Coaching staff leads Cowboys to victory over Browns

The Dallas Cowboys have had a horrible taste in their mouth for months following the disappointing end to the 2023 season. After the “all-in” offseason included a long wait to get extensions for CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott, everyone just wanted to get on the field and play the Cleveland Browns. The team hit their mark as they took out all their frustrations as a road underdog, dominating all aspects of the game for a 33-17 win.

A performance like this from all units of the team leads to positive vibes for the players, leaving plenty of studs to pick from for their elite performances. There were a few duds who need to improve as the season goes on, but they get a break for a poor performance since the team blew out their opponent.

For the Cowboys it was the best of both worlds.

The big sell for Dallas’ offseason was an upgrade on defense with the hiring of Mike Zimmer, but with a loss of depth, it was an unknown if Zimmer would have the pieces necessary to be good on that side of the ball. Dominant is the perfect word to describe their Sunday performance.

The Cowboys defense allowed just a single first down in the first half, holding the Browns to two conversions on 15 third-down attempts while adding six sacks and two interceptions. Cleveland only averaged 2.7 yards per pass despite Dallas lining up a rookie corner against Amari Cooper most of the game. Zimmer was better than advertised in their first game.

John Fassel had a great day as special teams coach as well, with KaVontae Turpin returning a punt for a touchdown and Brandon Aubrey hitting on all seven of his kicks. Aubrey even hit an eighth kick from 66 yards before halftime, but a clock malfunction caused a penalty to take away the record tying blast. He still had a long of 57 yards.

Once the Cowboys pulled ahead 14-3, the offense went conservative, making sure the excellent Cleveland defense couldn’t impact the game for the Browns. This led to receivers not getting many chances to make an impact. Prescott only threw 32 total times for just 4.7 yards per pass. Regardless, Jalen Tolbert made zero impact in the opening game of the year after an impressive training camp.

Tolbert was the least impactful player on the team of any player who accrued stats. He had fewer receiving yards than Lamb, Brandin Cooks, Jalen Brooks, Hunter Luepke, and Jake Ferguson. Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle both were relatively impactful in the run game and Turpin added his return touchdown. Tolbert came in as the clear third receiver, with some saying he could battle for the second spot, but he made no impactful plays against the Browns.