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Other than penalties and a still inconsistent pass rush, it'd be hard to find anything wrong with last night.
1) On a night Romo returns and looks sharp with most of the 1st team (minus Zeke and Tyron Smith) its hard to believe that Dak Prescott is what everyone is still talking about again. He did throw the one pick on a ball that appeared to sail a little (Laufenberg noted he was off balance a little while rolling, might have caused it) but that play was wiped out by roughing the passer call. Otherwise he was freaking spectacular. Bob Sturm said there was no way he could top is 154.5 opening night QB rating performance of last week, so he goes out and posts a perfect 158.3. I am just amazed at his development. His accuracy and ball placement are off the charts good right now. He doesn't look anything like the typical read option running QB coming from these college spread offenses. But he does have that dimension of being able to take off and make a huge play with his legs (as he did last night again). Its obviously still very early, but its not hard to be extremely optimistic about both the backup QB spot now, and Romo's successor in an upcoming season.
2) This offense as a whole has the looks of scary good type of season upcoming. Tyron Smith and Zeke Elliott haven't played a down yet either. It would appear to be an embarrassment of riches at RB & WR. They have a lot of variety with the pieces too. The top 4 WR's are all legit. The TE rotations looks solid. If this team gets leads going into the 4th quarter its hard to see them not holding them with the type of running game we are going to have.
3) Chaz Green still had a play or two where he struggled, but I thought last night was much better than last week. He didn't make any glaring mistakes and didn't get rode back into the backfield any that I saw. Swing OT is probably the only question mark on the offensive side and if he can continue to improve every week we may have that answered too. Leary and Looney are both quality backup interior guys.
4) Defensively its still a work in progress, but I do feel good about the DT spot. I think we have 3 or 4 guys who can play there and be very effective. Tyrone Crawford had a couple plays last night where he just exploded into the backfield. Terrell McClain looks pretty decent. Thornton is a quality DT. Then we have this Sheneil Jenkins and 3rd rd pick Maliek Collins. There's no way Collins wont make the team, but if wants to be a contributor he better hurry up and get on the field and do something (did return to practice this past week). Jenkins had a nice game again with 3 tackles and a sack/fumble and has a knack for getting into the backfield. Rodney Coe was one f the highlight UDFA signings and he also played pretty well last night. Demarcus Lawrence only played a few snaps but had a couple good rushes that I saw. I think he'll be fine for us once he gets back from 4 game suspension. The other DE spot is the issue though. Russell looked better last night than vs Rams but didn't do enough.
5) Thought Anthony Hitchens looked good enough at MLB again. Very active and actually led the team in tackles despite not even playing half the game. With him and Lee we're in good shape at two LB spots. Its too bad Nzeocha got hurt (hopefully not season ending) because I do think he was looking like he could win the other starting OLB spot and actually be an upgrade over what was there. Wilbur is a decent end of the roster guy who can fill in at a few positions and play on a number of ST, but he isn't a starting OLB. He actually looked better to me last night at DE than OLB.
6) In the secondary I'm starting to fill pretty good about the CB spot. Scandrick doesn't look like his knee is giving him any issues. Claiborne does look like a different player right now, we'll see if it lasts but he has clearly changed his body (much stronger, more muscular) and is locking on guys. Nearly had one pick last night and had good defense on GL play to stop a drive as well. Carr is what he is, he can definitely be exposed but he may be relegated to more of the 3rd CB role now. I really like this Olatoye guy and hope we don't try to sneak him onto the PS. He's big, plays physical, tackles very well and doesn't seem to be afraid of trying to go after the ball. He needs to make the 53 IMO. Anthony Brown didn't play last night but by all accounts has had a strong camp and played decent last week. Has been getting reps in nickel/dime too.
