By the Numbers: Cowboys penalties, run D, Javonte Williams' TD two-fer among telling stats
Football is a game of numbers, but a 24-20 final score doesn't tell the entire story of Thursday night's regular-season opener for the Cowboys. Nor does CeeDee Lamb's career-worst four dropped passes. Not even the 0-1 start in Brian Schottenheimer's inaugural year is the number that matters most, especially with 94% of the season still to play.
Dallas will be searching for things to build on, and a deeper dive into the box score provides plenty: both positives to reinforce as well as opportunities for growth. While the team can look to Dak Prescott's mostly-clean uniform, Javonte Williams's touchdown two-fer, and some uncharacteristic red-zone success as Week 1 bright spots, there's still concern for the defense's well-documented Achilles' heel and some snap distribution disparities that could stand to be evened out.
Time of possession, penalty counts, and big-play prevention: they're all stats that are trending in the right direction for the Cowboys, even if it's been just one game.
Let's take a look inside some of the other numbers that help put the first game of 2025 season into a different perspective.
0: Sacks taken by Dak Prescott
The Dallas offensive line, revamped in the offseason with rookie Tyler Booker taking over for retired perennial All-Pro Zack Martin, kept Prescott mostly clean. The final stat sheet shows zero sacks for the vaunted Eagles D-line and only one QB hit on the night.
But Prescott deserves a significant amount of the credit for that; he used his legs (and that rehabbed hamstring) to buy time in the pocket and get himself out of a lot of trouble. Philly logged 13 pressures, and while Prescott recorded just three yards on his lone rushing attempt, he completed 75% of his passes thrown while under enemy fire.
1: Plays of 20+ yards allowed
Last year, the Cowboys defense was gashed for 52 plays of more 20 yards over the course of the season, an average of three per game. Against the defending Super Bowl champs Thursday, though, they allowed just one.
Hard to fault new Cowboys cornerback Kaiir Elam for Jahan Dotson's 51-yard pickup late in the second quarter; it came on a picture-perfect bucket drop where the former first-rounder was providing step-for-step coverage. Dallas was concerned about their CB corps coming in; they'll only get better as Trevon Diggs ramps back up and reinforcements Caelen Carson, Josh Butler, and Shavon Revel Jr. arrive.
2: Rushing TDs from Javonte Williams
Javonte Williams's fantasy owners- the ones who actually started him- had reason to celebrate the veteran's Dallas debut. But the former Bronco's two-touchdown performance was pretty noteworthy for the Cowboys faithful, too.
Prior to Thursday night, the Cowboys had gone 26 full games (including playoffs) without notching multiple rushing touchdowns as a team. And the last time one Cowboys player scored two on the ground?? Tony Pollard... in Week 1 of 2023. The Cowboys may never go full Martyball during Brian Schottenheimer's first year, but this was a step in the right direction toward a viable rushing attack that at least keeps defenses honest.
4: Total Cowboys penalties
Penalties were a contact bugaboo under Mike McCarthy, with pre- and post-snap infractions often killing the team. Dallas was the fourth-most-penalized club in the league last season, averaging seven and a half flags per game and hitting double-digits in five different contests.
By comparison, four penalties (last year's game-best mark) in a Week 1 contest under a new coaching staff is an obvious and massive improvement. Of those four, two were unnecessary roughness, and one was for too many men on the field, both extremely preventable mistakes. Just one holding call; no false starts, no pass interference, no roughing, no offside, no illegal motions or alignment penalties. That's something Schottenheimer can build on.
6: Defensive snaps for Marist Liufau
Over half the Cowboys' Week 1 defensive starters were players who did not log a snap for the team in 2024. Not all of the newcomers impressed in their Dallas debut, though; veteran linebacker Kenneth Murray looked downright lost on multiple occasions, yet he was on the field for every single defensive snap of the night.
By contrast, second-year man Marist Liufau played like a man possessed and was far and away the best defender wearing the star... except he wasn't on the field that often. Liufau logged just six defensive snaps (and 12 more on special teams), but it's practically a guarantee he'll get more time with Matt Eberflus's unit moving forward.
11: 4th-quarter minutes for defense
The Cowboys were never more than four points down, but the offense simply never got enough chances as the game went on. The fourth quarter, in particular, turned into a game of keep away that the Eagles won handily, holding onto the ball for a suffocating 11:01.
It was Philly's 11-play possession to start the final frame that did the most damage, going for just 32 yards but killing 7:26 off the clock. Dallas took just 11 offensive snaps from that point on. Granted, they didn't do themselves any favors from a playcalling standpoint and, in hindsight, may have gone too pass-heavy too early. With 7:20 to go, the Cowboys passed on three out of four plays (3-of-3, 16 yards) before punting. Then with 3:02 left and all three timeouts to work with, they inexplicably hurried, passing on seven straight snaps (3-of-7, 27 yards, 3 deep incompletions to CeeDee Lamb) and giving the ball back to Jalen Hurts at the two-minute warning just to watch him kneel it out.
