CHARLOTTE, NC – After the 16-8 loss to the Carolina Panthers in the regular season opener, Dak Prescott and Jason Garrett addressed the media on the matchup.
Dak remarked on the Cowboys’ issues early on in the first half on the offensive side of the ball “ It is hard to move the ball in the National Football League when you are playing from first and fifteen and from second and twenty, so we shot ourselves in the foot there early. “
The Cowboys’ offense could not get a rhythm going in the first half staying behind the chains, along with penalties that pushed Dallas further from the first down mark. The Cowboys only had four first downs total in the first half and were 0-6 on third down conversions. The Cowboys could not get the run going with the Panthers front seven and Luke Kuechly’s instincts behind their d-line, and the defense could not stop Cam Newton on the run early on that hurt the Cowboys.
Garrett discussed the positives in the second half “We opened up a bit more and spread them out a little bit more. Dak made some plays in the passing game and we loosened up their front a little bit. Got the run game going and felt a little bit more like ourselves. “
The defense did a better job shutting Cam Newton down outside the pocket, and the Cowboys had a successful scoring drive with Dak’s four-yard option pass to Ezekiel Elliott for the touchdown and Dak’s lunge across the goal line for the two-point conversation. However, the Panthers had command of the field and time of possession on offense for the majority of the first half and the Cowboys had too many mistakes to recuperate from for the win.
The main takeaway Garrett and Dak both addressed was that the team “fought the fight!” The Cowboys did not give up in the second half and that is always a building block heading into the next game. Dallas needs to work on receivers connecting with Dak Prescott this week at practice. Dak did have some bad throws in the first half, and receivers ran bad routes and could not break away from man-to-man to give Dak someone to throw to. There are a lot of young players in the receiving core for the Cowboys still adjusting and learning the Cowboys playbook, but they better figure it out or the Cowboys could see a repeat of last year’s 9-7 season.
Dak “ Not being able to move the ball in the first half. It is hard to move the ball in the national football league when you are playing from first and fifteen and from second and twenty so we shot ourselves in the foot there early. “ Got to get to the run.
“ I am good with the rotation as long as those guys are staying fresh and doing their jobs. “
“ Fought the fight tonight.” Excited for moving forward. When you have that you are not far off.
Garrett “ Problem early in the game was we were behind the chains the whole time. WE had penalties that got us in some second and long situations. WE had some sacks and some minus plays. I felt like we were digging out too much trying to survive these drives. They did a good job possessing the ball in the first half and limiting our opportunities. We did not get any rhythm going.
“Better in the second half. We opened up a bit more and spread them out a little bit more. Dak made some plays in the passing game and we loosened up their front a little bit. Got the run game going and felt a little bit more like ourselves.”
“We knew it would be tough running inside against their front 7.”
The quarterback runs were big for them and did not do a good enough job early.
