The Dallas Cowboys have a football game today. The action starts with the first of 17 games across 18 weeks that hopefully culminates in a fourth-straight playoff appearance and. Even more hopefully, the results will be better than they have been the previous 28 years as the club looks to make a conference championship for the first time since winning their fifth Lombardi trophy after the 1995 season.
The first roadblock comes in the form of the Cleveland Browns, led by Deshaun Watson at quarterback and Myles Garrett on defense. Head coach Kevin Stefanski got the best of Mike McCarthy in their only head-to-head meeting, a shootout back in October 2020 the Browns won 48-39.
Both clubs are looking to get off to a hot start. Dallas will look to keep pace with the Philadelphia Eagles who started their season off in Brazil with a win over the Green Bay Packers. Meanwhile the Browns will look to get a leg up on the Baltimore Ravens who fell to the two-time defending world champion Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night.
Cowboys, Browns trends to start seasons
The Cowboys have gotten off to start season starts in the last three seasons en route to 12-5 records, though last year’s 5-2 beginning (on the heels of 4-1 and 6-1) was marred by two blowout losses to Arizona and San Francisco. The road was not kind to the Cowboys, as they went 2-5 before a Week 18 romp in their second home, FedEx Field.
Dallas’ road woes have intensified since going 7-2 in 2021, dropping to 4-4 in 2022 before last season’s disaster record.
Meanwhile the Browns were dominant at home in 2023, ending up with an 8-1 mark as part of their 11-6 overall record. They went 4-4 the year prior and 6-3 in 2021.
Cowboys, Browns in Recent Season Openers
The Cowboys haven’t seemed to show consistency in the wake of McCarthy’s growing philosophy to rest all of his key players in the preseason game; getting off to a strong start last season (winning 40-0 in New York against the Giants) but falling flat in the opener the year prior, a 19-3 loss at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Dallas fell in a nailbiter the year prior, 31-29, to those same Bucs. The Browns won their 2023 opener in dominating fashion as well, 24-3 over the Cincinnati Bengals
Who Wins between Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns?
So how do things play out on Sunday afternoon?
The Cowboys will be starting a rookie at both left tackle and center, and despite the upside of Tyler Guyton; it’s hard to imagine him not getting worked by Garrett. That means the club will need to run a large amount of 12 personnel and keep Luke Schoonmaker and rookie Brevyn Ford (if active) in to help block.
On the opposite side of the ball, if Dashaun Watson is ever going to recapture his magic from his Houston Texans days, going up against a secondary running a new scheme (Mike Zimmer) without their All-Pro corner from 2023 (DaRon Bland) and with their other All-Pro corner playing his first game (regular or preseason) since tearing his ACL last September (Trevon Diggs).
Prediction: Browns win, 27-21.