FishTips predictions come true in Cowboys' Week 1 smashing of Giants

FishTips predictions come true in Cowboys' Week 1 smashing of Giants

ARLINGTON - As is our custom in these parts, I spend my Dallas Cowboys week in part collecting information that might serve insightful come Sunday. That info ends up as pregame "FishTips,'' as was the case before Week 1's Giants visit to AT&T Stadium. How did my eight predictions match up with reality? Let's see ...

FishTip 1) This is Cowboys coordinator Kellen Moore's first real outing: We're going to see varied personnel groups, tempo control, pre-snap motion ... then lots of the same familiar WINNING plays. 

RESULT: All of that and more in a 35-17 victory that featured a wild array of offensive successes ... from every angle.

Hey, fullback Jamize Olawale has probably never felt so free as when he frequently lined up like a 6-1, 245-pound wideout!

QB Dak Prescott wouldn’t say it was easy, but he noted, “I will say, it did feel like a well-oiled machine.”

Oh, and Dak called Moore a "genius.'' So there is that.

And the way it all added up? Dak registered the first perfect QB rating in franchise history - and owner Jerry Jones called Prescott getting a new biggest-Cowboys-contract-ever "imminent.''

Today, everybody looks like geniuses.

FishTip 2) I don't think Amari Cooper will be limited. But I do think the Cowboys aerial gameplan might also feature Randall Cobb mismatch chances vs. the Giants.

RESULT: Bingo, again. Cooper's numbers jump out: six catches for 106 yards and a TD; there was no foot-injury-related limitation here. And so do Michael Gallup's (seven for 158). But Cobb (four catches, 69 yards and a score) was a key, too, his physical abilities as a when-healthy a match with most anybody in the NFL.

Of course, on a day when Dak Prescott totaled 405 passing yards on 25-of-32 passing (including TD passes to tight ends Blake Jarwin and Jason Witten), every single person who went out for a pass against New York looked like he was winning a mismatch.

"If they tried to take away Amari,'' receivers coach Sanjay Lal told me, "we found Gallup. If they tried to take away the next guy, we found Randall. If they tried to take away Zeke ...''

His voice trailed off. But I'll finish for him: "They found everybody.''

FishTip 3) 'Pitch count' isn't the right term for the Ezekiel Elliott plan, I'm told. It's going to be more about 'monitoring' his Week 1 conditioning than anything else.

RESULT: Considering the fact that Elliott was still in the game to start the final quarter, I'm taking a "bingo'' here. Yet the "monitoring'' went fine, too. In the end, Zeke rushed 13 times (for 53 yards and a TD) nd Dallas ran so many plays that there was also room for rookie Tony Pollard to get his NFL feet wet, too, with exactly 13 carries as well.

FishTip 4) The Cowboys think they have four 'star' LBs. All four figure to be on display today in chasing around Giants running Saquon Barkley.

RESULT: OK, so this one didn't turn out quite right for me - or for the Cowboys. Oh, Leighton Vander Esch had an impactful game (... tackles) and the Cowboys gave up just the 17 points. But Barkley bedeviled the Cowboys on the way to 120 yards on just 11 carries, and four catches for 19 more.

"He's our version of Barry Sanders,'' Dallas linebacker Jaylon Smith told me, the ultimate respect from a Midwestern kid of a certain age.

He's also pretty much New York's only weapon. But what a weapon he is.

FishTip 5) The Cowboys will have defensive ends Tyrone Crawford and Tank Lawrence on a 'pitch count,' coordinator Rod Marinelli tells me - unless, maybe, it's close in the fourth vs. the Giants ... in which case I bet they argue their way back onto the field.

RESULT: Tank was predictably effective in harassing QB Eli Manning, including a strip/sack/fumble recovery. But with nine minutes left and Dallas up 25 points, he was still in the game. So I guess I was wrong about the "pitch count'' -- and right about Tank talking his way onto the field.

Crawford did some of the same, but made his biggest statement afterward. In my one-on-one visit with him, he subtly showed me his new three-piece suit. The lining of the suit? Emblazoned with Vince Lombardi Trophies.

FishTip 6) The Cowboys staff told me they wouldn't put Zack Martin in 'harm's way' today with his sore back. In other words, they were not going to allow himself to put himself at risk. His presence (and the deactivation of two backup O-lineman) is a good sign.

RESULT: Indeed, in the fourth quarter, Xavier Su'a-Filo subbed in for him at right guard -- a smartly conservative move.

FishTip 7) My prediction was Cowboys 27, Giants 10.

RESULT: Close enough.