The Boys Are Back
The most significant score of Week 1 in the NFL? Easy: Dallas 37, Pittsburgh 7.
Yes, the Cowboys are back. Not just because they routed what is supposed to be a good team in their opener, but because the result only reaffirms what anyone could observe at their training camp this summer a commitment to taking back their place atop the NFL.
“I know a lot of teams would kill to be 10-6, but not the way we were 10-6 last season,” Troy Aikman said in July. “If we had played our best and finished 10-6 I’d be perfectly contented. But we didn’t come close to playing the way we can.”
They did Sunday:
Aikman threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns after throwing for just three TDs with 12 interceptions in the last nine games of last season.
With Anthony Miller a threat on the other side, Michael Irvin had seven catches for 153 yards and two TDs. The TDs equal his total for last season.
Deion Sanders, taking time off from his day job with the Cincinnati Reds, had a 38-yard punt return to set up a score and stepped right in at cornerback on a defense supposedly the team’s weak spot. Sunday, it held Pittsburgh to 174 yards.
That’s a lot of talent doing the things talent is paid millions to do.
By contrast, with Irvin serving the first game of a five-game suspension, the Cowboys lost 22-6 at Chicago in their opening game last season.
“I watched the first game last year and that first game is important for the way you feel about your team,” Irvin said after Sunday’s game. “You set a tone. You either go home feeling good about your team or you say, ‘Oh, my God, it’s going to be a long season.”’
It’s still going to be a long season - 15 more games plus, presumably the playoffs. A lot of things can happen between now and then; five quarterbacks were hurt Sunday.
Sapp makes impact
Warren Sapp, much touted coming out of college two years ago, was spotty in his first two years. But he may have changed the course of the NFC Sunday.
He had 11 tackles and 2-1/2 sacks for Tampa Bay in its 13-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers. One of those tackles, on a reverse, was a face-mask grab on Jerry Rice that knocked out the man who’s the NFL’s best all-time receiver.
Dolphins lose Stubbs for season
Miami Dolphins defensive end Daniel Stubbs will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a tendon in his right knee.
Stubbs injured his right patellar tendon in the fourth quarter of a 16-10 victory over Indianapolis. He had missed most of the preseason with a leg fracture.
“I’ve never missed a regular-season game, so this is something new for me,” Stubbs said. “But I’ll work as hard as I have to and do everything I can to make sure that I fully recover. I expect to be ready for next year.”
49ers’ Greene breaks toe
Pass-rush specialist Kevin Greene broke the big toe on his left foot in his debut for the 49ers, and was questionable for Sunday’s game at St. Louis.