RIO DE JANEIRO – Well, here we are, and look, a 10-hour overnight flight?
No problem. All went well for the Cowboys, safely landing and clearing customs.
A two-hour time difference, 2 p.m. BRT means noon back home?
No problem. The Cowboys have experience dealing with a one-hour time difference when yearly playing at least three times against their NFC East opponents, so what's another hour.
Trying to sleep on the American Airlines overnight charter flight, leaving DFW at 8:30 p.m. (CDT) and arriving at the team hotel here in Brazil, after going through customs and a one-hour bus ride to the hotel, around 10:15 a.m. local time.
No problem for these Cowboys players, a young team, just seven players at least 30 years old on this trip.
The reported somewhat soft, unstable grass more suited for those 170-pound soccer players than 250-pound football players at Maracanã Stadium?
Well, we'll find out much more about the quality of that grass field when the Cowboys conduct a "walk-around" practice at Maracanã Saturday afternoon. And the rain did return to Rio late Friday afternoon, possibly worsening the situation, yet just know the walk-around is different from a "walk-through" since guessing no one will be prancing around on the field, unless little ol' me can sneak on for a step or three.
Ah, but facing the likes of the 1-1 Baltimore Ravens, with headliners like Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry and Kyle Hamilton? And now looks like a great possibility as well of two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike, who attended high school up the road from The Star in McKinney, Texas, seemingly ready to play again after just two games last year, his neck injury requiring surgery, but fully practicing this week for the first time since September of last year?
Well, now there's the problem. Big and bigger problems.
And this will be a major test for the Cowboys, no matter the Ravens beat the Colts in the opener yet lost to the Saints in Game 2. No matter the Ravens finished 8-9 last year, but a half-game better than the Cowboys, 7-9-1. No matter the Ravens, like the Cowboys, missed the playoffs this past season for just the second time in eight years, sending longtime head coach John Harbaugh on his way for first-time head coach Jesse Minter.
This figures to be the best team the Cowboys will play the first month of the season. The offense, led by Jackson and Henry, probably kept Cowboys' new defensive coordinator Christian Parker up the majority of the 10-hour flight. As for the defense, it's a pretty veteran group, and Cowboys head coach/offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer knows the offense must be highly efficient, especially up front, to deal with this group.
Now, not that I usually succumb to these projections, but the late-week line on this 3:25 p.m. game back home on Sunday has the Ravens as 3½ point favorites, and please don't ask about any of this trading stuff masquerading as if some sort of stocks.
But you know what, and see this happen repeatedly, while the Cowboys defense has a ways to go, the offense has the ability to carry this team. Seems the Cowboys' offensive prowess gets overlooked. Like, don't you think Minter, the defense-minded head coach, has been burning the midnight oil, trying to figure out ways to slow down the Cowboys offense.
Hey, he saw the efficiency of Dak Prescott this past game, throwing those four touchdown passes, and last year's second-ranked offense putting up 37 points. He had to feel Dak's 143.8 QB rating.
And the receivers? Pro Bowler CeeDee Lamb had eight catches for 153 yards. Two impressive touchdown grabs. Minter saw the Commanders overloading their coverage toward Pro Bowl receiver George Pickens, and although he finished with just six catches for 40 yards, several of those catches were mighty tough ones.
Then, if you'd like to double both Lamb and Pickens, better have a linebacker who can run with tight end Jake Ferguson, catching Dak's other two touchdown passes. And if needing further evidence of his capabilities, don't forget Fergie last year caught 82 passes for 600 yards, and finished second with eight touchdown receptions.
Don't dare sell this offense short, even if the Cowboys will be without All-Pro guard Tyler Smith a third time while on IR-Return (left thumb surgery), which requires him to miss a fourth and then likely a fifth with the Cowboys' Game 5 on a short week, Thursday night against Tampa Bay.
Not sure if this is an indication of how the Ravens might defend the Cowboys' passing game, but if they believe they can stymie the Dallas running attack with a front five – and no secret the Cowboys have yet to establish an efficient ground game the first two times out in 2026 – then instead of employing a nickel front (five secondary players), the Ravens just might go dime with six defensive backs.
Check out this stat floating around, for what it's worth, but against the Saints, Minter used an unusually high percentage of dime coverage trying to slow down Saints first-time starting quarterback Tyler Shough. Yet New Orleans ended up producing 200 yards passing against 21 dime snaps.
The Cowboys could only hope they do, although part of Minter's thinking likely has to do with defensive back Kyle Hamilton's versatility. At 6-4, 220 pounds, he's nearly the size of a nickel linebacker, meaning big enough to support the run but runs well enough to cover as the sixth defensive back.
So how do the Cowboys win this game?
First, defensively, they must do a much better job of keeping Jackson from escaping the pocket. Already the Cowboys have given up 131 QB rushing yards, 60 to the Giants' Jaxson Dart and last Sunday another 69 to Washington's Jayden Daniels, that all in the first half, as well as then three more to his backup Marcus Mariota.
For an effective Cowboys pass rush, those guys up front must give new meaning to staying in your lane.
Next, overall run defense. Already the Cowboys have given up 347 yards rushing, shades of last season, now ranking 30th when they finished 30th last season. This, too, is incumbent on everybody doing their job, a coordination of the defensive front with linebacker recognition. Because if not, Henry will bulldoze right over them.
And as Schotty has said, "Got to stop Henry at the line of scrimmage," because once he breaks into the open and reaches full speed, goodnight, Irene. This is a must.
Then this would help, too: Produce a respectable run game themselves. Not necessary piling up gobs of yards, but running efficiently, making that Ravens' stout defensive front cognizant of the run to help better protect Dak in the pocket
This all is not a far-fetched idea, either. Remember, and realize Smith is not out there, but the Cowboys offense produced a 1,200-yard rusher last year in Javonte Williams. And Schottenheimer as an offensive coordinator has been known for his highly touted running offenses both with the Jets and the Seahawks.
These are not unreasonable requests.
Allow Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to put the 1-1 start to this season in perspective, balancing production vs. expectations.
"We have not overestimated what we can do on offense," Jones said this week, "and maybe we're a little optimistic (on defense) because of all the changes on how we could improve the defense, but we have not overshot our expectations. We're better defensively, and we're going to get better."
Well, it's time, or as they say in Portuguese, Vamos la!
Meaning, let's get it on.
