Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys played their second preseason game on Saturday, hosting the Baltimore Ravens. Similar to last week, they didn’t give fans much to be excited about, as they had issues on both sides of the ball. There were a few good things sprinkled into this underwhelming performance, and here are ten thoughts on the preseason loss to the Ravens.
For the second straight week, the Cowboys’ offense went three-and-out on its first two drives, with one of them ending in a safety when quarterback Joe Milton was sacked in the end zone. It never seemed to get better for the offense in the first half as they had five possessions that consisted of 18 total plays for a whopping 31 yards. Yikes. The offense started to do a few things in the second half, but overall, it didn’t get much better. Defensively, there were some stops here and there, but they also had their issues.
Last week, the Cowboys’ young backup quarterback struggled early on, but picked things up towards the end. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to build off of that and came out misfiring once again. He finished the game 9 for 18 with 122 yards and one interception. His highlight was a 49-yard bomb to Jonathan Mingo, and his lowlight was an intended bomb to Mingo that went right into the arms of Ravens’ defensive back Reuben Lowery. It’s a little concerning that the team’s backup QB has not looked good after two preseason games.
We didn’t get to see the Cowboys’ first-round pick last week, but Tyler Booker was in action in this one, making this his first-ever NFL game action. The Alabama guard had a solid game, both in pass protection and in the run game. Reports in training camp haven’t been as pleasant as we’d hope for a guy who was taken 12th overall in the draft, so it was nice to see him have a good showing in the game.
Not only did Booker have a solid night, but the team’s offensive line as a whole played pretty well in pass protection. Milton had plenty of time in the pocket most of the night. The protection from both backup tackles, Nate Thomas and Hakeem Adeniji, was very clean. The running game was a different story as they weren’t able to get push at the line of scrimmage, including a failed fourth-and-short attempt, but on passing downs, it was a good showing from this group. Things did fade a bit with the third-stringers, but we have to feel pretty good about this team’s depth along the offensive line.
There were moments in the game where a defensive player made a big play, and the coaches will have plenty of things to rave about from individual performances. From a team standpoint, the Cowboys’ defense had a...
