The Cowboys have spent the offseason trying to rebuild a defense that was a mess a year ago, and the work has already started to show under new defensive coordinator Christian Parker. Dallas has looked sharper and more confident through two weeks of the preseason, but the real measuring stick comes once the games count.
That’s where Week 1 gets interesting. The Giants have a big Malik Nabers update, and if things stay on track, Dallas may have to deal with him right away.
Nabers is coming back from a torn ACL, but he took a notable step Monday when he dropped the red no-contact jersey at practice. Barring a setback, the signs point to him being available for the opener.
Giants head coach Jim Harbaugh stopped short of making that official, but he didn’t exactly pump the brakes either.
"I just don't want to make any kinds of statements like that," Harbaugh said Monday, via ESPN.com. "I think it's reasonable to assume that.
Those are all kind of things you can assume based on watching the guy practice. But the only thing I know more than you guys know is what the doctors and trainers tell me as far as his rehab.
And that is he's doing well.
"He's doing well with that. He's strong, in a good place.
How he gets through practice, how ready he is to play and protect himself, is really based on practice. You're watching practice too.
You can see it."
For Dallas, that would mean an early test against one of the league’s most dangerous young receivers. It also gives the Cowboys a chance to find out quickly where this revamped secondary stands instead of waiting for the middle of the season to expose any flaws.
And it would give rookie Caleb Downs an immediate chance to face the player who was so frustrated when Dallas drafted him. Nabers made his feelings clear back then: “I’d rather get him than play against him…I gotta play against this thing again…bro he’s good. He’s very good, he’s very good,” Nabers said at the time.
If Nabers is out there on September 13, Downs gets his first shot at proving why that reaction made sense.
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