CLEVELAND – Please allow the Dallas Cowboys to introduce themselves.

To those who may not have attended training camp, and those who, from afar, really had no idea of ​​the talent on this team.

To the Cleveland Browns, who had no idea what was hitting them late on a Sunday afternoon and were probably planning a christening for the 2024 season.

And the 67,431 mostly unsuspecting spectators who crowded into the newly renamed Huntington Bank Field were so stunned by what was happening that they not only began booing the home team at halftime, but midway through the third quarter, they disgustedly vacated the orange seats where they had waited all season to watch a team with great expectations.

Cowboys 33, Browns 17, and believe me, it wasn’t nearly as close as the 16-point difference might seem, which probably left the Browns and the majority of the national television audience wondering, Who on earth are these guys?

“Outstanding win,” exclaimed head coach Mike McCarthy, “especially on the road,” a reference to the 2023 season in which all five of the Cowboys’ losses came on the road.

“Great, great, great win for us,” said quarterback Dak Prescott, who had a great, great, great morning after finally agreeing to a four-year contract extension and, most importantly, banked an $80 million signing bonus as the ink dried on what turned out to be a $231 million guaranteed contract. “Great team effort.”

Well, you know these two guys.

Shake hands again with Mike Zimmer, back for a second shift as defensive coordinator, and give him a fist bump in congratulations for the way he played defense, limiting the Browns to just 54 yards, one first down and no plays longer than eight yards in the first half, giving the Cowboys the impetus to jump out to a 20-3 first-half lead.

Meet the Cowboys’ highly-paid new defensive leader, veteran middle linebacker Eric Kendricks, who earned Cowboys honors with nine tackles and two sacks (for the first time since 2016, when he played for Zimm and the Vikings against, you guessed it, McCarthy and his Packers), a TFL, two QB hits, a PD and, oh, an interception of a DeShaun Watson pass that was originally intercepted by Micah Parsons.

“I know what kind of player I am,” Kendricks said, not worrying about what others might think of this rookie. “This is more about the people on the team, wanting to prove who I am to them.”

And in case anyone forgot, shout out again to KaVontae Turpin, the former Pro Bowl special teams return star who reintroduced himself with his first NFL punt return for a touchdown, darting, weaving and turning the corner 55 yards to punch the Browns in the solar plexus, finally taking the wind out of their sails and giving the Cowboys a 27-3 lead just two minutes and one second into the second half.

Brandon Aubrey, you remember him, right? Last season’s NFL kicker, in his first year, earned Pro Bowl honors with 36 of 38 attempts converted. He picked up where he left off, hitting four of four throws in this game, including two more from 50 yards (57 and 50), making him 12 of 12 throws from that distance in his short career. And I’m sure if the referee hadn’t been watching over the ball for some reason as the game clock counted down, Aubrey would have tied the NFL record with a 66-yard field goal that would have also been valid from 70 yards, just like he did the previous season. However, that was canceled by a delay of game penalty, which initially led McCarthy to give him a 71-yard attempt with four seconds left in the half until the Browns sent a returner into the end zone ready to pounce if the kick was short.

Eleven Cowboys players made their debuts on Sunday, six of them NFL debuts, including nickelbacker DeMarvion Overshown, who tied with Kendricks for the team lead with nine tackles and also recorded a sack on the storming Watson as if he had been shot out of a cannon.

The same goes for rookie cornerback Caelen Carson, who stepped into the starting lineup after DaRon Bland’s foot injury. I’m not sure if he shook hands with Amari Cooper or not, but the Cowboys basically threw their former wide receiver out of the game. Carson finished the game with two passes defended and nearly two interceptions.

And now to offensive linemen Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe. No problems there. Hey, Browns’ game-winning defensive end Myles Garrett only had two tackles, a sack, a TFL and a QB hit. The Cowboys will take that, and they had a good plan that involved asking Dak to over-roll to help the defense and using fullback Hunter Luepke and tight ends to get last season’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year back in position.

And that running game that so many were so worried about, leading to predictions of a loss, and a loss here to last season’s 11-6 Browns, who were 8-1 at home? Well, the “committee” cobbled together 102 rushing yards, with Ezekiel Elliott leading the way with 10 carries for 40 yards and his first rushing touchdown for the Cowboys since Game 16 in 2022.

Then there was CeeDee Lamb, who put on his uniform for the first time since the Cowboys’ playoff loss to Green Bay last season, which caused a lot of concern since he had only practiced a few times while negotiating his contract extension. Nope, CeeDee managed 86 yards from scrimmage, his five catches for 61 yards and his career-high 25 yards in the run game.

But look, this is just one game. Understand it. There is still a long way to go. And as efficient as the Cowboys and Dak were offensively in the first half, they struggled in the second, scoring only two field goals. And those were set up by the defense with two fourth-down stops in Browns territory.

That led McCarthy to rightly call the second half “sloppy,” and Dak to rightly criticize his play as well, as his passes seemed rushed and short. When asked if this new contract puts unnecessary pressure on him, he said, “The biggest pressure I put on myself. It’s as simple as that. I’m not happy with my personal performance today, and that motivated me. That’s what drives me.”

But look, last year in those road losses the Cowboys were atrocious in the running game, getting pushed for over 200 yards twice. Yet in this game, if that’s any indication of what’s to come – and I know the Browns finished with 93 rushing yards and an average of 4.9 yards per carry – after three quarters without the injured Nick Chubb, the Browns were held to just 35 yards on 10 carries and Watson to 119 yards passing, while ultimately getting sacked six times and posting a pathetic QB rating of 51.1.

Here’s the point, though, and what I was trying to explain on Friday about that ever-present fear of the unknown. Don’t write this team off so quickly, like so many did before the Cowboys even got out of the starting blocks. Rookies, yes, they have. Signing free agents on cheap — signing veterans so they have salary cap space, not just for this year, but for next year and the year after that so they can extend Lamb and Prescott — shouldn’t be an immediate sign of doom.

How about letting the thing breathe?

“I was excited about the energy before the game,” said veteran Pro Bowl guard Zack Martin. “The guys were ready to go.”

And they went. Who knows, maybe Dak’s contract extension, announced the morning the deal was agreed with the Joneses, who stayed behind and talked on the phone until they boarded the private jet to fly to Cleveland and arrived at the stadium where warmups were already underway, sent an emotional shock through these guys.

Plus, you can hear the chorus of the uninitiated beginning with this phrase: Jerry did it on purpose to make a splash on national television on Sunday. You could tell they were getting closer on Thursday and then Friday, as Jerry wouldn’t answer Dak’s contract questions and Dak relaxed his voice. Both sides made concessions, Dak’s people demanded the entire guaranteed extension and accepted less of the total package, and the Cowboys manipulated the signing bonus by adding voidable years at the end of the extension.

Leave it to Jerry to joke when they arrived at the stadium that they came by bus because they didn’t have any fare.

All’s well that ends well. Dak is happy, really happy, because he has time to hug his young daughter behind the bench during warmups. The Joneses are happy, probably more relieved even though they have to spend the grandchildren’s inheritance. (Come on, I was kidding.) The players were, as Dak said, happy, pointing out that practice squad running back Malik Davis told his teammates to get their wrists measured for gold watches.

And despite the alleged dissatisfaction among fans, you may be happy too.

At least for a week, right?