Blogging The Boys
For the second week in a row, a slow start doomed the Dallas Cowboys. The Baltimore Ravens got their running game going early, and the Cowboys had no answer for it. The Cowboys had chances to sustain drives and put points on the board, but a sluggish first half gave the Ravens a head start they wouldn’t yield. That said, there were flashes of good football despite another preseason loss and cause for concern after the defeat to Baltimore. Here are three major takeaways from the game.
Miles Sanders didn’t have a great showing against the Ravens. He bobbled a toss that was nearly a fumble, and he had seven carries for 15 yards. What makes that worse is that he was the Cowboys’ leading rusher for the night. The much-anticipated debut of Tyler Booker was as expected from a player of his caliber, but he couldn’t save the rushing attack for the Cowboys. His replacements, Deuce Vaughn and Phil Mafah, had worse efficiency, totaling 8 carries for 18 yards combined. You can’t blame balance this week either. The Cowboys ran the ball 20 times and threw it 23 times for almost an even split. Whether it’s the backup tackles, tight ends, or otherwise, the Cowboys have a lot to work on to have a better running game by the preseason finale on Friday.
Defensively, the numbers are a little skewed to seem better than they are, but Dallas still allowed the Ravens to run for almost 150 yards on the ground. Mazi Smith played a sizable chunk of the game, and at times, he was slow off the snap and pushed far beyond the line to gain by the opposing offensive line. Jay Toia also could have put on a better performance, but overall, the interior defensive line was just not adequate enough.
The linebackers had a pretty good day, all things considered. Yes, the Cowboys’ run defense needs to improve, and the Ravens had their way up front, getting push on the interior offensive line. However, the linebackers did a great job of playing downhill and flowing to the ball. That position group played well in space and did their best to support where the interior defensive line was lacking.
Shemar James and Damone Clark were the highlights of the linebacker group. Between both of them, they combined for 13 tackles, with nine of them being of the solo type. Whether it was Clark or James, both of them were all over the field. On one occasion, James did a great job of blowing up a screen pass to D’Ernest Johnson. As for Clark, he did a great job of pursuing the ball carrier laterally to string out running plays horizontally. The coaching staff seems to have a renewed faith in Clark after he was in the doghouse for much of the 2024 season. Meanwhile, James, as...
