Blogging The Boys
The first four quarters of Dallas Cowboys football for 2025 are officially in the book as of Saturday in Los Angeles, with the team losing 31-21 at the Rams. The Cowboys and Rams met for a scrimmage and joint practice in Oxnard earlier in the week, then put their depth to the test in a real game setting of two teams hoping to contend in their respective divisions in the NFC this season. The Rams are looking to repeat as winners of the West at 10-7 a year ago, while the Cowboys have much room to improve on third in the East in 2024 at 7-10.
The Cowboys were not expected to play many starters in this preseason opener, particularly on offense where the trio of Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens is enough to change the entire dynamic on this side of the ball – no matter how much these players and others are kept on ice in the preseason. A glimpse into what the Cowboys want to be offensively under Brian Schottenheimer was still on display while new QB Joe Milton played most of the game.
When not backed up by penalties or incompletions on deep passes were flashes of the run game finding space between the tackles, and play-action/moving pocket throws creating some easy completions. The Cowboys going four for 11 on third downs and two for four scoring touchdowns in the red zone compared to the Rams four for five red zone efficiency made the final difference on the scoreboard, and leaves the Cowboys with plenty to work on going into another week of practice and next preseason game on Saturday.
The Cowboys defense under DC Matt Eberflus needed every rep possible to sort out who will line up where in a new scheme and a depth chart littered with injuries. The first Cowboys defender to make a statement that he was ready for meaningful games to arrive was second-year linebacker Marist Liufau, who brought the physicality early by making the tackle on the opening kickoff. It already seems like Liufau will be a huge part of the equation at linebacker, but everything else around the “throwback” linebacker, as Schotty called him, was a work in progress against Sean McVay’s offense. The Rams offense had a lot of success against the Cowboys on the practice fields, and carried some of this into the game by racking up 364 yards, averaging 7.3 yards per pass play, and scoring two rushing touchdowns on their first two drives to jump ahead early.
As we’ll do after every Cowboys kickoff this season, here are a few other notes on what transpired between the Cowboys and Rams on Saturday night:
