Blogging The Boys
Every week, we gather to discuss the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have David Howman, Jess Haynie, and Brian Martin.
The Dallas Cowboys failed to score a touchdown on offense, but the sole touchdown did come from an unlikely defensive hero, Andrew Booth. The pick-six Booth scored showed great anticipation and athleticism to get downfield and score, so the question becomes does Booth deserve more playing time? Or was the play just a preseason highlight and more consistency is needed from Booth before giving him the green light?
Jess: Not really. He hasn’t been great outside of the pick-six, and the level of competition goes up in the regular season. Booth is one of a few guys like Troy Pride Jr. and Kemon Hall who might make the initial roster due to injuries but are only placeholders until Trevon Diggs, Caelen Carson, Shavon Revel, and Josh Butler are all ready to go. Until we get those players back, and perhaps even after we do, the CB position is going to be a weak point.
Howman: Nope. I was high on Booth when the Cowboys traded for him this time last year, but he’s consistently been leaky in coverage. Even against the Ravens, he gave up completions on 66.67% of his targets aside from that pick six. I’m not as worried about the cornerback position as Jess is, but I don’t think Booth will be a part of this room.
Brian: I never really viewed Booth as anything more than a camp body with the Cowboys this year. His pick-six against the Ravens doesn’t make me think any different of him. I think he will be among Dallas’ roster cuts when they get down to the league mandated 53-man limit.
This year’s first-round draft pick finally took to the field against Baltimore, and the overall play from Tyler Booker was pretty good. He was a dominant force in the run game, constantly pushing defenders back and overpowering the opposition. On an offensive line that struggled at times to establish the run, Booker was an obvious bright spot and should give Cowboys fans confidence going into the regular season.
Jess: It was hard to tell because the offense was so unproductive overall, but Booker seemed to be handling his 1/11th of the work just fine. Good start for the rookie in his first game action, but still way too early to project how he’s going to perform in the regular season.
Howman: I was encouraged. His physicality jumped out to me, and he held up really well in both run and pass blocking. It’s hard to judge much in the preseason, but I give Booker an even...
