This Might Finally Be the Cowboys’ Year

Dallas displayed a downright scary defense against the Giants on Sunday night, raising the ceiling for what Dak Prescott, Mike McCarthy & Co. can accomplish.

Mike Tirico, the play-by-play announcer for Sunday Night Football, probably planned to fill five to 10 minutes of airtime with how much the Giants raved about the addition of tight end Darren Waller, the former Pro Bowler of the Raiders.

Instead of wasting those notes, Tirico dropped his first Waller nugget with the Giants down four scores to the Cowboys with less than six minutes remaining in the second quarter, one play after $40 million-per-year quarterback Daniel Jones recorded his first passing yards of the game.

It was an embarrassing start for the Giants, who were booed off the field by their home crowd at MetLife Stadium at halftime. Tirico likely never expected to force a positive note about Waller, and Giants fans probably never imagined this kind of a beatdown—a 40–0 loss in the season opener, the biggest shutout in this NFC East rivalry’s history.

But here’s another surprise: This is finally the Cowboys’ year.

You don’t need me to elaborate—well, technically, I will in a bit. But we’ve all seen the sad Cowboys fans memes, the ones of them saying it’s their year every year to win a Super Bowl only to flame out in the postseason.

But, seriously, it’s their year to end the Super Bowl drought, which dates back to 1996. This might be their best team since the ’90s with Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith. But I’ll do that comparison later in the year for a sometimes I’m right column.

Let’s stay in the now: The 2023 Cowboys are up there with the 49ers in the NFC, and they might be better than the Eagles.

Daron Bland’s 22-yard interception return for a touchdown put the Cowboys up 16–0 in the first quarter and was one of three Giants turnovers :: Ed Mulholland/USA TODAY Sports

I certainly didn’t expect to write this column heading into the first Sunday of the 2023 NFL season, but here we are. It’s time to take the Cowboys seriously as Super Bowl contenders. And go ahead, make those Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy jokes.

This team might not need much from Prescott with a scary defense, one with a deep group of pass rushers lead by Micah Parsons, and a secondary filled with playmakers, including Trevon Diggs, whose hit led to one of Jones’s interceptions, and Stephon Gilmore, who had his first interception as a member of the Cowboys. Diggs later had a forced fumble with his squad up by the final margin of 40 in the fourth quarter.

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And if special teams coordinator John Fassel continues to receive airtime celebrating with his players after impact plays—watch out, football world! Fassel reminded me of the character Bania from Seinfeld, as he high-fived players after Dallas’s special teams blocked a New York field-goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown for the first points of the game. The Cowboys are gold, and they’re ready to cash in their dinner date at Mendy’s.

O.K., I’ll cool it on the Seinfeld references, and I’ll pause the Cowboys praise to highlight how poorly the Giants were, specifically offensively.

Jones got a massive four-year, $160 million contract extension after showing promise during his first season with coach Brian Daboll, the reigning AP NFL Coach of the Year. The organization decided to overlook Jones’s many subpar performances since New York drafted him No. 6 in the 2019 draft and focused on what Jones did in ’22. GM Joe Schoen provided Jones with new weapons by trading for Waller, signing Parris Campbell and drafting Jalin Hyatt—the two wide receivers had a combined five targets for one catch and two yards.

The reasoning by Giants brass for paying Jones was because he had one of the worst groups of pass catchers in the league and still managed to get the Giants into the playoffs as a wild-card team last year. New York also had a playoff win against the Vikings before being crushed by the Eagles in the divisional round, 38–7. What occurred Sunday seemed a whole lot worse. Overall, there are no excuses to get clobbered in back-to-back games by NFC East rivals.

But hey, maybe the Giants will put the blame on the slippery football due to the rain—because Jones no longer has the excuse of not having a competent group of skilled players.

Perhaps the Giants will right the ship and become pesky wild-card hopefuls again, but they’re not on the level of the Cowboys and Eagles. And maybe the Cowboys are a little higher on that order due to what they displayed Sunday night, while the Eagles had a fast start in New England but allowed Mac Jones to get back in the game before prevailing 25–20.

The unknown of McCarthy as the Cowboys’ play-caller still remains because his playsheet wasn’t needed much with the defense and special teams building the 26–0 halftime advantage. But Prescott has a star-studded group with CeeDee Lamb and Tony Pollard.

As for newcomer wideout Brandin Cooks, he wasn’t needed much for his Cowboys debut. I expected to write a column about Cooks and Gilmore being difference-makers, the two former Pro Bowlers Dallas traded for in the offseason. They definitely help, but the Cowboys have plenty more to offer in all three phases of football.

So, here we are: Bania jokes and columns about the Cowboys being legit Super Bowl contenders. Not many are laughing about this finally being the Cowboys’ year.