Grading the Dallas Cowboys Week 1 win

Brianna Aldridge joined with Patrick Walker from cowboys.com here to kind of point out what we saw from week one with the Cowboys first Browns and just to start things off we have to talk about the latest update with Jake Ferguson because obviously yes we're talking about last week but looking ahead that's kind of a big deal when you're number one tight end isn't a for sure go right now yeah absolute terrifying moment for the Dallas Cowboys when Jake Ferguson went down with a knee injury did not return to the game but great news he will not be put on injured reserve he may not even miss this upcoming game against the Saints it's an MCL sprain but he's in the return to work program today in Wednesday's practice he has a shot at plane on Sunday and just in case he doesn't McCarthy did say look for schoon maker to be more active role I guess you could say um what would you kind of be eyeing let's say we get to Friday and the news is not going how we're thinking well schoon maker obviously going to be asked to step up this is a former second round pick from last year but also look at a guy like Hunter lipkey he's the fullback but he did a lot of work with the tight ends in Oxnard at training camp John Stevens Jr missed the season opener with a hamstring injury can he get back onto the field for his NFL debut brevan span Ford a high ranked undrafted guy he's going to be look to step up and also Princeton fan on the practice squad might get an elevation okay so as promised we got to dissect a little bit of what happened in week one the biggest storyline heading in was how are these two rookie offensive linemen going to measure up to Miles Garrett and I think it's safe to to say that they they passed their first test they did uh miles Garrett had only one sack and even that was arguable maybe it was an incomplete pass but overall you talk about Tyler gon out there more often than not on an island with the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year and played very well slide inside a couple spots Cooper BB allowed zero pressures and zero sacks safe to say that he did a phenomenal job both of those guys in their first uh NFL game for the Cowboys and I want to talk about who's we just talked about it not a rookie right but kind of is is kind of is a rookie we're talking about de Maran overshown right um he was just fun to watch it looked like when people come back from the second half and they lose little juice it looked like I don't know what he had in the locker room but he just came out and put deshun Watson just flat out laid him out what can you just see about his rookie debut you know technically he is a rookie realistically I technically he's not a rookie but realistically he is this is a guy that was red shirted allive last year due to that torn ACL what does he come out and show you every single thing every single reason that the Cowboys made him a third round pick a couple years ago if that and now you look at speed the ability to Spy mobile quarterbacks that's going to come in handy guess who's on the menu uh Lamar Jackson right so that's going to be Cinema but you look at the speed his juice his football IQ his patience he has the patience of a veteran I think he's getting that from a guy like Eric Kendricks obviously Mike Zimmer a linebacker Guru so de Mario no shown future is bright for that young man yeah it seemed like everybody ate on defense and for desan wats I personally wanted to go help him by time they got to to the third that's true he gets paid a little bit yeah a lot of not as much as Dak pres no one does love that for him um so my last question for you though obviously you're here day in and day out even when the team is off you are still here grinding what stood out to you when you're looking at just the week one I know it's we don't want to overreact but what stood out to you a couple things let's start with the offense Ezekiel Elliott looks better than what many outside the building would have given him credit for he comes out of comes out first play he hurdles a guy to let you know there's still some tread on those tires and he caught a pass in space made a guy miss the shiftiness is still there as well Brandon Cooks with the first touchdown of the Season had a slow start last year he's off to a fast start CD lamb what rust CD lamb came in and was doing it as a halfback as as a wide receiver the whole nine yards defensively Mike Zimmer's scheme looks fantastic it's unpredictable Trayvon Diggs looked great de Maran overon Eric Kendricks Michael Parsons Demarcus Lawrence the list goes on and on kin Carson another young man debut and absolutely played football against Amari Cooper Jerry Judy Elijah Moore all in all when you put that into the package and understand that Mike Zimmer had 50 plays in his defensive playbook and Trayvon Diggs and Michael Parson says he only unveiled three of those sets uh scary hours might be on the way for the Cowboys okay so I lied because I said last question what is your overall grade when you're looking at just overall as a team offense and defense what is the grade you give the Cowboys week one I'm going to give the offense a c uh and that's because although they got off to a fast start they did slow down in the second half I would like to see them have more of that Killer Instinct in the second half granted you don't have to unveil everything when you have a lead that big but don't take your foot off the gas so a c there but a solid B plus for the defense there were some things that they can clean up obviously Kaylin Carson wants two or three of those throws back because he could have had a two or three interception game um but all things considered the Cowboys defense played almost lights out so I'll give them a B plus so I land squarely at a B it's a B for me for the Cowboys against Cleveland Browns B solid for week one I think yeah it's good stuff that's the one and know is even better that starting with the win yeah it's definitely a good feeling and heading into a Saints team who is coming off a pretty convincing win themselves and we'll get more into that tomorrow when we return that's it for now for Patrick Walker and Brian Aldridge