61: Offensive snaps for Tyler Guyton
Last year's first-round draft pick was thought to have torn an ACL on July 28, but Tyler Guyton managed to rehab his way back to his starting spot at left tackle and had no injury designation at all by Sept. 3. Never mind a pitch count; Guyton played every single offensive snap of the game.
He wasn't always technically sound and still shows a troubling proclivity for leaving his feet and getting himself off-balance in pass protection, but Guyton was in there taking up space with his 6-foot-8-inch 320-pound frame. His nasty streak was also on full display, notably in a first-quarter battle with Eagles linebacker Jalyx Hunt. Guyton reared back and laid a vicious head slap on Hunt that, although it escaped the notice of officials, may well earn him a hefty fine from the league.
63: Total minutes of weather delay
Thursday night's lightning stoppage probably came at an ideal moment for Dallas, having just lost a fumble 10 yards from the end zone on what would have been a go-ahead score. The hourlong delay pulled the plug on any momentum the Eagles might have gained in that moment, but it also cooled off both offenses considerably.
After the extended break that reportedly saw both teams chowing down on Uncrustables in the locker rooms, both offenses sputtered. No drive from either team went for more than 32 yards, all five of the game's punts happened after the delay, and no one scored again once they re-took the field.
67%: Red zone efficiency
Red has meant stop in recent seasons for Dallas; last year, the Cowboys converted just 46% of their red-zone trips into touchdowns, ranking a pathetic 31st out of 32 teams.
Thursday saw Dak Prescott and the offense find paydirt on two out of three red-zone visits. The only failure? The third-quarter possession that saw Jake Ferguson drop two in the end zone and ended with Miles Sanders's fumble. Nevertheless, there's nobody who wouldn't be thrilled with a 67% red-zone efficiency on a regular basis. Starting the game with a score certainly helps; prior to Javonte Williams's first touchdown, the Cowboys hadn't scored an opening-drive TD since Week 14 last year. It was the only first-possession touchdown Dallas posted in 2024.
158: Rushing yards allowed
The Cowboys were so intent on stopping the run (so they said) that they casually traded away the generational talent of Micah Parsons to get better at it. The move didn't exactly provide immediate results, however, as the Eagles racked up 158 yards on the ground Thursday night.
Yes, Philadelphia has Saquon Barkley. And Jalen Hurts. But the Cowboys' run D, ranked in the bottom five last year, had only six outings in 2024 where they gave up more yards, including both of their meetings with the Birds. The search for answers in shutting down the run continues.
The Texans haven’t admitted their mistake in trading Laremy Tunsil - but Week 1 made it clear
Going into the 2025 offseason, it was expected that the Houston Texans would make significant moves to revamp their roster after a disappointing sophomore season for C.J. Stroud. The quarterback exploded on the NFL scene during his rookie year in 2023, and the Texans looked primed to be a legitimate AFC threat as soon as possible.
That led to high expectations for his second season, only for the quarterback to seemingly regress despite playing in more games, with most of the decline attributed to brutal offensive injuries that depleted his receiving corps.
Part of the biggest issues remained with the offensive line, so big decisions were projected to be made. But it wasn't expected that five-time Pro Bowl tackle Laremy Tunsil would be traded to the Commanders, even if the offense clearly needed a reset.
The deal was mostly applauded, but it didn't take long for it to look like a major regret, as the Texans took on a very tough Rams team in Week 1 on Sunday.
Trading away Laremy Tunsil is already looking like a massive mistake, even if the Texans won't admit it
Protecting your franchise quarterback is always going to be an emphasis for any NFL team, and that is exactly what the Texans were hoping to do this offseason by upgrading their offensive line, which apparently included trading away a pillar of the group in Tunsil.
There might be an argument to make that it was time to move on, something even NFL insider Albert Breer shared shortly after the trade was made official. However, based on how they performed in this game and the trouble they had protecting Stroud, it's clear they're already missing Tunsil, and it has only been one game without him.
To be fair, the offensive line did suffer several injuries, so backups were put into positions they weren't necessarily prepared for. That will always have an impact on an offense's performance, and that showed throughout the game.
But, at the same time, they're lacking a leader like Tunsil who could have rallied them together, or, at the very least, provided some sort of stability that could have made a slight difference in their production.
The only silver lining out of the devastating loss is that it wasn't entirely unexpected for the Texans to struggle against the Rams, who are only a few years removed from winning the Super Bowl. They have a tough defense, and they were an immediate test to a new Houston offensive line; unfortunately, they weren't able to be consistent enough to avoid becoming a problem.
There is definitely room to consider that improvements need to be made before the situation even worsens. The problem is that top-quality offensive linemen don't often become available, and the remaining free agent list looks scarce. That means the Texans are really going to have to evaluate things moving forward, or risk further harm to their offense and their quarterback.
