Lil’ Cole has to be a giant for the Cowboys if they want to be worth a darn this season

Reviewing the Dallas Cowboys’ season-opening loss in Charlotte, superlatives on offense are harder to find than a civil politician.

Kavon Frazier had a nice game.

Wait. He plays defense. Sorry.

And Tank Lawrence... dang it. Sorry. He’s a defensive player.

In reviewing the game, which was like washing a flea-ridden dog, three offensive players stood out as having a decent afternoon: Guard Zack Martin, center Joe Looney and receiver Cole Beasley.

Again, we are comparing the Cowboys’ offensive players against the performances of their teammates, so the standard isn’t Canton. Not tripping over your own feet on a play, or vomiting in the huddle, earned players a plus mark on their grade report.

Any offensive superlative is tainted by the fact that the offense generated a pathetic 232 yards. The rediscovery of Beasley is the single most encouraging news to come away from Sunday’s otherwise trashtastic performance.

Lil’ Cole finished with a team-high seven receptions for 73 yards. Dak Prescott threw at Beasley eight times.

The Cowboys offense is built to function like the Patriots: No true X receiver, but a collection of guys who get open and the quarterback finds him. It’s built for a receiver like Beasley.

Without Jason Witten, or any tight end, knowing where/how to get open underneath, Prescott’s top target was the little rapper that could.

Sunday was the most active Beasley has been in two years, when he was Dak’s top target all season.

“Probably - I think so,” Beasley said.

Not ‘think so.’ Definitely so.

No Cowboys player disappeared more in 2017 than Beasley, who went from the team’s leading receiver in ‘16 to a ghost the following year.

The last time Dak targeted Cole as much as he did Sunday was Week 2 in Denver of last season, when it all went to the Porta Potty. The Broncos showed the world that Cole was Dak’s binky, and the offense couldn’t pass gas after that point.

After that day in Denver, he caught no more than four passes in a game.

The last time Beasley caught seven passes was the team’s win over the Bears in Week 3 of the ‘16 season.

Against Carolina, Dak found his binky again.

“I think it’s more of what they played (defensively) and how he could attack them,” Beasley said. “We got behind, and had to start spreading them out and that really helped me find some windows. We went straight three receiver sets and then the holes were bigger.”

As much garbage as head coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan took for the game, the players were worse.

In all, the Cowboys offense didn’t execute what they wanted, and should be able, to do.

The receivers, as a whole, can’t be much worse than they were on Sunday. It didn’t help that Dak didn’t have a lot of time, and when he did he missed passes to rookie Michael Gallup and tight end Blake Jarwin on attempts that a good NFL quarterback must complete.

They were the type of passes that keep drives moving, and end in points.

An underneath second-half throw to Ezekiel Elliott had the potential to do serious damage, but he was narrowly tripped by a defender.

Beasley is never going to be a stretch-the-field type of player, but as a receiver he can make his money by extending drives and driving opponents crazy with slant routes all over the field.

That’s what he did in 2016, and what he didn’t do in ‘17.

If the Cowboys are going to be any good in ‘18, Lil Cole has to be that big again.