Cris Collinsworth was not impressed by what he saw from the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday evening.
The Cowboys fell to the Giants, 28-20, in a Week 1 Sunday Night Football season opener. Dallas dropped to 0-1 on the year, while New York improved to 1-0 on the season. The Giants look like they could be contenders in Year 1 of the John Harbaugh era.
Collinsworth, meanwhile, was quite disappointed by what he saw from Dallas, especially on the defensive side of the football. The Cowboys’ defense was shredded by Jaxson Dart and Co.
The NBC announcer ripped the Cowboys’ defense following a first half touchdown pass from Dart to tight end Isaiah Likely.
“I thought I saw some bad defense out of the Cowboys last year,” Collinsworth said. “That sequence was as bad as it gets. They’re going to leave this corner completely wide open against Isaiah Likely, who has been destroying them the entire half. I don’t know who’s blowing these coverages out here in the defensive left flat, but they had two guys chasing the wide receiver that was three yards down the field, and nobody on the corner route in behind.”
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In the second half, the Giants repeatedly went to the same plays, but Dallas was unable to stop it.
“But, Mike, once again, the Cowboys are rolling corner over here to Malik Nabers,” Collinsworth explained. “And it would be one thing if they dropped the safety down, but they’re not doing that either. So, they’ve got two guys to that side, and this little soft swing pass is just wide open. They can’t defend it the way they’re playing it defensively.”
He continued: “So, once again now, here comes the motion across; they’re going to run it here, swing it out. And that play, it’s been basically the same play at the end of the first half that got them, and now it’s sort of the same play here in the second half. They’ve just been voiding a certain area of the field. And give credit to these New York Giant coaches. When they find something that’s working, they are just hammering it. They did it in the first half, and they’re doing it again here.”
It was a disastrous first game for new defensive coordinator Christian Parker in Dallas.
The Cowboys will have to be much better in Week 2 at home vs. Washington.
