Defense may boost Cowboys’ success. And we will get past the Saints.

It’s unsurprising that the news of Dak Prescott agreeing to a $60 million per year contract overwhelmed everything else that happened in Cleveland last Sunday when the Cowboys won a 33-17 season opener. Quarterbacks and money. It’s practically all we talk/write about in today’s NFL.

I would bet close to 90% of the newsprint/oxygen spent on the Cowboys the last two months has been on Dak and his contract; CeeDee Lamb and his contract; Mike McCarthy and his play-calling; and two promising rookies in the offensive line. It’s like we forget sometimes there is another unit of equal importance in this league. In fact, I had to be reminded of it while watching the Thursday night opener between Kansas City and Baltimore.

NBC posted a graphic that I’m sure I saw at some point during the Chiefs’ most recent waltz to the Super Bowl, but it tends to get lost in the shuffle. When we talk Chiefs, we talk about the greatness of Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift — possibly not in that order. And yet, as the graphic illustrated, Kansas City’s four playoff opponents ranked second (Miami), sixth (Buffalo), fourth (Baltimore) and third (San Francisco) in scoring last season, all just under 30 points. The Chiefs held them to 15.75 points per game during the playoffs.

Mahomes is Mahomes, and already I would argue there has been no one better in the modern era of football as he will prove over time. But the Chiefs’ defense has been more dominant than its offense during at least two of the Super Bowl runs, especially last year’s.

Could the same apply to the Cowboys in 2024? A team with the highest-paid quarterback and the second-highest-paid wide receiver just might be carried by the defense at times — as it was in Cleveland — and that’s not a bad thing. When the Cowboys have been at their best, historically, they have had game-wreckers on defense complementing or even leading the offense to victory.

We all need to pay more attention to this. Again we talk quarterbacks and money because it’s fascinating and, occasionally, staggering. Dak was the first to hit the $60 million club but he won’t be the last. Already 16 teams — half the league — are paying their quarterback an average salary of $40 million or more. Those 16 quarterbacks went 7-9 last weekend. Eight of them threw for fewer than 200 yards (including Dak in a weird game).

So you think all those owners shelling out a minimum of $40 million at the position believe it gives their team legitimate Super Bowl hopes?

Kyler Murray ($46.1 million) in Arizona? Trevor Lawrence ($55 million) in Jacksonville? Daniel Jones ($40 million) in New York? And how did Deshaun Watson, who held the record with a $230 million guarantee until Dak’s agents carried him across the Jerry Jones finish line to $231 million, look to you last Sunday afternoon?

Well, one of the legitimate reasons he looked so inept is because Mike Zimmer’s defense has a chance to do things that Dan Quinn’s unit couldn’t. That’s not to rewrite history and pretend Quinn didn’t extend Mike McCarthy’s stay in Dallas after that awful first season here with Mike Nolan at the helm. But Quinn did it with speed at linebacker, no size at all, and that could lead to getting hammered in the run game, not to mention just being completely destroyed by Green Bay in the playoffs. It’s one game and it’s a shaky Cleveland offense, but just how different do Eric Kendricks and DeMarvion Overshown make the Dallas front seven appear already?

Those of you with too long a memory may recall I wrote something after last year’s opener (a 40-0 belittling of the Giants) about the potential for greatness in Dallas’ defense. Admittedly, I was ahead of my time once again. It happens a lot. This unit looks different and I don’t know how much more we will learn Sunday, but, hey, the Saints put 47 on the board against Carolina and Derek Carr, who was nearly perfect against the Panthers, did throw for 373 yards in a Raiders’ win over Dallas here on Thanksgiving Day 2021. So it seems like more of a test than the Browns could offer up, then Baltimore and Detroit and San Francisco will have to be defended before we get to the end of October.

Zimmer’s defense will have ample opportunities to show that the six-sack, two-interception dominance in Cleveland was not a fluke. We should keep an eye on that and acknowledge that the quarterbacks’ mad money scramble is not what winning is all about in today’s game.

