The Dallas Cowboys season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles had just about everything an NFL game could possibly offer. 

Explosive plays. Disheartening mishaps. Scuffles as tempers flared. Lightning delays. A spit scandal that resulted in an ejection before the first play. 

In the end, Dallas would drop a close matchup to the reigning Super Bowl champs, losing 24-20 to start the season with an 0-1 record. Yet somehow, the Cowboys looked a bit better than expected. There is still lots of room for improvement -- and moral victories don't exist in the NFL -- but there seems to be potential. 

Heading into the game, Dallas needed to rebound from the Micah Parsons trade, limit explosive plays from the Eagles on the ground and see a strong performance from quarterback Dak Prescott. How well did they do in each of those categories?

Pass rushers struggled, but maybe not as much as expected.

Defensive end Micah Parsons was traded just a week before the start of the season. Losing any starting player that close to the season is tough to get around, let alone a starter that is one of the top defenders in the entire NFL. It shouldn't be any surprise that the Cowboys entered the game with a huge disadvantage at that position.

Marshawn Kneeland, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Sam Williams and James Houston all took reps at the defensive end position, combining for eight solo tackles and three assists . Kneeland also recorded Dallas' only sack. Those numbers aren't great, but there's a bit of a tale of two halves here. 

In the first half, the Cowboys couldn't have come up with a stop if Eagles players ran in slow motion. There was no pass rush, no sense of urgency and no ability to make a big stop when needed. Philadelphia scored 21 points before heading into the locker room at halftime... and made it look easy.

The second half was much better for Dallas' defense. Did an inspiring locker room speech help them get their heads in the game? Maybe, but it seems like the defense just simply settled in and found its footing. There were more drives that ended in punts, more pressures in the backfield and the players seemed to be more aggressive overall. 

Philadelphia couldn't be stopped on the ground.

The Eagles knew they had the edge on the ground heading into the game, and they used that to their advantage. Quarterback Jalen Hurts rushed for 62 yards and two touchdowns, while reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley had one touchdown and 60 yards on 18 carries. 

The majority of plays -- especially in the first half -- were runs, and even though the Cowboys knew it was coming, they couldn't do anything to stop it. The missed tackles and overall disorientation was so bad that it was almost comical. 

That's not to say that Philadelphia didn't take shots through the air as well: Hurts went 19-for-23 passing on the night for 152 yards. Passing, for the most part, was just less effective than running the ball and picking up a solid gain nearly every time. 

Dak Prescott wasn't bad, but he could've been better.

Prescott's stat-line was average: he finished 21-of-34 on the night with 188 yards and no touchdowns. Some of those incompletions were thrown into heavy traffic and nearly picked off. Others were drops that could have been game-changing plays, like when wide receiver CeeDee Lamb failed to reel in a ball that hit his hands in the Cowboys' final drive. 

However, Prescott was fairly mobile in the pocket and seemed to take bigger shots than in years past. That didn't make much of a difference against the Eagles, but it is a good indicator of what's to come from the signal-caller this season. 

Does Prescott need to be better? Absolutely. Does the offense look poised for success this year under him? Absolutely.