And we're talking peepers here, not some voting procedure. When watching video, far too many times the Cowboys defenders got caught up in the Giants' eye-candy and simply didn't locate the ball. That's what happens when facing so many unscripted plays previous head coach Mike McCarthy used to worry so much about in these early season games, not having the benefit of scouting previous opponent plays. The Giants' play-action reverse flow caught the Cowboys out of position repeatedly.
- Good Sign: While All-Pro guard Tyler Smith had surgery last week to repair the torn ligament in his left thumb, he seems to be coming along nicely. Now, we know being placed on IR-Return he is required to miss four games, meaning he won't be eligible to return at the earliest until the Thursday night game on Oct. 8 against Tampa Bay. That, though, could be a little too soon since the Cowboys might only have one full practice that week leading up to the game. Then it's 10 days until the Cowboys play a Sunday night game in Green Bay. But at least Smith has progressed to doing some resistance cord work with associate trainer Britt Brown before Wednesday's practice, a sign of progress recovering from the effects of surgery.
- Wakeup Call: Fourth-year veteran running back Tyler Goodson, though in the NFL now for his fifth year, sure received a welcomed wakeup call on Monday, his agent informing the Cowboys are claiming him off the Atlanta practice squad, and that he needed to hustle off to DFW. How soon? "Was told I had a flight scheduled to leave in two hours," Goodson, said finding out the Cowboys needed some depth on the 53-man roster after losing Malik Davis for the season with a serious hip injury. While Goodson will have to cram to get up to speed as the team's third running back behind Javonte Williams and Emari Demercado, he knows he also was acquired for special teams duty, pointing out he was a special teams guy during his three seasons with the Colts (306 snaps) while working as the gunner on punt coverage when he played his 33 career games.
- Just For Kicks: This took place indoors at Ford Center Wednesday afternoon, kicker Brandon Aubrey warming up kicking field goals while the rest of the team was going through pre-practice stretch. There he was with the ball braced up on the kicking holder, no snap/hold operation or anything, attempting field goals. Not just for kicks but with the ball placed on what would have been on his own 49-yard line, so attempting 61-yard field goals. My goodness, almost casually the guy nicknamed "Butter" was smoking 61-yarders down the middle, with like 10 yards to spare. One of these days.
- Hated Injury: When it comes to Davis' season-ending hip injury, Schottenheimer said he "hated to see that happen." So did Malik, for sure, and count me in on that hate, too. See, earlier in the week (Monday, Sept. 7), after Davis had made the 53-man roster, enjoyed a nice interview with the guy becoming the Cowboys' backup running back and broke one of my reporter instincts of holding off writing the story on Wednesday until next week, because by "next week" Davis had suffered his devastating hip injury. "There was never a point I didn't feel like I'd make the team ," Davis said, but after previous seasons, he wasn't thinking it was a given. "I'm just going to be where I'm at." Well, where he was going to be "at" was on the 53-man roster, saying, "It was a great feeling, great feeling because I thought I had done everything I could." That was until this past Friday when during the pad-less practice, while simply making a cut with the ball, not being tackled, not going to the ground, just planting to make a cut, he suffers the hip injury – a dislocation and bone fracture in need of immediate surgery the next day. Out for this season and could end up being more devastating than that. This game can be very cruel.
- Short Yardage: One facet of the offense the Cowboys were needing to improve on was scoring red zone touchdowns at a higher percentage than last year's 56.9 rate. And despite totaling just 20 points in the opener, the Cowboys went 3-for-3 scoring red zone touchdowns, a consolation 100 percent … When confronted Wednesday with his two drops, Pro Bowl wide receiver George Pickens said, "That's football, going to have (somethings) here and there," and going on to say, "We can, as a team, play better." … Besides Washington head coach Dan Quinn, there are two former Cowboys on his coaching staff: running backs coach Anthony Lynn (2005-06) and former Pro Bowl linebacker Ken Norton Jr. (1988-93) as the linebackers coach, who won two Super Bowls with the Cowboys before being signed as a free agent in 1994 by San Francisco … Also get this, at just 31-years old, David Blough, having gone to high school in the DFW suburb of Carrollton (Creekview), is now the Commanders' first-year offensive coordinator.
And for the last word we turn to Schottenheimer on the day after such a disappointing loss to the Giants, asked if he thinks maybe such a game might let the air out of the Cowboys' high-expectations balloon.
"With the group, absolutely not," Schotty began of having a letdown. "These guys, we had a very real conversation after the game, and I shared my feelings with them. It was not the standard, not the way we expect to perform. We stepped out there on the white lines, we had our chances and we did not make the plays that we needed to. But these guys are great with getting held accountable, and I put myself in that situation as well,
"How can I be better? Well, I can call better plays in the first half. I can make those adjustments in the second quarter, not the third quarter, if not at halftime. So we're all in this together. I don't worry about the makeup of this room. People say culture this, culture that. That's what's going to enable you to handle the adversity of this game."
Sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles.
