5 positives from the Dallas Cowboys Week 1 loss to Tampa Bay

There’s two ways of looking at the Dallas Cowboys Week 1 loss in the season opener to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You’re either a glass half-full type of person who looks on the positive sides of things, or the glass half empty type who is feeling all the negativity surrounding the team right now. Which are you?

Instead of being a Debbie Downer after the Cowboys embarrassing 19-3 loss at the hands of the Buccaneers, let’s shift our focus on some the positives that came out of the season opener instead. After all, there’s enough negativity already going around.

#1: Micah Parsons dominates

Micah Parsons, the 2021 Defensive NFL Rookie of the Year, picked up where he left off in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite Tom Brady’s well-documented ability to get rid of the ball quickly and uncanny ability to escape pressure, No. 11 was able contently harass him all night Sunday and even sacked him twice, his first double-digit QB sack game of the season.

#2: Zeke looks like the Zeke of old

One of the few bright spots offensively for the Cowboys Sunday night against the Buccaneers was how good Ezekiel Elliott looked running the ball. He finished the night averaging 5.2 yards per carry for 52 yards on just 10 carries. He was explosive and decisive, much like he was earlier in his career when he was continuously among the league leaders in rushing yards. Hopefully, this is just a glimpse of the good things to come.

#3: Cowboys’ secondary continues to create turnovers

Led by Trevon Diggs (11 INTs), the Dallas Cowboys secondary was an interception-making machine in 2021. There is hope this would carry over into 2022, and so far it has. Thanks to Donovan Wilson, the Cowboys secondary kept their interception streak alive by picking up Tom Brady Sunday night. Doing this against a QB of Brady’s caliber, and with the talent surrounding him, is a positive sign for Dallas’ secondary moving forward.

#4: Future looks bright for Tyler Smith

There was quite a bit of concern surrounding Tyler Smith entering the season opener against the Buccaneers due to the fact he was making his first career start at left tackle, a position he got very little practice time at throughout the offseason. But thankfully, he not only handled his own in both the running and passing game, but look good doing it too. He looks like he will be a fixture on the Cowboys OL for years to come.

#5: Brett Maher puts kicking concerns to bed

Brett Maher wasn’t the Cowboys first, or even their second, choice to be their kicker for the 2022 season, but things look to have worked out nonetheless. On Sunday night against the Buccaneers, No. 19 capitalized on his only field-goal attempt by splitting the uprights from 51 yards out. It may just be a small sample size, however, it does ease a lot of the concerns surrounding the kicking situation we’ve had all offseason.