It’s unsurprising that the news of Dak Prescott agreeing to a $60 million per year contract overwhelmed everything else that happened in Cleveland last Sunday when the Cowboys won a 33-17 season opener. Quarterbacks and money. It’s practically all we talk/write about in today’s NFL.

I would bet close to 90% of the newsprint/oxygen spent on the Cowboys the last two months has been on Dak and his contract; CeeDee Lamb and his contract; Mike McCarthy and his play-calling; and two promising rookies in the offensive line. It’s like we forget sometimes there is another unit of equal importance in this league. In fact, I had to be reminded of it while watching the Thursday night opener between Kansas City and Baltimore.

NBC posted a graphic that I’m sure I saw at some point during the Chiefs’ most recent waltz to the Super Bowl, but it tends to get lost in the shuffle. When we talk Chiefs, we talk about the greatness of Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift — possibly not in that order. And yet, as the graphic illustrated, Kansas City’s four playoff opponents ranked second (Miami), sixth (Buffalo), fourth (Baltimore) and third (San Francisco) in scoring last season, all just under 30 points. The Chiefs held them to 15.75 points per game during the playoffs.

Mahomes is Mahomes, and already I would argue there has been no one better in the modern era of football as he will prove over time. But the Chiefs’ defense has been more dominant than its offense during at least two of the Super Bowl runs, especially last year’s.

Could the same apply to the Cowboys in 2024? A team with the highest-paid quarterback and the second-highest-paid wide receiver just might be carried by the defense at times — as it was in Cleveland — and that’s not a bad thing. When the Cowboys have been at their best, historically, they have had game-wreckers on defense complementing or even leading the offense to victory.

We all need to pay more attention to this. Again we talk quarterbacks and money because it’s fascinating and, occasionally, staggering. Dak was the first to hit the $60 million club but he won’t be the last. Already 16 teams — half the league — are paying their quarterback an average salary of $40 million or more. Those 16 quarterbacks went 7-9 last weekend. Eight of them threw for fewer than 200 yards (including Dak in a weird game).

So you think all those owners shelling out a minimum of $40 million at the position believe it gives their team legitimate Super Bowl hopes?

Kyler Murray ($46.1 million) in Arizona? Trevor Lawrence ($55 million) in Jacksonville? Daniel Jones ($40 million) in New York? And how did Deshaun Watson, who held the record with a $230 million guarantee until Dak’s agents carried him across the Jerry Jones finish line to $231 million, look to you last Sunday afternoon?

Well, one of the legitimate reasons he looked so inept is because Mike Zimmer’s defense has a chance to do things that Dan Quinn’s unit couldn’t. That’s not to rewrite history and pretend Quinn didn’t extend Mike McCarthy’s stay in Dallas after that awful first season here with Mike Nolan at the helm. But Quinn did it with speed at linebacker, no size at all, and that could lead to getting hammered in the run game, not to mention just being completely destroyed by Green Bay in the playoffs. It’s one game and it’s a shaky Cleveland offense, but just how different do Eric Kendricks and DeMarvion Overshown make the Dallas front seven appear already?

Those of you with too long a memory may recall I wrote something after last year’s opener (a 40-0 belittling of the Giants) about the potential for greatness in Dallas’ defense. Admittedly, I was ahead of my time once again. It happens a lot. This unit looks different and I don’t know how much more we will learn Sunday, but, hey, the Saints put 47 on the board against Carolina and Derek Carr, who was nearly perfect against the Panthers, did throw for 373 yards in a Raiders’ win over Dallas here on Thanksgiving Day 2021. So it seems like more of a test than the Browns could offer up, then Baltimore and Detroit and San Francisco will have to be defended before we get to the end of October.

Zimmer’s defense will have ample opportunities to show that the six-sack, two-interception dominance in Cleveland was not a fluke. We should keep an eye on that and acknowledge that the quarterbacks’ mad money scramble is not what winning is all about in today’s game.