Prescott will miss several weeks after undergoing surgery on a broken thumb. This would be brutal if it was the Cowboys’ only injury situation, but it’s not. Dallas looked bad in a season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and continues with Cooper Rush at quarterback and a winning supporting cast. Oddsmakers underrated the Cowboys by a large margin. The few who had any hope for the Cowboys before the season are jumping ship, and rightfully so. Overreaction is the most common currency in NFL analysis, especially after week one. Is it possible that there is some overreaction and the Cowboys survive Prescott’s injury? It’s hard to see now, but maybe. The initial timeline for Prescott’s injury is 6-8 weeks, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer. Let’s assume that’s accurate and take a look at the Cowboys’ upcoming schedule: Week 2: vs. BengalsWeek 3: at GiantsWeek 4: vs. Commanders Week 5: at RamsWeek 6: at EaglesWeek 7: vs. LionsWeek 8: vs. BearsWeek 9: Bye Prescott will play as soon as he’s ready, but since the bye is at the end of this timeline, it seems likely that Dallas will keep Prescott out until then. The seven games ahead of the bye are a mixed bag. Games against the Bengals, Rams and Eagles will be very difficult. But games against the Giants, Commanders, Lions and Bears aren’t so bad. Let’s not forget that Cooper Rush threw for 325 yards in a win over the Minnesota Vikings last season when he had to start. The Cowboys defense played well against the Buccaneers and Dallas still has two good running backs. They will need to play ugly and win without Prescott. They are capable of playing like this. Going 3-4 in this stretch seems like a realistic scenario. That puts the Cowboys at 3-5 and while that’s not ideal, they wouldn’t be done for the season. If the Cowboys go 0-7 or 1-6, Prescott won’t save them. Dallas will need to win some games without Prescott to stay relevant this season, and maybe Rush, a strong running game and a good defense can make that easier. The story continues If all was well around Rush, this scenario would seem more realistic. But everything else is not good. Dallas’ offensive line is a mess and just lost guard Connor McGovern to a sprained ankle. He could waste some time. Starting safety Jayron Kearse suffered a knee injury in Week 1. This comes after an offseason in which the Cowboys lost or traded several key pieces. This is not the same Cowboys roster that won the NFC East last season. We saw it in the Buccaneers game before Prescott broke his thumb. Dallas will have to play really well around the Rush to stay in the NFC East race, and probably also needs the Philadelphia Eagles (or the Washington Commanders and New York Giants, if you’re bullish on them) to falter a bit. The Cowboys certainly can’t sustain more injuries and stay alive. If you squint, you can see a path out of this mess for Dallas. It will just be a slog for the Cowboys until Prescott is ready to return. Prescott has to start hoping he has a decent reason to come back in November. Tarell Basham was one of the Dallas Cowboys injured during Sunday’s game. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) Here are the power rankings after Week 1 of the NFL season: Losing a big lead against a big opponent in Week 1 after a great first quarter is disappointing. The Falcons have three losses when leading by 15 points in the fourth quarter in the last three seasons. the rest of the league combined has two losses and one draw in 245 incidents, according to CBS. Not the way Atlanta wanted to start the season. The Jets had Joe Flacco throw 59 times. Some of that has to do with game play, but there is no circumstance in which the Jets should have thrown Flacco 59 times. The Jets looked miserable in the first game, and it’s hard to believe that Zach Wilson’s return, whenever that happens, will make that much of a difference. Maybe Trevor Lawrence isn’t as good as advertised. He dropped a few passes, most notably an easy touchdown to Travis Etienne in the first quarter that would have changed a game the Jaguars lost by six points. Lawrence still has the benefit of the doubt after a lost rookie season with a bad coach, but it would be nice if he showed more to start his second season. I know it’s the popular thing to rip Lovie Smith for admitting it was OK to play for a tie scoring fourth in overtime, but for a young team in need of some confidence, a loss after going 20-3 on day one would have it was awful. Half wins isn’t what anyone wants in the end, but it’s still not the worst outcome. The Panthers didn’t make a ton of offensive plays, but 10 carries and four catches for Christian McCaffrey isn’t going to cut it. The only way the Panthers will be successful is with McCaffrey carrying the team, even though that comes with the obvious risk of him collapsing again. The Lions were in the game at the