Dallas Cowboys Stock Report: Week One

The Dallas Cowboys got their 2018 season kicked off Sunday afternoon in Carolina. Coming off a 9-7 season where the team did not make the playoffs the Cowboys were looking to get off to a good start. That didn’t go as planned. The Cowboys lost 16-8 and the final score does not show how poorly the Cowboys played. The defense was pretty good after getting off to a rough start. There were a lot of missed tackles on Panthers quarterback Cam Newton that led to some big gains.

Here is your week one stock report.

STOCK UP

Joe Looney

The offensive line gave up six sacks Sunday afternoon, but you can’t place any blame on Joe Looney. Looney is stepping in for Travis Frederick and there was some questions on how he would handle that role. There are some communication things to work on for Looney, which is expected and should improve as the games go on. However, through week one, he is the least of the Cowboys offensive worries. According to PFF, he didn’t allow a pressure.

Kavon Frazier

Kavon Frazier made his first career start in Carolina. The safety position was a question all offseason and when Frazier injured his shoulder during the preseason those questions intensified. Despite being questionable going into the game, Frazier played all 67 defensive snaps and collected seven total tackles, including one tackle for loss.

Daniel Ross

Daniel Ross was a guy that was not guaranteed a roster spot coming into training camp. As camp wore on, he made enough plays to make the team. It didn’t take long for him to impact a regular season game. Ross was able to force a red zone fumble as Christian McCaffrey ran up the middle for no gain. Lawrence would recover the fumble and would keep the game scoreless at the time.

STOCK DOWN

Dak Prescott

There is a lot of pressure being the quarterback of the Cowboys. After a lackluster end to the 2017 season, Dak started his 2018 season with another lackluster performance.  There are two plays in particular that stand out immediately when you think of Daks game Sunday.

The play he was rolling out to his left and Blake Jarwin was wide open down the field and he threw a one hopper.

The second play is a crossing route to Michael Gallup; Gallup was able to get his hands on the ball but could not come up with it. On that pass, Dak has to lead Gallup as there was plenty of room for him to run if there is a more accurate ball.

Brett Maher

There is pressure when you replace the second most accurate kicker in NFL history. Although the numbers say Dan Bailey had started to tail off, no one was expecting him to be one of the cuts that got the roster from 90 to 53. Brett Maher, who replaced Bailey, missed his only kicking opportunity Sunday after beating out Dan Bailey during the preseason. It will be important for Maher to rebound if given the opportunity Sunday night against the Giants.

Sean Lee

It isn’t very often that Sean Lee has been one of the weak links on the Cowboys defense in a game. That was the case Sunday. He uncharacteristically missed several tackles and was fooled on a couple of the read options that led to big gains for Carolina.

Jeff Heath did not make this week’s stock down report but his dropped interception was a big play that led to Carolinas first touchdown. The defense will have to capitalize on those types of opportunities to help the offense, as they could struggle in 2018.