Cowboys vs Oakland: Dress Rehearsal Notes and Standouts

It didn’t go perfectly for the Cowboys on Saturday night’s dress rehearsal but it did tell us what we needed to know. Who were the standouts?

As mentioned in the pregame, the Oakland offense represented the biggest test to-date for this Cowboys defense. Facing off against five Pro Bowlers is exactly what this defense needed to gauge its progress.

Some of the success of the secondary was deceiving since Derek Carr was uncharacteristically inaccurate early. The coverage was soft and opportunities for completions were there. It was a very poor day for the secondary – worse than the stat sheet would indicate.

Jeff Heath is such an asset on special teams. The jury may be out on him as a safety but there’s no question he’s the key cog in the Cowboys’ special teams coverage. Even as a starting safety, expect him to play all of his special teams snaps. If he has to lighten his load, it’ll be on defense.

The safety play was concerning but luckily the breakdowns in coverage didn’t happen in the Cowboys’ single high safety, a coverage they’ve been leaning on more and more. The schemes and breakdowns probably are not indicative of what we’ll see in the regular season.

The missed tackles were concerning but probably a good thing in the long run. The Cowboys defense operates at its best when they swarm to the ball and gang tackle. They just aren’t the best open-field tacklers. The “swarming” wasn’t there on Saturday leading to many broken tackles and yards after contact for the Oakland offense. You can bet Rod Marinelli will be preaching gang tackles and correcting the issue.

More from Dallas Cowboys

I wasn’t impressed with DeMarcus Lawrence’s performance on Saturday. He seemed far more interested in rushing the passer and practicing his moves than honoring the running game.

Damontre Moore and Taco Charlton had a good showing once again. I have a feeling they are going to play significant roles this season.

The most anticipated matchup for me was watching La’el Collins battle Khalil Mack – arguably the best edge rusher in the game. If Collins could hold his own here, he could play with anyone. Sadly Collins was flagged three times and forfeited a significant amount of yards ultimately stalling at least one drive. Cause for worry? Not really. Play for play he looked alright and in a real game he’d likely get some assistance from the tight ends.

Just when I decided to leave Byron Bell off my final 53-man roster prediction, he goes and has a solid game like this. I think the Cowboys will go short at O-line and it’s going to come down to who the Cowboys like more for the money: Emmett Cleary or Byron Bell.

Without having the All-22 film to consult I can’t say definitively but when Dak Prescott targeted Dez Bryant 50 yards downfield in the second quarter, it seemed Dez was running less than full speed. When the ball was released Dez slowed down and rounded his route while he looked for the ball, he sped back up once he spotted it but that slow-down seemed to make all the difference on that incomplete pass.

The Raiders have a strong secondary so it’s no surprise they did well covering the Cowboys’ receivers on Saturday.

Maliek Collins had great penetration up the middle. Each game he looks stronger and stronger. It’s amazing someone built like him has so much explosion in his step. I’m going to put the over/under for his season sack total at eight.

Next: Cowboys Final 53-man Roster Projection

Brice Butler was great once again. If given the opportunity this season, he has great breakout potential.

Home/Dallas Cowboys