ARLINGTON, Texas – In his first start for the Cowboys in the preseason last week against the Rams, quarterback Joe Milton graded his performance as a D/D-minus.

A week later, Milton didn't move his own grade up much following a 31-13 loss to the Ravens where the Cowboys' offense struggled again.

"If it wasn't for the interception, I feel like it would've been a smooth C-plus," Milton said. "But right now, I still feel like I'd give myself a D just because I've got to clean my eyes up."

The second-year quarterback finished the game completing 9 of his 18 passing attempts for 122 yards and an interception.

The interception came late in the second quarter just one play after Kemon Hall picked off Cooper Rush to give the Cowboys an opportunity to either tie or cut the Baltimore lead to one or two points going into the half. Instead, Milton made a throw that he certainly wants back.

"Just looking at Mingo knowing that he beat the corner, seeing the boundary safety roll down to that side and just knowing that I had a one-on-one over there with Mingo and that corner and I just trusted Mingo," Milton explained. "But I just got to fix my eyes and see the post safety roll in over there."

Milton was also sacked twice, one of which came in the end zone on Dallas' first offensive possession of the game. The Cowboys started the drive at their own seven yard line, and went backwards on second down to set up third and 14 at the three yard line.

That's when Keyon Martin got home on Milton for a safety.

"I didn't see him," Milton said. "I knew my hot responsibilities; I just didn't see him. Just because there was a bunch [formation] over there and he was hiding between the tight end and the bunch, so I really just didn't see him."

Following the game, Brian Schottenheimer explained the play from his perspective and where Milton needs to learn from it.

"We called a quick answer, they showed down, and his feet were kind of – he was holding on the slat, trying to a throw a little flat slat combination, and they had two free runners, so that was on him. He should've thrown it away." Schottenheimer said.

While it was certainly a frustrating start to the game, Schottenheimer isn't the kind of coach to animatedly rip into Milton in front of everyone. Instead, he takes a different approach.

"You're not going to yell, you're not going to scream, you're going to just teach," Schottenheimer said. "The thing I love about Joe is when you talk to him, he's like, 'You're right, you're right.'"

When Milton goes back and watches the game tape over again heading into his final preseason game, a lot of the same things he looked at last week will be the same things he examines in this film study.

"How smoothly did I play? How calm was my feet this time around?" Milton said. "Instead of the first play in the Rams game where my feet were all over the place, just how smooth were my feet, and how clean were my eyes?"

While Milton's two performances haven't been what he's wanted, he, like Schottenheimer, isn't pushing the panic button and is instead focused on getting back to the drawing board and improving his game.

"I wouldn't say I just have to put something on film, I just feel like I just need to get better day by day," Milton said. "And that's just getting one percent better and taking that up to two percent, and just trying to get better, challenging my teammates around me to keep pushing me and then just keep pushing myself too."

When it comes to making those improvements, Schottenheimer said coming into Saturday night that one of the things he wanted to see his team do was get off to a quicker start on offense. One way to do that? Settle your quarterback into the game, with high-percentage throws that build confidence.

Starting inside your own ten and going -7 yards on three plays is not the ideal way to do that, but it was what Milton and the Cowboys had to deal with on Saturday night. When a quarterback is dealt that card early in a game, how does Schottenheimer approach re-settling them into the game to build confidence?

"For a young quarterback, it's about stacking plays. It's about okay, get a streak of completions going, you know? Okay, get a completion. Get a completion. Okay I get two completions and get three and then okay I missed one. Okay, then start a new streak." Schottenheimer said.

"I think what you find when you do that is they kind of work themselves into a good rhythm, and they feel with a lot more confidence when they're able to do that. So, we're going to continue to trust Joe Milton. He made some great throws. And again, the interception is the first thing that jumps out at me, you know. And I wish he'd had that one back."

The Cowboys head into a short week with the third and final preseason game against the Falcons coming on Friday, August 22 at AT&T Stadium, with pressure mounting at the backup quarterback position.