end, but they can’t give up 38 points at home. The Eagles might be pretty good this season and there’s no problem losing to them, but the defensive issues need to be fixed immediately. Geno Smith’s first half: 17-of-18, 164 yards, two touchdowns. Smith’s second half: 6 of 10, 31 yards. Seattle’s second-half possessions before killing the clock at the end: fumble, punt, punt. It was fun to rave about Smith in the first half, and it was a fun win for him and the Seahawks, but it’s still an offense that will struggle most of the time. It was notable that Khalil Herbert took on a significant role Sunday and outplayed David Montgomery. Herbert had 45 yards and a touchdown on nine carries while Montgomery had 26 yards on 17 carries. This could turn into more of a 50-50 split than expected, which is no bad thing for the Bears. Herbert is a good fullback. Kadarius Toney played just seven snaps on offense. It wasn’t injury-related and his playing time didn’t change after rookie wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson went down with an injury. Toney had just two touchdowns, both of which were hurries (one was a designed pass that he pinched and ran when no one was open). He had 19 yards on one of them and looked explosive. Giants coach Brian Daboll didn’t have an answer about personnel groups when asked about Toney, but it’s clear the 2021 first-round pick is still in the doghouse. On the bright side, Micah Parsons looked awesome. No one expected a sophomore slump, but it was great to see him post a couple of sacks. He will be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate no matter how bad this season goes for the Cowboys. Curtis Samuel was suddenly a huge factor, leading the team with 11 targets and also receiving four rushing attempts. It seems a little odd to feature him so heavily in an offense that has Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson and Antonio Gibson, but at least Washington is getting some return on its investment in Samuel. The Titans may be in trouble. If you can’t win at home against the Giants, you’re not going to win that many games. It wasn’t that crazy. The Giants beat Tennessee 394-359. It’s only one game, and it’s bad to overreact in Week 1, but Tennessee’s first game didn’t provide many great signs. TJ Watt’s injury is bad for the Steelers, though there is hope that he will be back by midseason. It’s not losing a quarterback for half a season or more, but it’s close. Watt dominated Sunday’s game and the Steelers can’t replace him. It’s especially worrying since the attack didn’t seem like much. The Steelers needed nearly a full overtime to win a game in which they were plus-five in turnover differential. All of the concerns about the Patriots offense in the preseason carried over into the regular season opener. McJones is also injured now. Giving up on the Patriots seems silly. But there is much that needs to be fixed. The Cardinals looked bad. The defense was shredded by Patrick Mahomes. Kyler Murray did nothing. Plenty of teams will lose to Kansas City this season, but if things go badly for Arizona early in the season — and they could, based on Sunday’s showing — Kliff Kingsbury will face plenty of questions about his job security. . If the Falcons had kicked a 63-yard field goal to win at the buzzer Sunday, Marshon Lattimore’s 15-yard personal foul as time expired would have been the talk of the NFL. He is very lucky that the kick was blocked. With that out of the way, we can focus on Jameis Winston coming up huge to give the Saints a field goal after starting at their own 20 yard line with 48 seconds left. Tua Tagovailoa passed his first test. He was efficient throwing for 270 yards and threw a pass to Jaylen Waddle that Waddle turned into a game-changing 42-yard touchdown just before halftime. He just has to get the ball to the Dolphins’ playmakers, and he did in Week 1. On the one hand, it’s hard to take too much from the 49ers’ performance when the rain was so heavy that Fox had to line the field until the fourth quarter. But it wasn’t good. A quality team can’t lose to the Bears. Trey Lance didn’t do enough. And now Elijah Mitchell is on the shelf for a few months with a knee injury. It was a bad Week 1, rain or not. We’ll see what happens next. Davante Adams looked great in his first Raiders game. He had 17 of the Raiders’ 35 targets, which won’t be his target share every week, but gives some idea of how Josh McDaniels wants to use Adams this season. He’s going to have a monster year. The Browns should get as many wins as possible with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback, so it’s good they have a good rookie who can hit all four of his attempts, including a clutch 58-yarder. It might not be pretty, but the Browns can win this way with a strong running game and a stout defense. Nathaniel Hackett’s last-minute explanation on Monday night,…
