Blogging The Boys
With the storm cloud that is the Micah Parsons situation only growing over the head of the 2025 Dallas Cowboys, one thing in the future forecast is crystal clear. Following the conclusion of Friday night’s preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons, the wins and losses will matter, and simply being pleased the Cowboys made it through four quarters without major injuries will be gone. The defending champion Philadelphia Eagles are waiting for their banner night to host Brian Schottenheimer’s team in his first real game.
With this in mind, is there anything the Cowboys can show at home against the Falcons to prove they’ve grown as a team through training camp in Oxnard and the preseason? So far against the Rams and Ravens, the Cowboys have not been able to do many of the things they’ve set out to with their backups getting nearly all the run. They’ve struggled to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, getting a push in their own run game or defending the interior run, completing deep passes with Joe Milton at QB, and have had their share of unforced penalties.
Obviously, it would be easy to say fixing all of these things would be the signs of progress to look for against Atlanta, but since Dallas has fully committed to resting so many key starters this preseason, some of these goals must be adjusted. The Cowboys will still be able to use this game in their evaluation before roster cuts. There are still players fighting to make the team and those inevitably playing their last four quarters either with the Cowboys or in the NFL on Friday night.
Whichever team wins this game will also earn their first of the preseason, before both open their regular seasons against playoff teams from a year ago as the Falcons host the Buccaneers in week one. Here are some things to look for in the final exhibition from AT&T Stadium.
When it comes to the caliber of players the Cowboys have kept on ice this preseason, every phase of the game has hardly been affected equally. Three of the team’s absolute best pound-for-pound players are Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens. All three players can be linked to the same phase of the game, and one that has a huge say on gamedays towards deciding wins and losses, which is making explosive plays through the air.
With that in mind, the Cowboys had a 39-yard pass play to Traeshon Holden and a 20-yarder to Ryan Flournoy against the Rams, and a 49-yard shot to Jonathan Mingo, 33 yards to Princeton Fant, and 23 yards to Flournoy against the Ravens, showing some potential in the big pass play department. That 33-yard catch by Fant was the longest of the preseason by a Cowboys tight end. Rivaldo Fairweather had the first touchdown of the preseason for the Cowboys against the Rams in the red zone as well....
