DENVER - No deep dive into the studs and duds in the Dallas Cowboys 17-7 preseason-opening lo s
Timothe Luwawu Jersey at Denver can begin without the mention of this teams ongoing penalty crisis.So lets begin there DUDSFLAG FOOTBALL ) What happened to coach Mike McCarthys pledge to cure the No. 1 illne s that plagued the otherwise-competitive 2021 Cowboys? The penalties are clearly way too much, McCarthy said. Thats clearly the biggest negative I think we all recognize that this isnt the regular season. This is preseason, I dont think this has anything to do with last year.Really? Because I do. And the constants from last year - including a coaching staff thats proven unable to fix it - deserves scrutiny.NO RUSH Is Will Grier (dinged up and inactive here) catching up to No. 2 QB Cooper Rush?Or is Rush catching down to Grier?He ended up throwing one pick on 12 of 20 pa sing for 84 yards while Grier (groin) watched. Grier gets his shot this week at the Chargers.O
Darryl Dawkins Jersey -LINE WOES Ive said often Dallas will regret not hurrying Tyler Smith into his starting left guard and it showed Saturday night. He pushes people around. But footwork, hand placement, discipline, penalties Hurry up, Tyler.Meanwhile, hurry up Cowboys and acquire a vet swing tackle, as disaster is being flirted with.And yet, McCarthy is preaching patience."How the offensive line plays is the last thing that comes (together) in preseason,'' he said. "Those are the facts.''KICKED OUT McCarthy had a plan: Lirim Hajrullahu and Brett Maher were going to rotate on kicks.Tough plan when your team can barely score.WHO'S THE BOSS? In Thursdays joint practice at Denver, the Broncos seemed to make a point to throw at Cowboys second-year corner Kelvin Joseph.It worked in practice.Joseph can maybe be excused for coming offsides on a 57-yard field-goal attempt that
Philadelphia 76ers Jersey mi sed, gifting Denver a 52-yard make; hes new to special teams, hes trying to be aggre sive, blah-blah.But hes got to start covering somebody.Scroll to ContinueJALEN TOLBERT DROPS All the sudden, were not talking of him as a starter anymore.He was targeted seven times by Rush and ended up with only two catches for 10 yards, with a drop, But, said McCarthy, "He had the drop early but I like the way he bounced back.STUDSNOT BLAND While Joseph (and fellow starter-for-the-night Nahshon Wright) struggled, corner DaRon Bland continued his training camp habit of seeming at least solid. Is thd fifth-round rookie pick suddenly the Cowboys fourth-best corner?Leave the politics out of it, and yup.OH, OSA! Wait a sec: Hows Osa Odighizuwa a stud when he didnt even play?Because he was elevated to the premium group that didnt play, thats why.SIMI & NOAH
Julius Erving Jersey Similarly, Noah Brown sat, creating the impre sion that hes a penciled-in starter. Hes emerged from a pack that includes Simi Fehoko, who big-bodied his way to scoring Dallas only touchdown on a 12-yard pa s from Ben DiNucci in the final minutes of the game.And two rookies worth mention, Dennis Houstons quiet reliability and return man KaVontae Turpins elusive promise put them in play.WHY NEVILLE? Dallas defensive tackles shut down the run here, limiting Denver to only 1.8 yards per carry. Starter Neville Gallimore into the third quarter and was often a man among children."That first game,'' Gallimore said, "everybody has the jitters.''But in this first game? He gave Denver three-plus quarters of jitters.THE TEs Dalton Schultz watched as rookie Jake Ferguson looked multi-purpose and Peyton Hendershot worked his way open nicely.THE INJURY GODS Among the premium guys, only Tyron Smith came out of Denver dinged up, and that is a minor i sue coming out of the Thursday workout. Otherwise? No Cowboys sustained a notable injury.In summary Would the game have resulted in a different look had Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, CeeDee Lamb, Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, Micah Parsons, Trevon
Wilt Chamberlain Jersey Diggs, DeMarcus Lawrence, Jayron Kearse and other first-teamers played?Obviously.But duds are still duds, no matter where they are on the depth chart.