Dallas Cowboys at San Diego Chargers: Five Things to Follow
By Reid Hanson
Jul 30, 2015; Oxnard, CA, USA; Dallas Cowboys quarterback
Brandon Weeden(3) runs through drills during training camp at River Ridge Fields. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Dallas Cowboys QB Play
If the Cowboys lose Tony Romo for any extended period of time the season is lost. Nothing Brandon Weeden can show us tonight will change that fact but it could, at the very least, make us feel better about a short absence.
As I stated in my recent article about Brandon Weeden and his offseason “improvement”, I broke down his lone 2014 performance to detail how poorly he played:
"“Technically, Brandon Weeden was 18 for 33, giving him a paltry 55% completion percentage, but in all fairness, 2 passes happened while getting hit, and one was an obvious “throw away”, so I prefer not to hold these against him, resulting in 18 for 30 and a 60% completion rating. 60% is perfectly acceptable but it’s also a little misleading since it was so heavily propped up by check-downs for minimal yardage. In that Cardinals’ game, Weeden consistently missed wide-open receivers. The Cards single-covered receivers all day, daring Brandon Weeden’s Cowboys to beat them, and he never got close. Brandon Weeden dropped back 24 times without any noticeable pressure to speak of, and only managed to complete 12 of those passes. Multiple times, under these perfect conditions, receivers ran open but Weeden failed to connect. Over and over again, Weeden saw the open receiver, with coverage trailing, and missed his target. When facing no pressure, Weeden collected 159 of his yards, threw 2 interceptions, and earned a 38.1 QBR. It’s extremely noteworthy to point out Weeden didn’t even look to the left side of the field.”"
In addition to Brandon Weeden’s (in)competence, it will be interesting to see how 3rd stringer Dustin Vaughn looks. He’s played his way out of a roster spot in camp so far, so how he looks in the face of real competition is very important in his quest to convince the Cowboys keeping a 3rd QB is worth is.
Next: How versatile is versatile?