This is a tricky edition of winners and losers for the Dallas Cowboys. Instead of listing just about every defender that took the field on Sunday during the 28-20 loss to the New York Giants, we’ll find a way to summarize most underneath one name.

There will be plenty of time to unpack the overarching theme of the Cowboys’ season opener, so let’s just jump right into it.

Loser: DC Christian Parker

Okay, this one requires some nuance. This is not me saying Parker is a bust or anything like that. But this was a reminder that rebuilding the Cowboys defense is going to take time. Parker said earlier in the week Sunday night would be his unit’s graduation. It went terribly bad.

Listing Parker is easier than putting together a long, very long list of defenders who struggled.

Let’s start here: the Giants went 10 for 11 on third down.

There were miscommunication issues, missed assignments, contain was impossible to come by, and coverage wasn’t great. Repeteadly, the Giants spammed the same approach and found continued success (like the many checkdowns thrown to running backs). The Cowboys came out of halftime looking for a stop and instead got dragged through 74 yards in an eight-minute touchdown drive.

Now, let’s be fair. This was the first game of this vastly revamped defense and his first ever as DC. We’re not pressing the panic button on Parker yet but this is a reminder of the quantity of work ahead of him.

Winner: S Caleb Downs

Downs makes the list mostly because of a snap count observation: he’s starting on base defense. That means he’ll be the nickel when the Cowboys run three safeties but when it was just two, he joined Jalen Thompson on the field.

Downs also had a big hit on QB Jaxson Dart as a blitzer and recorded a forced fumble to go along with a sack.

Loser: LB DeMarvion Overshown

The Giants went after Overshown early and often on Sunday. The same goes for the rest fo the Cowboys LB group as New York consistently attacked the flats and the intermiadate areas of the field.

Unfortunately, things got worse for Overshown as he suffered a hamstring injury in the second half that kept him from taking the field again.

Winner(s): EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku, DT Quinnen Williams

Ezeiruaku’s film might reveal more about his run defense (where the Cowboys defense really struggled) but he did record two QB hits, a half-sack, and a forced fumble. He led the Cowboys in tackles with 10.

Williams also recorded a forced fumble and a QB hit. He was among the best Cowboys defenders, even though the bar wasn’t particularly high.

Loser: WR George Pickens

Three catches for 28 yards does little to erase two drops, particularly because one could’ve gone for a long gain near halftime. It was a tough first game for the franchise-tagged receiver playing for a new deal.

I wouldn’t press the panic button here but not the game fans expected from Pickens following his comments about the Giants secondary leading up to the game.