THE COWBOYS REPORT

Cowboys look to clean up turnovers as preseason comes to an end

Cowboys look to clean up turnovers as preseason comes to an end
Jason Garrett and the Cowboys have one more dress rehearsal. Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

Sunday night’s game in Dallas was supposed to be a regular season run-through between the Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals.  I am sure most fans were excited to sit back and get a good look at how the Cowboys offense is going to look this upcoming season.  The issue with that was Head Coach Jason Garrett decided to take caution and sit his stars.

With all of the offensive line injuries, only two of the projected five starters (La’el Collins and rookie Connor Williams) took the field.  Pro Bowlers Zach Martin (Injured knee), Travis Frederick (Gullian-Barre Syndrome), and Tyron Smith (Rest) did not play. This is the reason offensive stars quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott stayed on the bench.  This left the door open for backup QB Cooper Rush to show his talent, and it did not go well. He threw 11 of 17 passes for 93 yards and two interceptions. The most noteworthy was a high floater towards the sideline on an out pattern to Tavon Austin that got picked off by Patrick Peterson who took it all the way back for a 30-yard touchdown.  

When it was all over the Cowboys had committed eight turnovers (three INTS, three fumbles lost, and two lost muffed punts).  It is extremely hard to win games in the NFL when only turning the ball over twice, and it gets exponentially harder with every one after that.   

The lone bright spot for the Cowboys was the defense.  Second year defensive end Randy Gregory was explosive and looked unblockable against the Cardinals starting offensive line.  On the third play he used a swim move and sacked starting QB Sam Bradford for a 5-yard loss. As a whole, the defense only gave up 105 yards in the first half despite all the turnovers and two defense/special teams touchdowns.

One thing is for sure, Garrett and his team better hope that Prescott doesn’t get hurt because they might be demoted down to a four-win team or less if they have to play Rush or Mike White as their starting QBs.

3 Players to Watch

  1. Mike White, Cowboys thirdrd string quarterback: This 6’5” rookie out of Western Kentucky is likely to play the majority of the next game and I think his game visually looks better.  If he can catch up with the speed of the game, he could become QB 2 season’s end.

  2. Justin March-Lillard (5’11” 228 lbs.): Is a linebacker in his 4th season out of Akron who is fighting for a spot on the team.  Even without being the prototypical size for the position, he is always in the right position and has the ability to bring some pop.

  3. Jourdan Lewis (5’10” 2017 third-round draft pick): Another defensive secondary player fighting for a spot.  He had 4 tackles Sunday night and showed great recognition along with his good athletic ability in coverage.

Coming up

Thursday night is the preseason finale.  The Cowboys (0-3) will be on the road taking on the Houston Texans (2-1) at NRG Stadium, which they will do again in the regular season Oct. 7.  Not much will be expected out of this game.  Both teams will be playing a lot of players who won’t be on the final 53-man rosters as they give their starters an extra week of rest before the real games begin.  

For you gamblers out there, if you have to take a side, I would take the Texans -4 after having seen what the Cowboys look like without Dak and Zeke.  I will be staying away from this one.




 

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Jake Meyers is the latest Astro to be rushed back from injury too soon. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.

Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.

Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.

Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.

After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.

 

Lack of imaging strikes again!

The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.

The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.

The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?


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