7) Byron Jones will be a good player, but Church and Wilcox are the major holes on defense. Wilcox got burned badly on a deep ball early last night (again). He didn't do anything positive that I saw and neither did Church. Also, I don't know if Church had got dinged up but early in the game Wilcox was actually out there with the starters next to Jones at safety. Church did come into the game and played, but never heard what the story was. If he wasn't hurt, then maybe the staff is looking at his contract (last yr, high cap number) and mediocre play and starting to think about finding his replacement now (it obviously isn't Wilcox, so maybe they are thinking of looking around)
8) I don't care if its preseason, the officials last night were dreadful. We appeared to get royally hosed on several first half calls. The Hitchens thing has to be one of the biggest jokes ever. Also not sure what Brice Butler did to warrant offensive PI. I thought Ryan Russell's hit on the QB was 100% clean, and to make it worse on that same play their LT false started badly and the refs missed it. T Williams holding call was pretty dubious on the Jackson long run. We've now been flagged for 7 or 8 holding calls in two preseason games. I think LA and Miami have combined for 1 (maybe 2 tops)
9) We're out of training camp and through two preseason games, and our top 4 picks have hardly practiced (none have played). One of our key free agent signings (I say that loosely, because he had done nothing previously) Mayowa hasn't played and only started light practice this week. Its disappointing for sure, we need these guys to be out there (minus Jaylon Smith, who we knew wasn't going to be out there)
10) Will be interesting to see in the next week or two if they do make a move or two for defensive help. If we could somehow snag a quality DE starter and if by some miracle they are thinking of dumping Church, we could be set up pretty well barring a rash of major injuries later. Everything else we seem to be in pretty good shape. Run game, passing game, OL, the depth of the offense in general, Dak Prescott appears to be the answer as a legit backup to Romo. The defense has some pieces but the Lawrence and Gregory suspensions are going to hurt. Irving, Tapper and Russell haven't done enough IMO for one of them to be considered the answer at LDE opp Lawrence when he does return. The strong OLB is a little of a concern especially if Nzeocha cant be part of the competition there now. The special teams look solid. If they can just consistently be average defensively they could be set up for a good season.
1) On a night Romo returns and looks sharp with most of the 1st team (minus Zeke and Tyron Smith) its hard to believe that Dak Prescott is what everyone is still talking about again. He did throw the one pick on a ball that appeared to sail a little (Laufenberg noted he was off balance a little while rolling, might have caused it) but that play was wiped out by roughing the passer call. Otherwise he was freaking spectacular. Bob Sturm said there was no way he could top is 154.5 opening night QB rating performance of last week, so he goes out and posts a perfect 158.3. I am just amazed at his development. His accuracy and ball placement are off the charts good right now. He doesn't look anything like the typical read option running QB coming from these college spread offenses. But he does have that dimension of being able to take off and make a huge play with his legs (as he did last night again). Its obviously still very early, but its not hard to be extremely optimistic about both the backup QB spot now, and Romo's successor in an upcoming season.
2) This offense as a whole has the looks of scary good type of season upcoming. Tyron Smith and Zeke Elliott haven't played a down yet either. It would appear to be an embarrassment of riches at RB & WR. They have a lot of variety with the pieces too. The top 4 WR's are all legit. The TE rotations looks solid. If this team gets leads going into the 4th quarter its hard to see them not holding them with the type of running game we are going to have.
3) Chaz Green still had a play or two where he struggled, but I thought last night was much better than last week. He didn't make any glaring mistakes and didn't get rode back into the backfield any that I saw. Swing OT is probably the only question mark on the offensive side and if he can continue to improve every week we may have that answered too. Leary and Looney are both quality backup interior guys.
