Cowboys ‘put the league on notice’ with 40-0 win

Todd Archer, ESPN Staff WriterSep 11, 2023, 01:36 AM ET
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Micah Parsons was not surprised by the Dallas Cowboys‘ 40-0 throttling of the New York Giants on Sunday.

“No doubt in my mind,” Parsons said. “I saw it before anybody. I said, ‘I can’t wait to get to New York.’ I already knew we was coming. Just because when preparation meets execution, I don’t think there’s no one that can beat us.”

Sunday marked:

* The largest shutout win in franchise history. Before Sunday, that distinction belonged to a 38-0 win against the Baltimore Colts in 1978.

* The second-largest margin of victory against the Giants in 122 matchups. In 1966, the Cowboys opened the season with a 56-7 win over New York. And in 1995, the Cowboys opened the year with a 35-0 win against the Giants.

* The Cowboys became the fifth team to open their season with a shutout of 40-plus points on the road, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The last such occasion came in 1999, when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cleveland Browns 43-0.

* The Cowboys sacked Daniel Jones seven times. It was the most sacks in a season opener by a Dallas defense since it had nine in 1994.

* Cowboys running back Tony Pollard was the fifth Cowboy in the past 50 years with multiple rushing touchdowns in a season opener and the first since Marion Barber in 2008.

The 1978 Cowboys lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIII. The 1966 Cowboys made it to the NFL Championship Game, losing to the Green Bay Packers. The 1995 Cowboys won Super Bowl XXX. The 1994 Cowboys made it to the NFC Championship Game.

As the Cowboys begin 2023, they are looking to get to a Super Bowl for the first time since 1995.

“Yeah, it’s just one win, it’s the beginning of the season, but definitely feel like we put the league on notice, that we’re for real, that we’re coming,” defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said. “But we got a lot of work to do.”

Special teams and the defense started the Cowboys’ success, with Noah Igbinoghene returning a blocked field goal attempt from Juanyeh Thomas on New York’s first possession for a touchdown, and DaRon Bland returning a Jones interception for a score after a big hit on Saquon Barkley.

“I think from there we took the life out of them,” said Parsons, who was one of five Cowboys defenders with at least one sack.

The Giants gained 38 yards on their first drive but would gain more than that on just one of their remaining 11 drives. They had three drives that resulted in negative yardage.

“The defense was relentless,” said coach Mike McCarthy, who won his first season opener as Cowboys coach in four tries.

With the victory, Dak Prescott won his 11th straight start against the Giants; he has not lost to the Giants since 2016, his rookie year. Hall of Famer Roger Staubach had an 11-game win streak against New York in the 1970s. Since the 1970 merger, only Tom Brady has a longer win streak against a divisional opponent, beating the Buffalo Bills 13 straight times from Dec. 27, 2003, to Dec. 26, 2010. Patrick Mahomes currently has an 11-game win streak for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Denver Broncos.

But Prescott, who completed 13 of 24 passes for 143 yards in the rain-soaked game, wasn’t considering the win any kind of statement.

“That’s y’all’s job to write whatever statement it needs to be,” Prescott said. “For us, it’s about not getting ahead of ourselves, continuing to stay disciplined, show that discipline, not only what we did through these four quarters but taking that and making sure we use that in our preparation and then moving forward next week going home against another New York team, a good team.

“It’s the NFL. You’ve got to show up week in and week out and be prepared. You don’t see a lot of wins like this, so we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves on this.”