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Rookie who stood out: OT Tyler Smith

The No. 24 overall pick was serviceable in his first start replacing Tyron Smith. Remember, he took no snaps at left tackle in the preseason and had just a handful of days at work there in practice before facing the Buccaneers. And he spent most of the game playing with an almost equally inexperienced left guard in Matt Farniok. He had a false start penalty and some other missteps, but for a first start with such little time on task at that spot, he was good enough. The question is how much longer will he stay there. With Connor McGovern suffering a high ankle sprain, the Cowboys might move him to left guard once veteran tackle Jason Peters gets up to speed.

Sunday night was a disaster for America's Team. The chief concerns about the Cowboys entering the season -- offensive line stability and wide receiver depth, in particular -- proved to be very real problems, while Dak Prescott struggled through a poor performance before exiting with a thumb injury requiring surgery. With Prescott on the shelf until at least mid-October, the 'Boys take a massive plunge in these here rankings. Given what we've seen from backup QB Cooper Rush, you can make a case that Dallas suddenly has one of the worst offenses in football. Bad times in Big D.

With Dak Prescott now down for what looks like 6-8 weeks because of a thumb injury, the Cowboys are in big trouble. They looked terrible on offense with him, so now what will things look like with Cooper Rush?

Hard to be optimistic about this team as currently constructed, especially considering how poor the offense looked even before QB Dak Prescott went down.

Are the Cowboys the worst team in the league? Probably not, but no team had a more precipitous drop in vibes this week. With Dak Prescott out six to eight weeks, the Cowboys are in danger of falling out of contention with a replacement quarterback in Cooper Rush they felt so strongly about they released him during roster cutdowns. Not as concerning but noteworthy nonetheless is how bad the offense looked even before Prescott's injury. By EPA per drive, this was the worst offense in the league in Week 1. And though Jerry Jones insists the team will move forward with Rush, there should be urgency to find a better option lest the season is lost within a matter of weeks.

Micah Parsons sure is good though.

YIKES. It turns out losing key offensive players La'el Collins, Amari Cooper, Cedrick Wilson Jr., and Connor Williams all in the same offseason isn't great. Injuries to Tyron Smith, Michael Gallup, and James Washington make matters worse. And now Dak Prescott will undergo thumb surgery and miss six to eight weeks. The Cowboys' preseason odds to make the playoffs, per FanDuel, flipped from minus-225 to now plus-250. Head coach Mike McCarthy is a meme. The Disaster Cowboys are the dog in a house engulfed by flames, but this isn't fine.

On the bright side, Micah Parsons looked awesome. Nobody expected a sophomore slump, but it was still great to see him post a couple sacks. He'll be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate no matter how badly this season goes for the Cowboys.

When you have two quarterbacks, you have none. When you have one quarterback who gets injured, you also have none.