10. Okay, maybe there
is something to Monte Kiffin's "Tampa 2" defense forcing turnovers. After two exhibitions it's forced four. And Friday night they were both legit: A sack-and-strip by Sean Lee/Jason Hatcher and a pick in the end zone by rookie safety J.J. Wilcox.
9. Under quarterback Tony Romo the offense didn't exactly look regular-season crisp on its first series: Incompletion. Penalty. Sack. Timeout. Field goal. Yuck. The offense committed 3 red-zone penalties in the first half.
8. Cole Beasley has potential to be a serious option on offense, but not if he can't stay on the field. The latest injury is sprained foot ligaments suffered in the game. Not good. Of course it's better news than a year ago, when he briefly decided to quit football.
7. I was shocked when Dan Bailey had his short field goal blocked, but totally cringed when he got blocked during the Raiders' return and landed awkwardly over a teammate. Bailey seems okay, which is a major relief. Of all the things the Cowboys do wrong, one thing they've got right is their kicker.
6. Looks to me like the biggest football moment of Jared Green's life will remain being the son of Hall-of-Famer Darrell. The free-agent receiver had two costly 4th-quarter drops, including one right through his hands on 4th down as Dallas attempted to drive for a game-winning field goal. Anthony Armstrong is a much better receiver at this point.
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5. Wait, what? The NFL's new stadium rules this year - which will be enforced at
Cowboys AT&T Stadium - prohibits purses. How unAmerican.
4. The only thing more consistently chaotic than an NFL pre-season game in the second half is the Cowboys' telecasts produced by Blue Star Media. Love Babe Laufenberg, Mickey Spagnola and the boys, but it's such an amateurish production during Cowboys' pre-season games. The graphics are consistently wrong and during Mickey's sideline interview with Romo in the 4th quarter he kept looking up at the stadium video board to watch the game.
So disinterested.
3. The more I see of Ron Leary the more I like him. The left guard filling in for starter Nate Livings was solid in pass protection and got some good push down field in the running game. Livings better hurry back from knee surgery if he wants to start on Sept. 8 against the Giants.
2. Rookie B.W. Webb looks totally lost. The 4th-rounder from William & Mary missed a couple tackles, let a Raiders' receiver behind him on a deep ball and muffed a punt, setting up Oakland's winning points.
1. First time we've seen Romo throw a pass that sorta counted since the dreadful 2012 finale in Washington back in December and he looked, meh, okay. Romo was 6-of-8 for 88 yards. He was sacked once, had a pass batted down and missed a wide-open Miles Austin in the end zone on Dallas' second possession. In other words, he's in mid-season form?
