PHILADELPHIA — The wait was brimming over with suspense, anticipation and headlines ahead of the Dallas Cowboys' season opener against the Eagles in Philadelphia, who, unless you missed it, are also the defending Super Bowl champions, making the early and initial test of America's Team a daunting one.
The six days leading into the NFC East barfight was dominated by the decision to trade Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, creating a vacuum at the defensive end position — with several players looking to step into and make a name for themselves.
It's a trade that seemingly upgraded the run defense, but Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts were prepped to test that theory in a major way on Thursday Night Football, while the return of All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs arrived with perfect timing to lead the cornerbacks' room against some high flyers in A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert.
Though many oddsmakers expected a definitive victory for the Eagles over the Cowboys, it turned into a barfight that lasted the entire four quarters, and here's the list of players who left it all on the field in their attempt to stun the collective NFL world in the opener.
[Note: This list is unranked.]
Dak Prescott, QB
Prescott displayed zero, and I do mean zero, bits of rust as he carved his way down the field on the opening drive, the drive that followed and then the subsequent two drives, though the latter two ended in field goals. It seemed the only thing that could slow the offense was a fumble from Miles Sanders, but Prescott looked mostly pristine the entire evening — even diving for the tackle that kept Sanders' mistake from becoming a scoop-and-score late in the third quarter (with the Eagles nursing a four-point lead), because Prescott apparently plays defense as well. And when the Cowboys needed him to make the throws the most, he did, routinely placing dots in positions to be caught, but drops began to plague the offense late in the game.
Javonte Williams, RB
So much for any sort of RB-by-committee approach in Dallas. Williams slyly put that to bed with an impressive outing against the Eagles that saw him display vision, quickness, speed and plenty of toughness. His ability to bully through would-be tacklers proves he's fully healthy and wants the smoke, and that he's a worthy RB1 going forward. He averaged more than four yards per carry for most of the contest, and his two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter amounted to literally one-third of the Cowboys' entire production in that category through 17 games combined last season.
Marshawn Kneeland, DE
Could this be a potential breakout season for Kneeland? Time will tell, but he's off to a solid start after a great training camp. Desperately looking for pressure to put on Hurts after more than one successful offensive drive by the Eagles fueled by Hurts' ability to make plays, it was Kneeland getting home on Hurts on second down of Philly's fourth drive, in the third quarter, an eight-yard loss forcing 3rd-and-18 and ultimately a 58-yard field goal by Jake Elliott — the first drive of the night by the Eagles that didn't with a touchdown. All he has to do now is build upon his Philly tape.
Tyler Guyton + Tyler Booker (entire O-line)
All eyes were on Tyler Guyton in his return from injury and considering the pressure the former first-round pick is under to level up in Year 2. A similar amount of pressure, if not more, is on Tyler Booker, the rookie first-round pick named successor to none other than Zack Martin. All the two young offensive linemen did were combine with Cooper Beebe, Terence Steele and Tyler Smith to Tyler Smith to give Prescott plenty of time in the pocket and, goodness gracious, how's about the push they were getting in the run game? It was all the Eagles' defensive line could do to get a simple whiff of Prescott's cologne.
Solomon Thomas, DL + Kenneth Murray, LB
Any questions surrounding Thomas' ability to find his peak in Eberflus' scheme might have been answered on Thursday evening. The veteran defensive tackle looked exceptionally good in run defense, generating lost yards on more than one occasion and being one of the team's leaders in tackles, to boot. Murray, the unfortunate stiff arm by Barkley notwithstanding, was all over the field making tackles in his Cowboys' debut, tying Malik Hooker with the lead in tackles before it was all said-and-done (honorable mention to Jack Sanborn and Damone Clark here as well).
CeeDee Lamb, WR
He was virtually unstoppable in the first half, and that's putting it lightly. Lamb was a man possessed in how he carried over his sensational training camp into the regular season. There was no rust to be found, despite having not played in the preseason, as the All-Pro receiver racked up 76 yards on three catches going into halftime, adding to the total thereafter to help lead the new-look offense in hostile territory, though his night was marred with three drops, two of them in critical junctures of the game, but one could argue it was his chunk plays in the first half that helped make it a contest in the first place — a 110-yard outing on seven catches the Cowboys simply needed to be a 10-catch game instead and it's likely a 1-0 start to the season.
