Finding 3 stars out of Cowboys’ Week 1 performance

The Dallas Cowboys may have stars on the sides of their helmets, but they hardly appeared to be celestial beings in their 19-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1. The performance was terrestrial, to say the least. In fact, the coaching staff would probably like to bury the film deep in the Texas tundra. But they can’t.

Nor should they. There were a few diamond performances which stood above the crowd, sparkling while others needed to be dusted off. They mostly relied on the defensive side of the ball, where Dan Quinn’s unit fought to keep the team in the game while Kellen Moore’s group struggled to find a rhythm with a severe talent deficit from their 2021 versions. Here’s a look at three players who stood out.

Safety Donovan Wilson

(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

The third star was Wilson, a starting safety in multiple formations, who had to step up further due to the injury to Jayron Kearse and the decision to leave backups Israel Mukuamu and Markquese Bell inactive.

Wilson had a good game with five tackles, four solo, an interception, another pass breakup and a QB hit. He seemed to be always around the ball whether on the back end or in the box.

Following the Kearse injury, the Buccaneers not only scored a TD to put their team up 19-3, but their defense stopped Dallas for a turnover on downs. Tampa Bay was at midfield with a chance to close the game out when Wilson faked a blitz and dropped right back into Brady’s throwing lane for an interception. Brady isn’t often fooled, but he never even saw Wilson, and threw it right to him.

Even though Dallas followed it up with a three and out, Wilson gave them one final momentum play to try and turn around the game. If the Cowboys were able to come back to win then Wilson could’ve been the top star of the game, but he still deserves the praise for making a big play.

Micah Parsons

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

The first ever unanimous defensive rookie of the year got the second star of the game to begin his sophomore campaign. He had two quarterback sacks, another hit and two more hurries, clocking a 60% pass-rush win rate that dwarfed every other NFL player in Week 1.

His plays were made in enormous moments as well. With the team trailing 6-3 and the Buccaneers driving for a score, Parsons beat LT Donovan Smith around the edge to bring down Brady and make Tampa Bay settle for a field goal.

The kick was even missed, leaving the game a three-point contest.

After a Prescott interception, Buccaneers again found themselves inside the redzone, inside the five this time. Third down and three to go, Parsons again got to Brady to shut down the drive and hold them to another field goal attempt.

Even though this kick was converted successfully, Dallas was still within one score at 9-3.

If Parsons wants to be defensive player of the year, then he can’t just accumulate stats, he must make the biggest plays, at the biggest times, and that started Sunday night, even in a loss.

Dan Quinn

(AP Photo/Brett Duke)

The Tampa Bay offense suffered offensive line losses even worse than Dallas, and they also lost weapons like Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski, but their front office supplemented them by making sure quarterback Tom Brady was loaded with weapons to create mismatches. Chris Godwin was re-signed to pair with Mike Evans, and Tampa added Julio Jones and Russell Gage to replace their lost stars. This offense was still formidable with Brady leading it.

Quinn was the top star because of an excellent gameplan to keep Dallas in contention with almost zero help on the offensive side of the ball. By the end of the night his tired unit did start to get gashed in the running game, but still the Cowboys held the Buccaneers to only seven second half points.

Tom Brady only threw for 212 total yards, one touchdown and one interception, with a QBR of only 53.4. One couldn’t ask for more from a defense facing the greatest QB of all time. Tampa was held to 5-for-14 on third downs and were just 1-for-3 in the red zone.

If the offense was able to bring anything to the table, it is possible Dallas could’ve been in contention for a big win, but the fact that they weren’t doesn’t take away from Quinn’s work against the Buccaneers offense.

You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or at Youtube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast.

Story originally appeared on Cowboys Wire