Philadelphia Eagles: NFC East Power Rankings following Week 1
0-1. Previous: 2nd. Dallas Cowboys. 3. team. 123.
The Philadelphia Eagles rival from Texas drops one spot and land at No. 3.
The Dallas Cowboys take up residence at number three for a few reasons. The first is the performance of their new head coach, Mike McCarthy, who after a week, doesn’t look like an upgrade from his predecessor, Jason Garrett.
Last season, the Cowboys ranked sixth in points scored with 434 and lead the NFL in total offensive yards. McCarthy was supposed to do what Garret couldn’t do and maximize the production of all of that talent and those weapons. Instead, ‘Big-D’ scored just 17 points against the Los Angeles Rams, ten fewer than what they averaged per game last season. Sure, it’s only been a week, but the Cowboys are off to an inauspicious start on offense.
Dak Prescott played a rather efficient game and threw for one touchdown and no interceptions but couldn’t move the chains when it mattered the most. Amari Cooper had a chance to come down with a catch that could have given them a fresh set of downs in the fourth quarter, but he couldn’t hold to the ball.
Ezequiel Elliot was his usual self and rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries and caught Prescott’s lone touchdown pass of the night. The rookie, Ceedee Lamb, also caught five passes for 59 yards in his NFL debut, but again, the problem with the Cowboys wasn’t moving the ball. The problem was they couldn’t rise to the occasion when they needed to do so.
In the end, this one is on McCarthy. The point of his arrival was to reinvigorate this Dallas team and win. He didn’t do either and lost his first game. We’ll see if he presents a better gameplan in Week 2.