Game Thread: Cowboys vs Rams

[Nasty_Magician]

 

[Manster7588]

Defense looked bad, but a few key starters were absent.

 

[DALLAScornhusker]

Thanks for posting. Wasn't near a TV. Kid looks focused and prepared. It's hard to not make it more than it was, since this fanbase has been so hard up for something positive at bu QB. But in the moment he showed the game is not too big for him and that tells me he belongs as an NFL QB. We can hold off anointing him the next (fill in the blank) until after preseason is over.

 

[Shaggy]

Nice! Didn't see all his play time. He does seem like a future starter.

 

[Manster7588]

Thanks for posting. Wasn't near a TV. Kid looks focused and prepared. It's hard to not make it more than it was, since this fanbase has been so hard up for something positive at bu QB. But in the moment he showed the game is not too big for him and that tells me he belongs as an NFL QB. We can hold off anointing him the next (fill in the blank) until after preseason is over.

Nice! Didn't see all his play time. He does seem like a future starter.

It's just a preseason half, but he looked good. Props to PDay for calling his name predraft.

 

[UK Cowboy]

Thanks for posting. Wasn't near a TV. Kid looks focused and prepared. It's hard to not make it more than it was, since this fanbase has been so hard up for something positive at bu QB. But in the moment he showed the game is not too big for him and that tells me he belongs as an NFL QB. We can hold off anointing him the next (fill in the blank) until after preseason is over.

I've always been a big fan of the kid, hopefully he can hold a clipboard for a couple of years before getting thrown to the fire. I really believe if he can be brought along slowly, sort of like Romo was, he could end up being a long term tarter

 

[UK Cowboy]

Seahawks fan here, this Dak Prescott reminds me of Warren Moon no joke. everything from the way he drops back to the throwing motion to his ability to run if need be. Nice find for the Cowboys, wish the Hawks had him as their Back-up. Boykin looked like SHIT today.

That's a strong take, Moon was a heck of a player. I actually see a lot of Yall's QB in the kid, he can run, but tries to look downfield first, he's a strong kid and a natural leader. I'd love for him to be Moon, but would take another Russell Wilson right now, happily.

 

[RobToxin]

You guys talking about how Prescott looked better than any backup Romo has ever had. Fuck, he looked better than any starting quarterback the Texans have ever had!

Sunuvabitch!

 

[reptec101]

Considering 7 or 8 of his passes were 10 yard dump offs to wide open receivers (two which were dropped btw) the kid had a nice game which as a Cowboys fan must be encouraging. Even the TD toss to Dez was just a toss up that Dez grabs 8 out of 10 times. The other 4 or 5 throws were a sign of confidence. Not here to bust on your dreams and hopes just to say job well done for a rookie QB in his first "pre-season" game. Being the 8th QB selected, as "you" all most certainly know,,, or a QB being selected the number 2 player overall as "we" most certainly know .... means absolutely nothing. So anything is possible in this game of football.

So good start for the kid. Played a very good game.

 

[es4m11]

I didn't see the game last night, but will watch the replay today. I'm excited to see Dak's performance. I wanted this guy all along during the draft process, and it's nice to see he has some promise. After so many failed attempts to find a solid back up QB, Dallas needs a win here. Still very early, but everything I am reading about Prescott so far this season has me feeling confident this kid can get the job done.

 

[jarntt]

It was a very good game for us IMO. Most important thing was no injuries (unless something came up I don't know about). The obvious after that was Dak. I think a lot of us liked him to be a long term possibility, but I don't think anyone expected him to be ready to play early this year. Maybe he will and maybe he won't, but he sure looked ready last night. It was only one preseason game of course, but he just did so many things well. I almost can't wait to see him in the next preseason game to see if he can play well again. The dangerous thing is trying to find the difference between him being ready to step in and finish a game or even start a game if injury strikes and being ready to play half a season and give the team a chance if major injury strikes. Assuming Romo can stay healthy, the Wednesday snaps he would get all season if he remains our #2 would be incredible for his development. Oh and he held the ball too long on that sack at the edge of FG range and should have thrown it away - can't be all rosy!!! Overall he gets an A+

Other good: The OL starters looked good. They gave Dak time and created holes in the running game.
Next was Morris. He didn't even look like the player I remembered with the Redskins. He looked quick and the play on that screen looked like a guy that could play 3rd downs. Very impressed. Did he lose weight? If he can play like that in the open field and still have the power for short yardage he will be the FT backup and fight for touches IMO regardless of who else is on the team.

