After the Dallas Cowboys‘ shockingly bad performance in Week 2, there is a lot to react to and perhaps even overreact to.
As good as their Week 1 performance was, the Cowboys’ showing on Sunday was just as bad, if not worse.
Here are some overreactions to the Week 2 dismantling at the hands of the New Orleans Saints.
The Dallas Cowboys Are Frauds Like Everyone Suspected
Every year, those who like to root against the Cowboys cling to the notion that they are vastly overhyped by the media and their fans.
Following Sunday’s performance, it’s hard not to feel that those words may have some validity.
TD Hat Trick in the first half for the one and only, Alvin Kamara
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/I9HiBCrQnK
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) September 15, 2024
After Week 1, the Cowboys were almost universally considered a top-10 team and a real contender in the NFC. While that may have been an overreaction to that game, today’s power rankings look vastly different as well.
While the truth lies somewhere in the middle of it all, it’s going to be really hard for Cowboys fans to beat the fraud charges this week.
Outside of CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Has No Offensive Weapons
Where is the offensive firepower? If CeeDee Lamb isn’t catching the ball, who is? Those are valid questions facing the Cowboys after Week 2.
Brandin Cooks, Jalen Tolbert, and others have been effective sparingly through the first two weeks, and it raises real questions about this team’s identity right now.
With no real resources allocated to the running back room and an unproductive group of wide receivers, one may ask if we are in the midst of a drastic regression from a once high-powered offense.
Things won’t get any easier with Dallas’ almost outright refusal to add via free agency.
With teams having a potential blueprint on how to stop them, Cowboys fans may be in store for even more frustration on the offensive side of the ball.
Teams Can Scheme Micah Parsons Out of the Game
Week 1 was much of what we have come to expect from dynamic pass rusher Micah Parsons. He was all over the field, pressuring the quarterback and making tackles.
However, in Week 2, the Saints simply tried and succeeded in making Parsons a relative non-factor.
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From running away from him to allocating tight ends, running backs, and whoever else to chip and combo block him, Parsons was neutralized on Sunday.
Mike Zimmer and Co. will need to get creative in order to get Parsons more opportunities. Without real adjustments, teams now know how to attack the playmaker and keep his impact at bay.
If Week 2 is any indicator of what it looks like when Parsons can’t make plays, it spells trouble for Dallas.
Dallas Continues To Be Front-Runners
This may not be an overreaction as much as it is outright perplexing.
No, it’s probably not fair to assume all you need to do is get out in front of the Cowboys, and you win the game. However, it seems like the teams that do that win. So, maybe there is something to it after all.
The Saints, like the Green Bay Packers and several teams before them, took an early lead on Dallas and never looked back. For whatever reason, Dallas is unable to dig itself out of a hole and finds itself sinking into quicksand in many of these scenarios.
Without being able to overcome in-game transgressions, it’s hard to take this Cowboys team seriously.
Was Mike Zimmer a Downgrade From Dan Quinn?
All offseason, new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer has been lauded for what he can bring to this defense. From his tough, no-nonsense coaching style to his dynamic and complex defensive schemes, Dallas believed it was getting a defensive guru who could answer all of the questions on that side of the ball.
However, after Week 2’s beatdown, some may be wondering if Dallas has actually taken a step back at the defensive coordinator spot, with Dan Quinn now in Washington as the Commanders’ head coach.
It may not be fair, but it is overreaction Monday, right?
There were assuredly going to be growing pains associated with the switch, but with that comes the truly head-scratching Jekyll and Hyde scenario that was the Cowboys’ defense from Week 1 to Week 2.
Zimmer was brought in to minimize the massive gaps in consistency, and right now, despite the changes, it feels like more of the same for Dallas’ defense.