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There’s always something to clean up in football, always some aspect of the game that can be improved upon, no matter how good the performance.
And despite a 33-17 drubbing of the Cleveland Browns which didn’t seem even that close for most of the opening-day afternoon, that has indeed been a common thread among Cowboys coaches and players since their Week 1 meeting went final.
Most experts were split before the game on who would emerge victorious. The close contest that had been so anticipated that it earned “Game of the Week” status, however, became a laugher long before halftime.
The Dallas offense and their two newly-signed superstars had blown the doors off the vaunted Browns defense, while the revamped Cowboys D under Mike Zimmer had embarrassed a pathetic Cleveland offense. That was the story in the aftermath of Sunday’s win.
Cowboys Nation may rightfully be celebrating a decisive win over a playoff-caliber opponent and already preparing to see a jump in the power rankings for Week 2, but a closer look inside the numbers show that it may be a bit early to christen this 2024 Cowboys squad as a bona fide powerhouse.
The inconvenient truth, perhaps lost in the happy haze of a Week 1 win, is that the Cowboys offense was just as bad in the second half of the game as the Browns offense had been in the first half. In several categories, they were even worse.
“We were totally out of balance in the second half of the game,” McCarthy told reporters in his Monday press conference. “You’d like the [whole] game to go the way the first half went; I’m just talking about play distribution, ball distribution, all those types of things.”
Sure, the Cowboys were well ahead coming out of the tunnel after intermission. But the game certainly wasn’t decided at that point, and there’s a big difference between easing off the gas a little and parking the car and walking away with the engine sputtering.
A statistical breakdown by half shows that Dak Prescott & Co. did next to nothing for the final 30 minutes of play.
| 1st Half | 2nd Half | |
| Off. plays | 40 | 20 |
| 1st Downs | 13 | 2 |
| 3rd Down Eff. | 4-9 | 0-5 |
| Rushing Plays | 16 | 9 |
| Rushing Net Yds | 76 | 26 |
| Passing Atts | 21 | 11 |
| Passing Net Yds | 140 | 23 |
| Total Net Yds | 216 | 49 |
| Possession | 19:56 | 9:10 |
It’s worth noting that KaVontae Turpin’s electrifying punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter, while furthering the Cowboys’ lead, automatically reduced the offense’s second-half opportunities in every one of these categories.
Even still, it’s awfully hard to scan that second column of stats and be crowing too loudly about the offense responsible, no matter what the scoreboard said at the end.
Of particular concern for McCarthy is the unit going 0-for-5 on third down conversions in the second half; he called that “probably our biggest negative on offense.”
McCarthy often speaks candidly about “September football,” and it was on display on both the shores of Lake Erie and around the league. Silly penalties. Sloppy tackling. Inaccurate passing. Mental mistakes. Missed assignments. Guys cramping and getting winded late in games. There is a legitimate amount of rust to be knocked off for nearly everyone this time of year.
Some of the shortcomings noted above will work themselves out with time and conditioning and reps. No one in Dallas is panicking, and after all, a win is a win. (And a 16-point win over a team expected to be an AFC playoff contender is a fantastic way to start the season.)
And after a frustrating and tension-filled offseason, Cowboys fans understandably aren’t especially eager to focus on the negative after such a satisfyingly cathartic win to kick off the season.
But pretending there’s not a problem won’t help it go away. McCarthy knows there’s a problem to be fixed; he and the offense have six days to tinker with it before trying again versus New Orleans.