The Dallas Cowboys were forced to play through a rainy night at MetLife Stadium as well as a game that was clearly lacking in aesthetic flair and had the feeling of being an undercard to a contest that would take place on the same field 24 hours later. They occasionally needed to do nothing more than sit back and wait to capitalize on the errors committed by the New York Giants, who continued to make an increasing number of those errors.
It is irrelevant. The figures that were shown on the scoreboard were eye-catching. Even though the Giants had a hand in it, the dominant performance was nonetheless impressive. The Cowboys delivered an opening-night reminder that perhaps, just possibly, they can move themselves back into position to compete for the kind of postseason greatness that has evaded them for nearly three decades. They gave an overpowering performance on defense, did enough on offensively, and presented an opening-night reminder of this possibility.
They jumped out to a 26-point lead at halftime against the stumbling and bumbling Giants and cruised to a 40-0 victory in the first Sunday night game of the NFL season.
“It’s one game,” Cowboys Head Coach Mike McCarthy remarked earlier today. “We couldn’t be happier…. We are pleased with how well tonight’s game went overall. I believe that we are still progressing. We are aware of our desired destination. I have the impression that we can accomplish anything we set out to do, and we also know how to get there. However, it is a very long trek. Consequently, we have begun in the appropriate manner.
It was the most comprehensive victory by shutout in the annals of the organization. In addition to that, it was the first season-opening victory for the Cowboys under McCarthy’s leadership.
“It’s the first game,” Dak Prescott, the quarterback, remarked. “… It’s important that we don’t get ahead of ourselves and that we continue to maintain our discipline… This league is called the NFL. You are required to be there each and every week and to be well-prepared. And victories of this caliber don’t come along very often. Therefore, we aren’t going to get too far ahead of ourselves.
The Week 1 big event off of Exit 16W of the New Jersey Turnpike is the first Monday night game of the season, which features quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ first game for the New York Jets against the Buffalo Bills. However, this team is known as the Cowboys. They are always important. And even if this was just the first step toward yet another letdown in January, they demonstrated that they are able to raise hopes even in the interim.
The 1995 season was the last time the Cowboys participated in an NFC title game. It was during that season that they won the Super Bowl for the third time in a row and their fourth time overall. They just finished their 2022 campaign, during which they shown some of the same typical signs of confidence that perhaps things would be different the following year. With a resounding victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the opening round of the NFC playoffs, they sent quarterback Tom Brady into retirement — for good this time.
However, they were eliminated from the playoffs by the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round, which made their critics happy while also ensuring that their supporters and owner Jerry Jones would have to wait at least one more year.
The San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles, who faced each other in the National Football Conference championship game the previous year, appear to be the overwhelming front-runners for the conference this season. There is not a clear competitor waiting in the wings. The Cowboys are a good enough team to be the one chasing down the team that is considered to be the favorite, and they pose a threat to pass them if the favorite makes a mistake. However, after so many seasons in which promising buildups have given way to postseason heartbreaks, even the most fervent of Cowboys fans would be wise to keep their expectations in check.