This game was much better than the showing from last year's Cowboys preseason match-up.
Offense:
Goff looked good in VERY limited time. That said, it was still nice to see. Mannion handled the game well and even hung in under pressure on and delivered (the Hemmingway drop). He had a similar stat line to Hackenburg for the Jets. Unlike Hack, he was actually able to lead his team to some scores. That said, the delay of game he had was inexcusable. Orlovsky was as expected.
Kupp showed up and made plays. Spruce had 6 for 30, but they were like empty calories. Maybe he shows some more in the future, but the talent on the corps may have passed him. Pharoh Cooper rose from the grave some prematurely dug for him and made some impressive plays. I was sad to see Shakeir Ryan not get more involved in the passing game, because when he had space to return, he looked incredibly shifty and had a good burst to him. Would love to see more out of him.
Everett looked as elusive as advertised and impressed me. Higbee was non-existent in the passing game, and Hemmingway flashed despite that drop/fumble. In his defense, it was a bit tipped, but still should have been caught.
Liked what I saw out of Whitworth, and Big Rob at the tackle spots, but Jamon Brown being abused in the run game hurt. This team is gonna need to prowl waivers come cut downs. Pace had a rough outing as well and that Blythe high snap shouldn't happen. Would like to re-watch and focus more on some of the guys, especially Eldernkamp.
Defense:
Wade Phillips and his defense were impressive through out. There were a couple glitches with DBs tackling and our UDFA Ivy League backer getting beat by a 6ft 8in freak of nature, but outside of that, the discipline they showed was a breath of fresh air compared to GW's defenses. No more blowing 3rd and long situations. This defense knows where the sticks are, and they are not letting you convert easily.
On the line, I thought there was a great showing of depth that some may have been worried about after the Hayes trade, the Easely injury, and having no AD. I thought Longacre and Westbrook really brought it tonight on a consistent basis. Would like to re-watch and focus more on Fox as well. Smart had some nice plays for a rookie filling in and Omarius Bryant looked like he could be a competent back up for Brockers. He made flashes that Purcell just didn't.
The linebackers were pretty good for the most part from what I can remember. Ejuan Price brought consistent pressure when he got to pin his ears back. He was really the big factor on that Carlos Thompson sack and fumble. Orimolade got beat on the TD, but he really drew a tough assignment on that one, and just needed to make a better play on the ball. There were a lot of small contributions from a lot of different guys here, like Forrest covering on ST and getting a fumble recovery, or Kevin Davis making the final tackle in front of the sticks, or Bryce Hager just being around the ball a lot. It took a village today and the LB corps played it's part.
The secondary did its part. There wasn't much the Cowboys could complete or even attempt down field. Granted McCown and Kellen Moore don't make you fear the deep ball, but still. I thought Robey-Coleman was all over his man in coverage. I will forgive the stiff arm by DMC on him due to the shear size difference. At least he gave it an attempt. Need to just sweep the leg little man. Troy Hill was up and down from what I could tell. The big standout here is Michael Jordan. He was in good position most of the day and that near interception was a fantastic play on the ball. Of course it was a terrible decision by Luke McCown, but still, a great effort on that play and a near pick that would have sealed the game on a very sweet note.
Special Teams:
Not much to say about the starting kicker and punter here. We know what we have.
The coverage was quite good. I think the Cowboys got one decent punt return all game. The penalties are a bit worrying. There were a couple of holding calls on the Rams that need to be cleaned up. Then of course there was an obscene illegal formation call on that punt near the 2 min warning in the 4th quarter. The Cowboys offense and Rams defense were both on the field and almost lined up when the refs call an illegal formation that they should have called as soon as the ball was snapped. It takes away a fantastic roll on a Coons punt that would have pinned the Cowboys just inside their own 10. Instead, five yards back and a re-kick. The Cowboys end up getting about 12-15 extra yards by the end of this. I just found it ridiculous that it took that long for that call to come in, but I guess it didn't matter much in the end and the refs are still just in preseason form as well.
I mentioned Shakeir Ryan earlier and I want to reiterate here how impressed I was with him in the punt return game. Maybe I'm just hyped too much on him and someone can cross check me on this, but I thought he was excellent. Good instincts when it came to if he should call for a fair catch or not, no bobbling of the ball, and when he did get a chance to return, it felt electric, for lack of a better term. Maybe it felt like static electricity given that he didn't break a huge one, but I felt despite not going all the way on any of his chances, he really seemed to maximize what he could have gotten. He didn't back pedal and over do it on going side to side. He wasn't trying too hard like some guys, especially in preseason, do. It just seemed natural to him. He was decisive and made very quick movements. It felt like his ability to quickly change direction, coupled with his speed, could really be something if he gets a good lane.
Also, I want to give a shout out to Travis Coons. This may be the best "Camp Leg" this team has brought on in recent memory. I think he deserves a starting job in this league and hopefully a kicker needy team might trade some late draft capital for him. The issue with him has always been his power, but his kickoffs were deep this game so maybe that's past him. I would like the Rams to show case him on a longer (50+) FG attempt in a later preseason game. I thought it was weird he was asked to punt, but I thought he did admirably. No he won't have any GMs knocking on his door asking him to do it, but I have seen much worse out of place kickers. I think back to a semi-recent Bengals and Steelers game, and Kevin Huber of the Bengals got knocked out of the game so their kicker had to take over. It cost the Bengals field position big time as their kicker consistently hit sub 40 yard kicks. Coons was at least able to put the ball in a decent spot and get friendly bounces to help him out. Even without the bounces, most of his punts were at least 40 yards. Not bad given the circumstances.
Anyway, I came away from this game mostly satisfied and glad that there didn't seem to be any major injuries. On to the next one.
