Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys played a football game. Was it everything we hoped for? Not exactly. Was it an admirable attempt to get the blood flowing? Possibly. We’ll let everyone be their own judge. It’s just the first preseason game, so our expectations were lowered, but what can we say about this first football action of the preseason?
It couldn’t have started any worse. The Rams’ offense drove the ball 79 yards on 11 plays for a touchdown on their opening possession of the game. The Cowboys’ offense went three-and-out. On the Rams’ second possession, they drove the ball 64 yards on 13 plays for another touchdown. The Cowboys’ offense again went three-and-out. On two possessions, the defense couldn’t make a stop, and the offense couldn’t make a first down. That’s not how we wanted to spend our Saturday evening.
It’s a preseason game. There are going to be penalties. The Cowboys had their fair share of brain lapses as one might expect, but a few of them were head-scratchers. Asim Richards lined up too far back at the line of scrimmage on back-to-back plays, and the second one negated a nice run by rookie running back Phil Mafah. Even Cowboys players who weren’t playing got flagged. CeeDee Lamb, who was so excited about a possible long bomb passing play, that his no-look celebration got in the way of an official who was running down the sideline.
The Cowboys had eight penalties for 68 yards in the first half, but then settled down as they only had three penalties for 15 yards in the second half, so that’s good.
All eyes were on the Cowboys’ new backup quarterback, Joe Milton, and the coaching staff wasted no time letting him cut loose. Unfortunately, he wasn’t connecting well with his receivers. Many of his throws were missiles and looked nice leaving his hand, but he couldn’t stick the landing. He was misfiring, missing wide-open receivers. Many of his throws weren’t very catchable, and sometimes he just rifled the ball into coverage.
As anxious as he looked for most of the game, Milton did finish strong. He had a nice strike to undrafted free agent receiver Traeshon Holden down the sideline for a 35-yard gain. Seven plays later, he found another UDFA rookie, this time tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, for a seven-yard touchdown in the corner of the end zone. Milton showed more poise and put the ball in great spots, giving his receivers a fighting chance to come down with the ball. It was nice to see him finish the game on a positive note. He did leave the game, favoring his elbow, but he was ready to come back in if the coaches had let him.
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