The Cowboys travelled to San Diego to take on the Chargers Thursday in a game that had to raise more questions for their defense than it answered. The Cowboys lost 7-27 in a game that saw their defense gutted by the Chargers both on the ground and through the air. While the Cowboys came away from the game reeling on defense there still were several positive moments from the evening to build upon in the next few games leading up to the season opener. We will look at the first half moments from some of the players more likely to make the final cut.
First Half Offense:
Brandon Weeden was an offseason acquisition that left many of the Dallas Cowboys’ fans scratching their head. Weeden had a tough time sustaining any success in Cleveland for the Browns and he has plenty of doubts to silence coming into this preseason. Silencing doubts was exactly what it appeared he set out to do Thursday night completing 13 of his 17 attempts. He also connected with James Hanna in the back of the end zone with an impressive pass into coverage. The only poor moment for Weeden came during the two-minute drill on the final play of the first half when he decided to dump it into the middle of the field with five seconds on the clock instead of trying a pass into the end zone. All together, Weeden had a solid outing showing that he may indeed have what it takes to step in for Tony Romo if he should go down during the regular season.
Joseph Randal carried the ball the majority of the time for the Cowboys getting thirteen touches and converting them into fifty yards. The offensive line for the Dallas Cowboys has received a lot of attention this offseason adding another high picked lineman with the sixteenth overall pick of the 2014 draft, Zack Martin. Randal found success behind the line when attacking the edges, but struggled to find running room when trying to pound the ball between the tackles. The times Randall did get outside the formation he showed his quickness making the first defender miss several times for extra yardage.
The Cowboys red zone strategy appears to have been modified to be a little more run heavy on first and second down. The lone scoring drive saw the cowboys try two times to rush the ball between the tackles once inside the ten yard line, both times with no success, before scoring with a Brandon Weeden pass to Hanna. Incorporating the running game more into the red zone strategy for the Cowboys could prove more rewarding with anticipated starter Demarco Murray carrying the ball.
First Half Defense:
The Cowboys’ defense during the first half picked up right where it left off last season. The defensive line was simply beaten in the trenches by the Chargers lineman allowing many solid rushing attempts by Charger running backs. The only bright spot in the run defense came on a goal line stand when Jeff Heath put his hat on a ball that Danny Woodhead was trying to carry across the goal line forcing a fumble that was recovered by Terrance Mitchell.
The secondary for Dallas was the only part of the game that was harder to look then Dallas getting gutted by San Diego running backs. The linebackers struggled to keep up with Charger Tight ends getting beat by Ladarius Green several times. Rookie Terrance Mitchell struggled in coverage the whole evening getting beat in the end zone once for a holding call and later in the half he was drug into the end zone by Chargers’ running back Branden Oliver.
Looking forward:
The Cowboys have the rest of the offseason to plug in different personal to find a group that can slow down other teams a little better than they did against the Chargers and by the looks of Thursday night it may take all preseason to do it. The Cowboys can feel more confident in both Brandon Weeden and Joseph Randall after solid performances. Devin Street is a rookie wide receiver that put in a solid performance in the second half and is worth mentioning has he could be someone to look for in the weeks to come. The Dallas Cowboys face the Baltimore Ravens next on August 16th at 6 p.m. (CDT) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas