The 2023 NFL season is here with Week 1 providing some quality entertainment in the sport’s return as Cowboys ‘put the league on notice’ with 40-0 win.
Micah Parsons was not surprised by the Dallas Cowboys’ 40-0 throttling of the New York Giants on Sunday.
“No doubt in my mind,” Parsons said. “I saw it before anybody. I said, ‘I can’t wait to get to New York.’ I already knew we were coming. Just because when preparation meets execution, I don’t think there’s no one that can beat us.”
The largest shutout win in franchise history. Prior to Sunday, that distinction belonged to a 38-0 win against the Baltimore Colts in 1978.
The second-largest margin of victory against the Giants in 122 matchups. In 1966, the Cowboys opened the season with a 56-7 win over New York. And in 1995, the Cowboys opened the year with a 35-0 win against the Giants.
The Cowboys became the fifth team to open their season with a shutout of 40-plus points on the road, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The last such occasion came in 1999, when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cleveland Browns, 43-0.
The Cowboys sacked Daniel Jones seven times. It was the most sacks in a season opener by a Dallas defence since it had nine in 1994.
Meanwhile, Carolina Panthers rookie Bryce Young threw his first touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons – which was then tossed into the stands by Hayden Hurst. Derek Carr and Baker Mayfield made their debuts for new teams, while the Sam Howell era began for the Washington Commanders.
Despite the first day of NFL football being full of on-field storylines, the battle was taken off of the gridiron and onto social media – as the season opener witnessed best executed virtual barbs on Sunday.
Divisional games usually have a heightened sense of hostility, but Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase entered Sunday’s game feeling quite the opposite.
“It feels like a regular game to me,” Chase said ahead of playing AFC North rival Browns, per cleveland.com. “It doesn’t feel any different. It’s just the hooping and hollering about the Cleveland Browns. I was about to call them the elves, but yeah,” Cincinnati Bengals said of Cleveland.
“If you ask me, I don’t really pay attention to it because Cleveland is Cleveland,” he added. “I look forward to the matchups that we have when we’re facing them, but other than that, I don’t really care.”
Cleveland responded by thumping Cincinnati in its first season-opening win by 20 points since 1989 and trolling its in-state rival.
Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins came out on top after an offensive battle against Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers, Jordan Love had no issues being the Green Bay Packers No. 1 quarterback and the Denver Broncos didn’t score enough – again. Capping off Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys dominated the New York Giants en route to a 40-0 blowout. espn.com.