INGLEWOOD, Calif. – At Ease.
Let's not start pulling any alarms, especially those of you seeing this team on a field in 2025 for the first time, under a new head coach and three new coordinators.
Not only was this but the first preseason game, but that might be the fewest frontline players the Cowboys have suited up for one of these affairs in quite some time, once again not wanting to overly expose their players to injury in a game with inconsequential results.
Generously, the Cowboy might have played three starters here Saturday night at SoFi, and one of those only because the regular backup is out with injury. And were not counting the three-man kicking operation in this.
They also sat several potential starters because of either injury or still rehabbing previous injuries or still the one "hold-in," though Micah Parsons saw fit to travel from Oxnard to here.
Come on, let's not needlessly stress out over Rams 31, Cowboys 21. Big deal the Rams ran for 181 yards. Or that Dallas only had one sack. Or that the Cowboys were penalized 11 times, though one of those must have P-Oed the sideline official, running over a celebratory CeeDee Lamb in the sideline restricted area for absent-minded conduct.
The Rams backups were better than the Cowboys backups. Or the Rams players unlikely to make the 53-man roster were better than their Cowboys counterparts.
"Not a storybook beginning," said Cowboys first-time head coach Brian Schottenheimer, involving a little self-deprecating humor over his head coaching debut of any kind at any level.
But hey, give the Cowboys credit for this: They could have quit down 14-0. They could have quit at 24-6 early in the third quarter or at 31-14. But true to the mantra printed on their training camp T-shirts and sweatshirts, they continued to "compete every day."
"Like the way we battled the second half," Schottenheimer said, and he sure had to like the way seventh-round draft choice Phil Mafah ran, along with Malik Davis, back with the Cowboys for a third tour of duty, running seven times for 63 yards without the benefit of anything more than a walk-through practice on Friday.
Now, if there was some aspect of this game causing a concern, and you guys know me and trust me to not overreact, the Cowboys had to at least scratch their heads over the uneven play of prospective backup quarterback Joe Milton III. Dallas trading for the Patriots' 2024 sixth-round pick this spring gave me pause when immediately the second-year NFL player was being heralded as the backup quarterback. Not backup of the future but backup now. Today. Thought that to be premature.
Am supposing the Cowboys were hoping for that to come true, maybe save a little salary cap space with a relatively inexperienced backup. Or at least less expensive than the previous lark they had with Cooper Rush, who will show up at AT&T on Saturday with the Baltimore Ravens after they signed this year's free agent to a two-year, $6 million deal with $4 million guaranteed and a $4.27 million signing bonus.
But Milton has only played in one NFL game. In six college seasons, three at Michigan and three at Tennessee, he only played in 43 games, an average of seven a season with nearly half of those in his final two years with the Volunteers (21). Of those 43, he started just 21. That's not a lot.
At this point of his quarterback career, he needs reps. A whole lot of reps. He needs more snaps. Look at it this way, in three preseason games during his rookie season in New England, Milton completed 11 of 30 passes for 152 yards, but 92 of those yards came on three completions. And then he didn't attempt another pass until the regular-season finale, completing 22 of 29 passes for 241 yards against Buffalo's backups.
And what we saw of Milton Saturday night was this uneven performance. At times a pass he completed makes you go, "Would you look at that." And then there are times he uncorks one making you go, "What the hack was that?" Felt like recently said that about another Cowboys potential backup quarterback. Oh, dawned on me Sunday I did. Trey Lance, now with the Chargers.
Like with 5:52 left in the first half against the Rams, Milton had completed four of 10 passes for 4 yards. Then he went on a streak of completing seven of eight passes for 60 yards. One minute he's completing a 20-yard pass to Ryan Flournoy, and the next, on a second-and-7 at the Cowboys' 47-yard line, he tries heaving a home run ball to Flournoy in double coverage that's intercepted in the end zone.
"Got to check down in front of him," Schottenheimer said
Not only was he average against the Rams – he graded himself a "D, D-minus" – he left the game with 4:56 remaining with an apparent right elbow injury. However, he was seen on the sideline throwing the ball and grabbing his helmet willing to return, though the coaching staff thought it best to sit him the rest of the way.
And at this point, Milton is a head scratcher. I get it, he needs reps. He needs to play. But the clock is ticking on this 2025 season. How many more snaps can the Cowboys give him? He needs snaps for the Cowboys to find out if they can trust him with the backup job that normally takes more than minimal experience.
Maybe the Cowboys let this play out over the next two preseason games, but that gets them to August 22. That's 13 days before the season opener on Sept. 4 in Philadelphia. Should Milton fail to earn their trust, do they go with the minimally more experienced Will Grier, or do they turn to a very slim quarterback free agent market for a more experienced QB? Or maybe another team might try to slip a veteran-type backup onto its practice squad, a guy who catches the Cowboys' eye who they can intercept.
At some point, Milton must prove he can handle the backup job. If not, they just might have to go shopping. And let's remember, injuries to Dak Prescott over the past four seasons forced Rush to start 14 games, nine of those this past season. And in 2020, Dak missed the final 11 games, forcing Andy Dalton to start nine of those. That's 23 missed starts in five seasons, and losing Dak with injuries those two years saddled the Cowboys with their past two losing seasons.
The Cowboys must cover their bases if they don't believe Grier nor Milton can handle the job, and they can't be cavalier over dealing with this position that only becomes important when it becomes important, because you just never know.
And the last thing the Cowboys need would be wondering, with a season hanging in the balance, who's on first, er, under center.