Jackson looked good too when he was in. If I'm McFadden and Dunbar I'm going to get my ass healthy ASAP.

Lucky's return was fantastic but he looked quick all night on both STs and Offense.

All 3 top receivers did their thing. Dez looked like a beast, TWill got open for a big play deep and Beasley looked quick and got open in the middle of the field.

Nzeocha was all over the place

Olataye made a couple great plays, a broken up pass and an INt where he showed more ball awareness than I've seen on this defense and he played it like the ball was his.

Thornton had a series where it looked like he knew the snap count he got off the ball so quick up the middle

Hitchens looked qucik and good, but had a couple of bad angles and plays where he let himself get blocked too easily and was moving in the wrong direction.



Some of the bad or not so good: Wilcox just doesn't look like he's ever going to get it. So disappointed because I thought this guy could be a great in the box safety. Two huge missed tackles and a play where he just totally lost his man in coverage. Yeah, one great play, but that deliver the big hit mentality combined with poor angles is what is going to get him cut IMO.

Green might have hadabout the worst footwork of any T I've seen in a particular game. He needs to get much better or he won't be our swing tackle. Didn't look like he could handle the speed rush or the power rush.

The penalties were just awful. Big penalties in huge spots. The pass INt when we had good coverage. The too many men on the field on a punt to keep a drive going, Multiple penalties by Green, etc

Garrett's time management. I just don't get it. WTF is this guy thinking? How do you not use a TO there when you have 3 and your QB just ran for like 20 yards. Take a TO and give him a rest and save 20 seconds. This wasn't a preseason issue, he just sucks in time management and has for years. He needs one of these assistants to help him.

Tackling. Missed tackles again and not just from Wilcox. Too many guys didn't wrap up. Technique was poor on many plays.

I thought the man coverage wasn't too bad, but when we were in zone it still often looked like no one knew their assignment or got confused and the soft spots were way too easy to find. I get that a lot of the DBs won't see the field, but when you see this over and over it seems like perhaps there is a problem with the scheme too. When it mattered most we made it too easy for the QB to find guys and that often is the story of our defense and continue to have me expecting the other team to come down the field and score in the two minute offense. Want to see our top 3 corners play together in the third game with jones and see if this is a problem of the past. I expect this to get much better

Lastly...pass rush, pass rush, pass rush. Nothing else is going to matter if we don't get a pass rush and none of these guys looked able to beat their man one on one other than once in a blue moon. Yes, guys were out but some of those guys may stay out. We have to find a pass rush or it will be a long season. I think we need to start bringing 5 and 6 when the lights come on for real. Also, a little disappointed in how the DL often couldn't hold up in the run game. I expected a little more strength there, but they didn't look great.


All in all I'm very happy. It really didn't matter that we lost because it's preseason. I do think a win would have helped the confidence of some of these guys, but ultimately who cares. I think if healthy our offense is going to be exactly what we hoped and I think that will offset a not so good defense, but I am not giving up on this defense either. I think they could be average to a little above average. Our 3 best players on defense (maybe 4 if you put Crawford there) didn't see the field. Really looking toward to the next preseason game to see if we can keep doing the good things and improve a little on the not so good.

 

[jarntt]

To add to DL comment above. Want to see the whole group in game 3. I think they will be better than we saw last night and should improve throughout the season with health. Adding Lawrence and Crawford and then seeing what Collins and Mayowa can do should help, especially in the pass rush and I'm still a believer in T McClain, but understand if he can't get healthy at this point he's probably going to go cut. Just realized I didn't notice anything from Tapper. I'm assuming he played.

