JUST CHILL: Dez Bryant needs more targets regardless of defense

Five thoughts on the Dallas Cowboys, who are 0-1 after a season-opening loss against the New York Giants:

Dez rules redo

It’s time for some new Dez Bryant rules for his “on the field” activity. Cole Beasley and Jason Witten should never get double and triple the targets Bryant gets in a given game, let alone catches. That Bryant had just one catch for 8 yards on five targets in Sunday’s 20-19 loss to the New York Giants was criminal. It’s well understood that the Giants were focusing on stopping Bryant. The Cowboys need a scheme to find a way to get him the ball, just as the Pittsburgh Steelers do with Antonio Brown, who averages five catches a game every game no matter the opponent. Passes to Bryant need to be more than just deep shots down the field. As good as he is at making contested catches, he is also dynamic running with the ball in his hands. There is no one on the Cowboys whom teams fear more than Bryant running with the ball after the catch. Throw him the ball early and often against the Washington Redskins, just as the Steelers did with Brown in a 38-16 victory.

Patience with Zeke

Rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott’s “average” opening-game performance against the Giants can partially be attributed to the time he missed in training camp and the preseason. Elliott had 51 yards on 20 carries. He didn’t have much room to run against a much improved Giants defense stacking the line. But the run game is also about patience, nuance and chemistry. What Elliott missed in camp was a chance to get a feel for the running game behind the offensive line, and the Cowboys missed an opportunity to learn his style and how he likes things. It’s no surprise that veteran Alfred Morris had more success than Elliott against the Giants — seven carries for 35 yards. He had more holes, but he was also more decisive, which can be attributed to his experience in the NFL and his experience running behind the offensive line in training camp and the preseason.

Accentuating the positives

The Cowboys didn’t win the game against the Giants. But they played a winning brand of football for the better part of three quarters when they dominated the ball, time of possession and the scoreboard. The Cowboys didn’t finish the job in the fourth quarter, largely because they didn’t cash in in the red zone early. But it shouldn’t be overlooked that the game initially played out exactly how the Cowboys envisioned. “We scored on our first four drives. We had a good mix of run and pass. We converted third downs. We possessed the ball. We kept them off the field. All those things are really positive,” coach Jason Garrett said. “But you have to cash in in situational football. When you are down in the red zone, you have to score touchdowns. Everybody understands that. But I think there were a lot of good things that you can take out of this game — there’s no question about that.”

Defensive-line woes

There were concerns about the Cowboys’ defensive line coming into the season and they played out in disappointing fashion in the season opener against the Giants. The Cowboys couldn’t get to the quarterback consistently enough. Defensive end Benson Mayowa had one of the team’s two sacks. The other came from blitzing cornerback Orlando Scandrick, who embarrassingly is the team’s career active sacks leader with 10.5. Outside of that, the Cowboys got little pressure on quarterback Eli Manning. That lack of a pass rush was compounded by the line’s inability to play stout against the run when needed in the fourth quarter. They didn’t defeat blocks up front and couldn’t get off blocks at the linebacker level, per coach Jason Garrett. It will be a long season if the Cowboys can’t stop the run or get to the quarterback.

Poised Prescott

Rookie Dak Prescott didn’t get the win but the Cowboys didn’t lose the game because of anything lacking in his play. Prescott completed 25 of 45 passes for 227 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Things got muddy for him in the second half after completing 14 of 19 passes for 134 yards in the first two quarters of his first NFL game. He completed 11 of 26 for 93 yards in the final two quarters. Three completions and 45 yards came on the final drive of the game. But again, Prescott was let down by the players around him more so than anything he did or didn’t do. Two holding penalties by guard La’el Collins disrupted two drives in the second half. The lack of a running game didn’t help either nor did conservative play calling from the sidelines. But as far Prescott was concerned, he was the same old Dak as he’s always been. He was calm. He was confident. He was poised. The situation wasn’t too big for him at the beginning, nor the end when he nearly led the Cowboys on a final rally. “I thought he handled himself really well,” Garrett said. “He played the successes, played through the adversities, gave us a chance to win the ballgame at the end, a lot of positives.”

This story was originally published September 13, 2016 at 5:23 PM with the headline "JUST CHILL: Dez Bryant needs more targets regardless of defense."