A somewhat brief review of Week 1

Here are a few of the things that struck me in my evaluation of the Cowboys after their first regular season game of the year:

WHAT BUGGED ME?

The defense scared me a little bit. The secondary looked porous (it is very young), and it seemed like for much of the game the Buccaneers receivers were able to get open just about whenever they wanted. The Buccs' Cadillac Williams and Derrick Ward also ran all over the Cowboys front line for too much of the game. I kept having to yell at my TV, "Can't we STOP THE RUN ONCE IN AWHILE?!?!" Finally, not having closely analyzed each play of the game, I feel like Byron Leftwich was way too protected. There weren't many sacks or even hurries on him, and considering his glacially slow release, he should have been on his back much more than he was. Good teams with good quarterbacks (which is what you face almost every week when you play in the NFC East) will make you pay for allowing the QB to take his time picking apart an inexperienced secondary.

WHAT DID I LIKE?

The answer to the most common question in the last few months, "Who will replace T.O.'s playmaking ability?" is "About eight different guys." Romo threw touchdown passes to Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton, and Miles Austin today. He threw a big first down to Martellus Bennett. He hit his favorite target, Jason Witten, for a couple of significant gains. All three Dallas running backs looked good. Tashard Choice didn't get much action, but looked like a pro when he did. Felix Jones, in my opinion, has the skills to become the second-best playmaker at the running back position in the league (behind Adrian Peterson, if you were wondering), and Marion Barber had another solid "bash-the-defense" kind of day. I don't think it'll be a struggle for the 'Boys not to have a single big-time playmaker at wide receiver, because their depth at the positions of receiver, tight end, and running back will more than compensate.

Next week against the G-Men will likely be a much tougher test than today's win over Tampa, but I'll still say that Cowboys fans have every reason to be optimistic about this season. I think Tampa was a little bit better than many thought they'd be.

In conclusion, GO COWBOYS!!