 

[PDay8810]

one in the books....on to the next one

 

[PDay8810]

Considering 7 or 8 of his passes were 10 yard dump offs to wide open receivers (two which were dropped btw) the kid had a nice game which as a Cowboys fan must be encouraging. Even the TD toss to Dez was just a toss up that Dez grabs 8 out of 10 times. The other 4 or 5 throws were a sign of confidence. Not here to bust on your dreams and hopes just to say job well done for a rookie QB in his first "pre-season" game. Being the 8th QB selected, as "you" all most certainly know,,, or a QB being selected the number 2 player overall as "we" most certainly know .... means absolutely nothing. So anything is possible in this game of football.

So good start for the kid. Played a very good game.

you still here?....ALWAYS ON YOUR MIND!

 

[CarlSr]

Considering 7 or 8 of his passes were 10 yard dump offs to wide open receivers (two which were dropped btw) the kid had a nice game which as a Cowboys fan must be encouraging. Even the TD toss to Dez was just a toss up that Dez grabs 8 out of 10 times. The other 4 or 5 throws were a sign of confidence. Not here to bust on your dreams and hopes just to say job well done for a rookie QB in his first "pre-season" game. Being the 8th QB selected, as "you" all most certainly know,,, or a QB being selected the number 2 player overall as "we" most certainly know .... means absolutely nothing. So anything is possible in this game of football.

So good start for the kid. Played a very good game.

I thought what we saw would have been what we would have seen if a healthy Romo was out there or if this was a regular season game in terms of plays called and execution. I liked that about the play selection last night. While you could tell some of the calls may have been to help a rookie, I've seen far worse leashes in recent years for other young QBs across the league. At least we had a chance to see Dak do a few different things, and he seemed to do them all well. I think that's part of the reason there's some optimism and hope. If they had him out there running some sort of read option, running all over the place and only completing short dump-off passes when there wasn't a lane to run through, even if he had success, I suspect some of us would be very worried. That's not what happened though.

Dak was accurate and made good decisions, at times with pressure in his face. If I'm going glass is half empty after seeing that performance, I'd probably focus on the Rams DBs. I wouldn't say that they're impressive. It will be interesting to see what he can do against a team with better coverage skills. Nice start and as much as anything, I think fans are glad they've been given a reason to have a little optimism to start the season off with.

 

[reptec101]

you still here?....ALWAYS ON YOUR MIND!

Was just trying to be nice,,, I see you're still a dick though.

 

[UK Cowboy]

Considering 7 or 8 of his passes were 10 yard dump offs to wide open receivers (two which were dropped btw) the kid had a nice game which as a Cowboys fan must be encouraging. Even the TD toss to Dez was just a toss up that Dez grabs 8 out of 10 times. The other 4 or 5 throws were a sign of confidence. Not here to bust on your dreams and hopes just to say job well done for a rookie QB in his first "pre-season" game. Being the 8th QB selected, as "you" all most certainly know,,, or a QB being selected the number 2 player overall as "we" most certainly know .... means absolutely nothing. So anything is possible in this game of football.

So good start for the kid. Played a very good game.

Nobody is saying the kid is Joe Montana, but without two drops, the kid would have been 100%, which is hard to do in 7 on 7, let alone your first live action. He also showed poise and moxie, and I'm guessing you only watched the first drive, because on the second TD drive he made a couple of great downfield throws. If KC had looked that good in his first preseason game, Redskins nation would have spooged all over their computer. Haters gonna hate

 

[UK Cowboy]

Was just trying to be nice,,, I see you're still a dick though.

Seriously, @fordman84 you around Bro? I don't want this board to be like the Redskins board where they ban you for saying anything critical of the Skins, but if all this guy can add is calling PDay a Dick, give him the hook...

 

[PDay8810]

Was just trying to be nice,,, I see you're still a dick though.

yep, you just a peach of a guy...it's me

 

[UK Cowboy]

It was a very good game for us IMO. Most important thing was no injuries (unless something came up I don't know about). The obvious after that was Dak. I think a lot of us liked him to be a long term possibility, but I don't think anyone expected him to be ready to play early this year. Maybe he will and maybe he won't, but he sure looked ready last night. It was only one preseason game of course, but he just did so many things well. I almost can't wait to see him in the next preseason game to see if he can play well again. The dangerous thing is trying to find the difference between him being ready to step in and finish a game or even start a game if injury strikes and being ready to play half a season and give the team a chance if major injury strikes. Assuming Romo can stay healthy, the Wednesday snaps he would get all season if he remains our #2 would be incredible for his development. Oh and he held the ball too long on that sack at the edge of FG range and should have thrown it away - can't be all rosy!!! Overall he gets an A+

