The Dallas Cowboys hope to put a poor showing in Week 1 behind them and get their first win of the season. These five players will be vital to that and the success of the rest of the 2018 season.
Change was the theme of the 2018 offseason for the Dallas Cowboys. Outside of Jason Witten retiring and Dez Bryant being released, that change was just a bunch of minor parts. Assistant coaches were replaced, but the masthead stayed the same.
Jason Garrett remained head coach, Scott Linehan is still the offensive coordinator and play-caller, and Rod Marinelli still leads the defense. Even so, this was supposed to be a brand new team.
After one week, it looked eerily similar to the product that was on the field for an up and down 2017 campaign. Dallas had dumb penalties on third downs, stalled drives due to missed blocking assignments and quarterback Dak Prescott missed wide open targets — either by not seeing them or with inaccurate passes.
If this season is anything like last year, things will be much different in Week 2 and they will look like a team ready to make a run. Then it could change the following week.
Whatever ends up happening, here are five players to keep an eye on that could make, or break, the team’s chances of success in Week 2 against the New York Giants, as well as going forward.