NFL truth be told: Cowboys and Eagles need change; Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield deserve flowers

The opening round of the 2023 NFL playoffs provided unexpected thrills and staggering spills. That's the beauty of this parity-driven league: You never know what you're going to get.

That said, in the aftermath of this postseason's first six games, I do know a few things.

So, as we transition from Super Wild Card Weekend to the Divisional Round, here are my undeniable truths, Schein Nine style.

The backdrop is important for this take, as that's not an easy thing for me to write. I am a huge Mike McCarthy fan, as I've repeatedly exhibited in this space. After McCarthy moved on from offensive coordinator Kellen Moore last January and assumed the play-calling duties himself, I predicted big things for Dak Prescott and the Cowboys' offense in the 2023 campaign. And during the regular season, that's exactly what we saw, as Prescott became an MVP candidate in his best season yet, and Dallas led the NFL in scoring. The Cowboys went 8-0 at home in dominant fashion, won the NFC East and earned the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. Everything was set up for "America's Team" to finally break through again in the postseason.

And then the upstart Packers came into town and completely flipped the script.

Forget the final score: 48-32 doesn't do Green Bay's throttling justice. This was sheer domination by the visiting team. It was 14-0 in the blink of an eye, 27-0 in the second quarter. Dallas got punked by the youngest playoff team in memory. Dan Quinn's defense was horrendous in every phase, with Packers receivers galloping down the field wide open on seemingly every other play. That was the biggest issue, but Prescott came up small in a big spot. CeeDee Lamb, whom I recently lauded as "the most consistently excellent and dominant receiver in