Other good: The OL starters looked good. They gave Dak time and created holes in the running game.
Next was Morris. He didn't even look like the player I remembered with the Redskins. He looked quick and the play on that screen looked like a guy that could play 3rd downs. Very impressed. Did he lose weight? If he can play like that in the open field and still have the power for short yardage he will be the FT backup and fight for touches IMO regardless of who else is on the team.

Jackson looked good too when he was in. If I'm McFadden and Dunbar I'm going to get my ass healthy ASAP.

Lucky's return was fantastic but he looked quick all night on both STs and Offense.

All 3 top receivers did their thing. Dez looked like a beast, TWill got open for a big play deep and Beasley looked quick and got open in the middle of the field.

Nzeocha was all over the place

Olataye made a couple great plays, a broken up pass and an INt where he showed more ball awareness than I've seen on this defense and he played it like the ball was his.

Thornton had a series where it looked like he knew the snap count he got off the ball so quick up the middle

Hitchens looked qucik and good, but had a couple of bad angles and plays where he let himself get blocked too easily and was moving in the wrong direction.



Some of the bad or not so good: Wilcox just doesn't look like he's ever going to get it. So disappointed because I thought this guy could be a great in the box safety. Two huge missed tackles and a play where he just totally lost his man in coverage. Yeah, one great play, but that deliver the big hit mentality combined with poor angles is what is going to get him cut IMO.

Green might have hadabout the worst footwork of any T I've seen in a particular game. He needs to get much better or he won't be our swing tackle. Didn't look like he could handle the speed rush or the power rush.

The penalties were just awful. Big penalties in huge spots. The pass INt when we had good coverage. The too many men on the field on a punt to keep a drive going, Multiple penalties by Green, etc

Garrett's time management. I just don't get it. WTF is this guy thinking? How do you not use a TO there when you have 3 and your QB just ran for like 20 yards. Take a TO and give him a rest and save 20 seconds. This wasn't a preseason issue, he just sucks in time management and has for years. He needs one of these assistants to help him.

Tackling. Missed tackles again and not just from Wilcox. Too many guys didn't wrap up. Technique was poor on many plays.

I thought the man coverage wasn't too bad, but when we were in zone it still often looked like no one knew their assignment or got confused and the soft spots were way too easy to find. I get that a lot of the DBs won't see the field, but when you see this over and over it seems like perhaps there is a problem with the scheme too. When it mattered most we made it too easy for the QB to find guys and that often is the story of our defense and continue to have me expecting the other team to come down the field and score in the two minute offense. Want to see our top 3 corners play together in the third game with jones and see if this is a problem of the past. I expect this to get much better

Lastly...pass rush, pass rush, pass rush. Nothing else is going to matter if we don't get a pass rush and none of these guys looked able to beat their man one on one other than once in a blue moon. Yes, guys were out but some of those guys may stay out. We have to find a pass rush or it will be a long season. I think we need to start bringing 5 and 6 when the lights come on for real. Also, a little disappointed in how the DL often couldn't hold up in the run game. I expected a little more strength there, but they didn't look great.


All in all I'm very happy. It really didn't matter that we lost because it's preseason. I do think a win would have helped the confidence of some of these guys, but ultimately who cares. I think if healthy our offense is going to be exactly what we hoped and I think that will offset a not so good defense, but I am not giving up on this defense either. I think they could be average to a little above average. Our 3 best players on defense (maybe 4 if you put Crawford there) didn't see the field. Really looking toward to the next preseason game to see if we can keep doing the good things and improve a little on the not so good.

Pretty spot on, besides Dak, the guy that I thought really stood out was Morris. If that's the version we are getting, added to Zeke and whoever wins the war for #3, that's lights out.
I think the Cowboys came into the game thinking about trading DMac and /or Leary for a backup QB, but besides Dak, I thought Showers played really well, and would have had better numbers if some balls had been caught. Might be able to add a DE or LB who can play instead....