The Cowboys, who had the 2015 MVP runner-up under center, lost to an up-and-comer in another disappointing playoff game.
The Cowboys, retooled and determined to make it back to the postseason, travel to Cleveland for a Week 1 matchup that will be decided by quarterbacks Dak Prescott and Deshaun Watson.
Prescott and the Cowboys went 12-5 last season, won the NFC East, and hosted a playoff game.
The Browns, on the other hand, couldn’t maintain their quarterback health.
Since Dallas’ 2023 season was terminated by a home-field beating at the hands of the Green Bay Packers, the national narrative has not been Pro-Dak because Prescott lost for the sixth time in a postseason game and has only two career playoff wins.
On Wednesday, Dallas wide receiver Brandin Cooks began to defend Prescott as the Cowboys prepared to face Cleveland and its formidable defense, which features defensive end Myles Garrett up front. “Year in and year out, the guy turns up.”
Leading his team and producing results,” Cooks said of Prescott. “He is not able to handle it alone.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve played with some great quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Drew Brees, and they won a ton of games and Super Bowls, but they also had a ton of support from people around them, don’t they? “Prescott and the other players here need to step up as well.
Therefore, as his colleagues, we ought to take it personally when we hear such contempt.”
Ever since the conclusion of the previous season, Prescott and the Cowboys have been embroiled in a contract standoff.
In the last year of a four-year, $160 million contract, he is not eligible to be kept under the franchise tag. Owner of the Cowboys Jerry Jones says it’s not as easy as “paying Dak.”
After coming to terms on a four-year, $136 million agreement to bring record-setting receiver CeeDee Lamb back into the fold for Week 1 following a holdout throughout training camp, Jones is now less wealthy. And by this time next year, pass rusher Micah Parsons might be on his way to a larger salary.
With 135 receptions for 1,749 yards in 2023, Lamb, 25, set franchise records and was named to the All-Pro first team.
He’ll be facing Browns cornerback Denzel Ward in a game that’s worth watching this week.
Lamb declared that he hopes Prescott sticks with the Cowboys. “I’m confident they’ll reach an agreement. As everyone knows, I want Dak to be here.
Let’s simply get this under control and put an end to the rumors; Jerry wants Dak here too,” Lamb remarked. Watson needs to fight his own war.
Joe Flacco’s comeback helped the Browns advance to the playoffs after Watson’s season-ending shoulder injury.
Watson stated he has healed from the injury and is ready to demonstrate his worth. Since the completion of the 2020 season, he has made a total of 12 starts.
Given that he is currently in the middle of a $230 million, five-year contract that the organization fully guaranteed upon acquiring him from the Houston Texans, that is a significant request.
“It’s a new year, regardless of whether you were named MVP or didn’t play last year,” Watson declared on Wednesday. ”
Following a horrific knee injury in Week 2 of the previous season, the Browns are benching former All-Pro running back Nick Chubb, at least for the first four games of the current campaign. In 2023, Jerome Ford and Kareem Hunt shared Nick Chubb’s workload.
As the 2024 season gets underway, Ford will take the field against the Cowboys as the lead back. On the depth chart, Ezekiel Elliott is ranked #1 and is back for Dallas.
After serving as a backup with the New England Patriots the previous season, Elliott, who was selected in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft in the same year that Prescott was selected in the fourth round, rejoined Dallas.
Rico Dowdle will be a part of the committee style at running back, as Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy emphasized.
McCarthy also had a message for everyone who was reacting to the Week 1 depth chart as the team prepared for the first game of the season.
He stated, “I have plans for 21 games,” referring to the extended season that would end with the Super Bowl.