All offseason, Dallas talked of high expectations, and after getting well-beaten by New York, have those expectations changed?
As far as first impressions go for new Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker, he and his unit could not have given a worse one in the 28-20 loss to the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Jaxson Dart and Co. had their way with the Cowboys' defense, rushing for 165 yards and converting nine of 11 third downs, en route to a superb win for John Harbaugh's team.
The defense, perhaps shockingly, showed all of the exact same warts as Matt Eberflus' unit did last season.
Costly penalties, miscommunication, and the inability to even stop the run and get the offense off the field made it a nightmare for Parker and his unit.
After all of the offseason talk of the Super Bowl, and having an improved defense, does the Week 1 humbling change head coach Brian Schottenheimer's mind as to what the expectations should be for this defense?
"It's part of the learning curve, and we have to get better," Schottenheimer said. "But we're going to make mistakes, and I see this defense every day, and we did not perform well enough as a football team, coaching and playing.
"It's certainly not the standard, but I'm also not ready to say the expectations for where we think we're going to get to as a defense and as a football team are not accurate."
And what about the offense, and the club as a whole?
Said Dak: "I know the way that we approach things. I know that our routine, I know that our standard, I know that the way that we practice is the right way, so, my message is just echoing—don't change, don't flinch, don't blink.
"This is a long year, we have to stick together. We are hanging our hat on our brotherhood, and that is who we believe that we are, so there is no better time to show it than after a loss.
"A little bit of adversity—we've got to make sure, we use it as a lesson. Humble us. I am sure you guys are going to write whatever, deservingly, about this game.
"We've got to make sure we put the blinders on and focus on what we can control."
A lovely sentiment, but ...
I think a lot of Cowboys Nation right now have had the hope and excitement they felt for this team stripped away after just four quarters of football.
Now, how much of what we saw was a defense that hasn't played together at all and the learning curve that comes with that, and how much of it was the defense and players simply not good enough?
Likely both.
Now, we aren't going to overreact to one game, but after what Dallas produced, it is tough to offer any excitement after what we saw at MetLife.
Yes, it was Parker's first game as a coordinator, and we stated there would be growing pains; we just didn't expect there to be so many after Week 1.
And despite the debacle at MetLife, expectations for the Cowboys, at least from Schottenheimer and Prescott, haven't changed.
Make of that, what you will.
