FRISCO, Texas — Game 1 with Mike Zimmer as the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator can’t be labeled as anything but a rousing success thanks to his unit’s performance in Dallas’ 33-17 shutdown of the Cleveland Browns.
Dallas pressured Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson on 42.9% of his dropbacks (the third-highest rate in the NFL in Week 1) for six sacks, the most for any defense in the league in Week 1, while limiting the Browns ground game to under 100 yards, 93 to be exact. An outstanding effort across the board.
“I thought the guys did a really nice job of basically staying on the reservation, doing what we’re asking them to do, being in the right place,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike ZImmer said on Monday. “They played extremely hard, they always have. I was very impressed.”
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson and the Browns offense simply couldn’t keep Cowboys three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons in check, surrendering a sack and multiple pressures. Parsons deflected a Watson pass that landed right in the hands of Dallas middle linebacker Eric Kendricks for an interception with 1:46 left in the half. Kendricks, who joined the Cowboys as a free agent this offseason, racked up two sacks in addition to the interception. The Browns had just one first-down conversion in the entire first half and finished the game with only two first-down conversions on 15 third downs, a 13.3% conversion rate allowed. That was the second-best in the NFL behind only Dallas’ Week 2 opponent, the New Orleans Saints, and their 10% third-down conversion rate allowed in a 47-10 beatdown of the Carolina Panthers.
“Zim is in everybody’s head bro,” Parsons said postgame on Sunday when told that stat. “He has that type of fear factor. That type of respect. You want to play for that guy man. He’s just such a good dude. I have a lot of respect for him.”
Dallas capitalized on…
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