Brett's Cowboys Corner

The Cowboys start off the 1-0, with a strong road win against the Cleveland Browns, 33-17. Just from the first look at the game, it was clear that the Cowboys defense did most of the heavy lifting yesterday. Though it is wrong to act like the offense played poorly, they did exactly what was needed to not lose you the game.

I predicted a low scoring game because it can take some time to get your offense and defense into a groove especially when they don’t play a lot of preseason reps. The offense was definitely getting into their groove and doing so against a Browns defense that was not missing any starters and played well as a unit. Maybe this is what we can expect from tougher games, a few touchdowns and a lot of Brandon Aubrey field goals, Dallas was 4-14 on 3rd downs which needs to improve and also matched the Browns with 11 penalties…that is something I mentioned in the keys to victory, avoid making those kind of mistakes.

The Cowboys defense however, looked like they have played plenty of games together, even though they were the newest unit on the field. The Cowboys defense pressured Deshaun Watson 25 times, including 6 sacks on 56 drop backs.

The Cowboys generated a lot of pressure on Watson, but more importantly they kept him contained in the pocket, forcing him to make quick short throws, or throwing into deep coverage.

Mike Zimmer moved the defense around through out the game and we saw Micah Parsons, Demarcus Lawrence and other defensive linemen lineup in ways that would have never happened in the previous scheme. DLaw on 39 pass rushes had 2 sacks and 8 pressures, 3 from over the left tackle, 4 from over the right tackle and one against the right guard as a DT.

Parsons, as promised, lined up all over the field. He ended the day with 1 sack and 9 pressures, we saw him line up as a wide edge almost blitzing like a nickel cornerback, and take rushes against both tackles and over the center. A play that stood out was Micah’s free rush at Watson who tries to lob it over him to the quick out route, Micah jumps up and bats the ball allowing Eric Kendricks to grab the interception. The Browns spent time in pre-snap making sure to identify Micah and send double teams his way, allowing the rest of his teammates to eat. On one play he fakes the blitz and drops back into coverage, guarding Watson’s read and it led to a team sack.

Usually, if you can get your QB hit less than the other teams QB, that is always a positive toward your chance of winning. Dak Prescott was hit 4 times Sunday, 4 different players each got a hit. Deshaun Watson on the other hand hit 16 times.

• DeMarvion Overshown hit Watson twice.
• Eric Kendricks hit Watson twice.
• Tank hit Watson 4 times.
• Parsons hit Watson 4 times.
• Marshawn Kneeland hit Watson twice.
• Osa hit Watson once.
• Jordan Phillips hit Watson once.

The secondary also played sound as a unit. In Trevon Diggs return to action he had a tough matchup against former teammate Amari Cooper, he also saw the likes of Jerry Jeudy and Elijah Moore.

• 10 targets
  • 6 receptions
  • 23 yards allowed
  • 0 TDs allowed
  • 1 INT
  • 10% Tight Window Percentage (team low amongst DBs)

Diggs spoke after the game about the posibilites of the new defense, “We have about 50 calls, and we only ran about 3 of them.”

Diggs believes there is a lot more in store for this Cowboys defense in 2024.