4) Defensively its still a work in progress, but I do feel good about the DT spot. I think we have 3 or 4 guys who can play there and be very effective. Tyrone Crawford had a couple plays last night where he just exploded into the backfield. Terrell McClain looks pretty decent. Thornton is a quality DT. Then we have this Sheneil Jenkins and 3rd rd pick Maliek Collins. There's no way Collins wont make the team, but if wants to be a contributor he better hurry up and get on the field and do something (did return to practice this past week). Jenkins had a nice game again with 3 tackles and a sack/fumble and has a knack for getting into the backfield. Rodney Coe was one f the highlight UDFA signings and he also played pretty well last night. Demarcus Lawrence only played a few snaps but had a couple good rushes that I saw. I think he'll be fine for us once he gets back from 4 game suspension. The other DE spot is the issue though. Russell looked better last night than vs Rams but didn't do enough.
5) Thought Anthony Hitchens looked good enough at MLB again. Very active and actually led the team in tackles despite not even playing half the game. With him and Lee we're in good shape at two LB spots. Its too bad Nzeocha got hurt (hopefully not season ending) because I do think he was looking like he could win the other starting OLB spot and actually be an upgrade over what was there. Wilbur is a decent end of the roster guy who can fill in at a few positions and play on a number of ST, but he isn't a starting OLB. He actually looked better to me last night at DE than OLB.
6) In the secondary I'm starting to fill pretty good about the CB spot. Scandrick doesn't look like his knee is giving him any issues. Claiborne does look like a different player right now, we'll see if it lasts but he has clearly changed his body (much stronger, more muscular) and is locking on guys. Nearly had one pick last night and had good defense on GL play to stop a drive as well. Carr is what he is, he can definitely be exposed but he may be relegated to more of the 3rd CB role now. I really like this Olatoye guy and hope we don't try to sneak him onto the PS. He's big, plays physical, tackles very well and doesn't seem to be afraid of trying to go after the ball. He needs to make the 53 IMO. Anthony Brown didn't play last night but by all accounts has had a strong camp and played decent last week. Has been getting reps in nickel/dime too.
7) Byron Jones will be a good player, but Church and Wilcox are the major holes on defense. Wilcox got burned badly on a deep ball early last night (again). He didn't do anything positive that I saw and neither did Church. Also, I don't know if Church had got dinged up but early in the game Wilcox was actually out there with the starters next to Jones at safety. Church did come into the game and played, but never heard what the story was. If he wasn't hurt, then maybe the staff is looking at his contract (last yr, high cap number) and mediocre play and starting to think about finding his replacement now (it obviously isn't Wilcox, so maybe they are thinking of looking around)
8) I don't care if its preseason, the officials last night were dreadful. We appeared to get royally hosed on several first half calls. The Hitchens thing has to be one of the biggest jokes ever. Also not sure what Brice Butler did to warrant offensive PI. I thought Ryan Russell's hit on the QB was 100% clean, and to make it worse on that same play their LT false started badly and the refs missed it. T Williams holding call was pretty dubious on the Jackson long run. We've now been flagged for 7 or 8 holding calls in two preseason games. I think LA and Miami have combined for 1 (maybe 2 tops)
9) We're out of training camp and through two preseason games, and our top 4 picks have hardly practiced (none have played). One of our key free agent signings (I say that loosely, because he had done nothing previously) Mayowa hasn't played and only started light practice this week. Its disappointing for sure, we need these guys to be out there (minus Jaylon Smith, who we knew wasn't going to be out there)
10) Will be interesting to see in the next week or two if they do make a move or two for defensive help. If we could somehow snag a quality DE starter and if by some miracle they are thinking of dumping Church, we could be set up pretty well barring a rash of major injuries later. Everything else we seem to be in pretty good shape. Run game, passing game, OL, the depth of the offense in general, Dak Prescott appears to be the answer as a legit backup to Romo. The defense has some pieces but the Lawrence and Gregory suspensions are going to hurt. Irving, Tapper and Russell haven't done enough IMO for one of them to be considered the answer at LDE opp Lawrence when he does return. The strong OLB is a little of a concern especially if Nzeocha cant be part of the competition there now. The special teams look solid. If they can just consistently be average defensively they could be set up for a good season.
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