Dallas Cowboys Legion of Doom defense makes championship statement in season opener
It was only Game 1.
So no season-long conclusions can be shaped.
But statements can most certainly can be made.
And the Dallas Cowboys, particularly their Legion of Doom defense, put out a message loud and clear to the rest of the NFL in Sunday’s 40-0 bloodbath of the New York Giants.
It was a ruthless, relentless and merciless massacre inside the Giants own home stadium at MetLife Field that took a page out of the “Red Wedding” episode from Game of Thrones.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones paid the ultimate price as he was sacked seven times and hit 12 times by Cowboys pass rushers that came at him in waves in recording the most lopsided shutout victory in franchise history.
Jones, who signed a contract that pays him $40 million annually in the offseason, completed 15 of 28 passes for 104 and two interceptions with quarterback rating of 32.4.
The first interception was returned 22 yards for a touchdown by cornerback DeRon Bland and the second one by cornerback Stephon Gilmore set up a Cowboys touchdown.
The Cowboys recorded three turnovers.
Cornerback Trevon Diggs, a finesse player sometimes known for interceptions more than his tackles, added to the beat down with a big hit on running back Saquon Barkley that led to the Bland interception.
He also had a chase down tackle on receiver Isaiah Hodgins, ripping the ball out to force a fumble.
It actually could have been worse, considering that safety Malik Hooker dropped a gift interception that hit him squarely in the chest. And the Cowboys forced two other fumbles that the Giants recovered.
It was the continuation of a dominance by a Cowboys defense that began in training camp when they smothered quarterback Dak Prescott and the team’s high-powered offense offense seemingly every day.
And it was a signal to the league that a unit that was that finished third in sacks last season and first in turnovers for the past two seasons has a chance to be even better in 2023.
“That’s who we are,” Cowboys coach McCarthy said. “I clearly feel we’ve taken another step. You could see that in training camp. The pass rush was relentless.”
Said Prescott: “I think I’ve talked about it all spring to training camp, understanding the pass rush that we were going against at practice and just watching that come alive against another team, another quarterback was exciting.”
Exciting for Prescott. Frightening for Jones and the rest of the NFL, especially when you consider that linebacker Micah Parsons, the team’s best player and favorite to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year, didn’t have the best game among Cowboys defenders.
Parsons had one of the team’s seven sacks and a number of quarterback hits.
But it was defensive end Dorance Amstrong and defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa who led the way with two sacks each. Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and defensive tackle Chauncy Golston recorded a sack.
“We never let up, which is a great sign because last year, we might have let up a little bit” Parsons said. “But we just stayed on the and didn’t let them breathe. We smothered them.”
The scary part is that the Cowboys had such a complete performance on defense in what was the first outing for many of the players since last season’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional playoffs.
Although they dominated in training camp practice, none of the defensive starters played in the preseason.
“A lot of guys didn’t have a preseason game,” Lawrence said. “For us to come out and run around and hit like that, I feel we did a good job.”
That means they can only get better.
So was Sunday’s game a statement?
“That’s for y’all to write,” Lawrence said. “The only thing we can do is go out and play the game. So if you feel like a statement was made, put that on the front page, big letters, bold letters.
But I definitely feel like we did our job to the maximum of our ability and I feel like we can still learn and get better it.”
Parsons didn’t hesitate.
“I think we’re making a statement that we’ve been trying to make: We’re the best defense in the National Football League,” Parsons said.
It’s well understood among the Cowboys that if they are going to realize their Super Bowl dreams and reach the ultimate game for the first time in 28 seasons it will be led by a dominant and merciless defense, similar to the championship units that were the foundation to title runs in Seattle, Baltimore and Tampa Bay in years past.
Parsons said that was look the Cowboys showed against the Giants.
And Lawrence said it is the team’s mindset.
“Absolutely. That’s the goal,” Lawrence said. “That’s the end goal for sure. We want to make sure we keep doing our job, keep stacking it one day and one game at a time. When we look up, we’ll be there.”
Sunday was a start and a ruthless statement.
This story was originally published September 11, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
