EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The query in Dallas the latter few years has all the time been this: Can Dak Prescott supremacy the Cowboys to the Tremendous Bowl? This date that query could be beside the point.

As a result of for one evening, no less than, it certain gave the impression of this Cowboys protection is excellent plenty to do it on their very own.

They made that remark rowdy and sunlit with the most important Opening Night time shutout in franchise historical past, after they crushed the Unutilized York Giants 40-0 on Sunday evening on the Meadowlands. They sacked Giants quarterback Daniel Jones seven instances, picked him off two times, pressured 3 fumbles, held their offense to simply 171 overall yards and saved Jones operating for his while on nearly each and every play games.

It was once an onslaught. It was once smothering. And for the Cowboys, it wasn’t unexpected in any respect.

“We’re making a statement which I’ve been trying to make,” mentioned Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons. “We’re the best defense in the National Football League.”

Off that efficiency, it was once brittle to argue. The Giants had negative solutions for the Dallas protection, even sooner than the bulky rains truly began to fall. The Giants couldn’t cancel the Cowboys’ entrance seven. And in the event that they accumulation taking part in like that each one season, it’s brittle to consider someone will.

The beat-down the Cowboys’ protection put at the supposedly stepped forward Giants was once so thorough and so fast that Prescott slightly performed sooner than Dallas had a 16-0 supremacy. They scored on a stopped farmland objective by means of protection Juanyeh Thomas that was once returned 58 yards for a landing by means of cornerback Noah Igbinoghene. They usually scored on a Pick out-6 when cornerback Trevon Diggs put a accident on Saquon Barkley that popped the ball leave and into the fingers of cornerback DaRon Dull, who returned it 22 yards for a landing.

That each one took place within the first 12 ½ mins of the sport. Prescott, by means of that time, were at the farmland for best 8 performs.

“That got it started and it really never stopped,” mentioned Cowboys schoolmaster Mike McCarthy. “The defense was relentless all night.”

“We just never let up,” Parsons added. “Which is good — a great sign — because last year we maybe would’ve let up a little bit. But we just stayed on them. We didn’t let them breathe. We smothered them.”

That they did. The Giants in truth ran their method to 38 yards at the first force eminent as much as the primary farmland objective, profiting from the Cowboys’ blitzes and operating proper by means of them with Jones and Barkley (12 carries, 51 yards). However they just received 133 yards the remains of the evening — and 49 of the ones got here within the fourth quarter when the Cowboys already had their 40-point supremacy.

Next that opening force, the Giants had been utterly out of sync. They labored so brittle to support their offense this season, buying and selling for tight finish Darren Waller, signing receiver Parris Campbell, drafting receiver Jalin Hyatt and extra. They did the whole thing they might to enclose their newly minted $160 million quarterback with ample guns.

However guns aren’t any excellent within the face of a cross accelerate just like the Cowboys ran at all of them competition.

“I’ve talked about it all spring to training camp, understanding the pass rush we’re going against in practice,” mentioned Prescott, who was once simply 13 of 24 for 143 yards on a most commonly stress-free evening for him. “Watching that come alive against another team, another quarterback, was exciting. It made it easier for us on our side.”

That fierce, relentless cross accelerate was once led by means of linebacker Micah Parsons, who perceived to come at Jones (15 of 28, 104 yards, 2 interceptions) on nearly each and every play games, from each and every attitude. He best had one sack, however he accident Jones two times and was once in pursuit of the quarterback so steadily, Jones goes to peer him in his nightmares for weeks.

Parsons even pressured Jones’ 2nd interception when he made a notable play games to bop off one blocker, stunt round Giants rookie middle John Michael Schmitz, and after chase Jones around the farmland to the sidelines. That’s the place Jones, obviously listening to Parson’s footsteps, made an ill-advised throw that was once picked off by means of Cowboys cornerback Stephon Gilmore.

And it’s now not like Parsons was once a one-man wrecking group both. He will have staked his early case for Defensive Participant of the Day together with his efficiency, however he had enough of support from his pals. Diggs pressured one fumble and compelled that early interception together with his accident on Barkley. Defensive take on Osa Odighizuwa had two sacks. So did defensive finish Dorance Armstrong. And DeMarcus Lawrence had a sack, a quarterback accident and a take on for a loss and was once his regular headache for the Giants.

The Cowboys protection was once credited with 12 quarterback hits. They’d 10 tackles for losses. They’d 8 passes defensed. And it felt like they’d an entire quantity extra.

It’s best Presen 1 after all, and it’s imaginable that the Giants are simply that malicious. For sure their offensive form has lengthy been a sore spot for this franchise and it seems to be to be a sickness once more. The Cowboys, even though, would in lieu consider it was once them. They’d a excellent, however now not admirable, protection latter season that ranked twelfth within the NFL. They struggled preventing the run every now and then, however they’d a powerful cross accelerate that recorded 54 sacks, which join them for 3rd within the NFL. 

This efficiency, even though, was once any other degree — a degree that if they may be able to conserve it will put them at the degree Parsons desires them to be: Among the finest defenses of all date. This efficiency, he mentioned, was once reliable of that majestic objective.

“I believe so,” he mentioned, “just with the turnovers, the relentlessness, the effort by all 11.”

Once more, it’s early, as McCarthy and Prescott had been fast to remind everybody then the sport. However this competition nonetheless felt like a admirable omen for what’s to return. It was once additionally eerily paying homage to the 1995 season opener, when the Cowboys got here to the used Giants Stadium right here and pounded the Giants 35-0. The Giants had been coming off a 9-7 season and concept they had been construction one thing particular, identical to they concept heading into this date. However the ones Cowboys taught them a formidable lesson, and after impaired that momentum to kick off a championship run for what left-overs their latter Tremendous Bowl crew.

It’ll be a date sooner than someone is aware of if that historical past will repeat. However this competition must nonetheless ship shivers unwell the spines of the remains of the NFC East — and possibly the remains of the NFC and NFL, too. Since the Cowboys nonetheless have a perilous offense with an elite quarterback in Prescott, a powerful offensive form, a excellent dashing assault in the back of Tony Pollard and higher passing-game guns than they’d latter date.

They only didn’t want them on Opening Night time. In any respect. The offense spent lots of the evening as though they had been simply operating out the clock. Prescott didn’t want to do the rest alternative than simply give protection to the soccer within the rainfall, for the reason that guys on protection, as McCarthy mentioned, “were in total control of the game.”

The Cowboys will sooner or later want extra as a result of that is nonetheless a quarterback league and an month of offensive explosion. However that is an offense that averaged 27.4 issues in keeping with competition latter season. They know the offense shall be there when they want it.

They only would possibly now not want Prescott up to they concept. He would possibly now not need to be the one that carries all of them season of their quest for his or her first Tremendous Bowl in 27 years. This will nonetheless be Prescott’s crew and he would possibly nonetheless be the most important megastar in Dallas, but when the opener was once any indication, it sort of feels sunlit the Dallas protection is greater than able to eminent the best way.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports activities, protecting the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and Unutilized York Giants. He spent the former six years protecting the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in Unutilized York, and sooner than that, 16 years protecting the Giants and the NFL for the Unutilized York Day by day Information. Practice him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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