A narrative that followed the Dallas Cowboys for the entirety of last season was their inability to win a big game on the road. Critics will come out of hiding as soon as its convenient, but Dallas made an emphatic statement on Sunday with a 33-17 victory over the Cleveland Browns.
While Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Ezekiel Elliott stole the show in the first half, the offense couldn’t find a rhythm in the second half. Granted, the play-calling was a little conservative as the Cowboys opened up a big lead, but Mike Zimmer’s defense was fantastic from start to finish.
The Browns only managed 10 points before they scored a garbage time touchdown in the final minute of regulation. Micah Parsons notched a sack, deflected a pass that got intercepted and generated close to double digit pressures.
While Parsons wrecked the game in the second quarter as the Cowboys imposed their dominance in hostile territory, the main takeaway from the win is that Zimmer had Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson seeing ghosts.
It’s only one game and fans in Cleveland have already seen enough of Watson. The boo birds were coming down at Huntington Bank Field by the end of the second quarter!
Watson put up some all-time bad numbers in the first half. He failed to complete a pass more than five yards downfield on seven tries and was 0-of-4 when pressured and 0-of-4 against the blitz. The only thing Watson did well was break tackles. He tiptoed out of multiple sacks.
Zimmer had Watson figured out from the jump. He finished the game 24-of-45 (53.5% completion rate) for 169 yards and one touchdown (while trailing 27-3) to two interceptions. He averaged a ghastly 3.8 yards per attempt and posted a 51.1 passer rating.
The Cowboys’ defense as a collective turned in a spectacular performance. Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, who logged two sacks, feasted on the edge, while Eric Kendricks and DeMarvion Overshown put in a masterful display at linebacker, Trevon Diggs joined the fun with a late interception and rookie Caelan Carson could have had multiple picks.
Cowboys fans could not have asked for a better second debut from Zimmer. The defense sacked Watson six times and could have picked him off five times. Watson has had some stinkers since signing a gargantuan contract with the Browns, but this was easily the worst of the bunch.
The fact the Cleveland faithful already want Jameis Winston (!) to preside over the offense is incredible. We don’t recall Dan Quinn ever having that influence over an opposing fan base. Zimmer accomplished it in one game.
