By all accounts, this was one of the more normal offseasons for the Dallas Cowboys. George Pickens didn't get an extension, but the contract drama stopped there. Jerry Jones hinted at big moves but didn't stir up his usual distracting storylines, and he pledged he was all in on winning now.
The Cowboys' moves reflected that: a new defensive coordinator in Christian Parker, two first-round defenders in Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence and a plethora of other veterans -- Jalen Thompson, Cobie Durant, Dee Winters and Rashan Gary -- brought in. Add an extension for Quinnen Williams, and even if it didn't have the makings of a dominant defense, it had the makings of a much-improved one. But it sure didn't in Week 1, as the Giants trounced the Cowboys 28-20, a result that indicates how far Parker and his unit have to go and raises questions of whether they can get there.
"I thought overall we were really, as a football team, we were pretty poor," Brian Schottenheimer said. They were the more physical team tonight. That's certainly not our standard.
That's certainly not how we see our identity playing. ... Situationally, they were outstanding. They did a really good job of keeping the ball away from us in the second half.
I think they had the ball for 36 minutes and 40 seconds. So, this is a humbling business. We got humbled tonight, and that's what I told the guys." It was indeed humbling, and a reminder that problems don't go away overnight or, in this case, in one week.
Some issues actually were mitigated. The Cowboys didn't allow a single play of 25+ yards; last year, they allowed an NFL-high 54. Rather than bleeding out from huge gashes, though, the Cowboys' defense died by a thousand paper cuts.
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