Game overview:
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…
Dallas goes into a game with the superior roster but plays so sloppily that they give the opposing team gifts to take an early lead…and eventually the opponents win the game, thanks in part to the gifts.
Dallas was sloppy here. A lot of talent, especially on defense…but ultimately ‘sloppy’.
Jacksonville ran their 1st-team offense, which didn’t look great either…but Dallas kept giving them gifts to stay in the game…Dallas fumbled the ball near the goal line trying to run one in for a score…Dallas muffed a punt to set up the Jags 1st-team offense to finally do something.
Talented and sloppy is going to get Dallas to an 8-9/9-8 season…and is going to get Mike McCarthy fired at some point this season (and Dan Quinn will take over). The dreams of the Cowboys upstaging the Eagles in 2023…I think that dream is drifting away -- mostly because they need to change head coaches, but this is Jerry’s guy…and Jerry’s a genius and he’s a multi-billionaire, so what do I know?
Onto the player reports...
Scouting Notes from the game:
-- Let’s start with the Jags’ starters…who started against a mostly Dallas 2nd-team. Trevor Lawrence (5-6 for 36 yards, 1 TD/1 INT) threw a horrible pick to start the game. If you can get Trevor Lawrence/Bryce Young out of the quick drop, quick throw rhythm, like what the Chargers did to Trevor in the playoffs -- Trevor will gaffe more than not. Trevor’s pick here was him scrambling out of the pocket under mild pressure and throwing a pass that made no sense.
In his last 6 games, including this one and the playoffs and the regular season, Lawrence has thrown 7 TD passes…and 8 picks.
Trevor had sweet 13 TD/1 INT stretch of six games mid/late last season. In all his other games in his career, he has 29 TD passes and 29 INTs.
I’m just saying/asking…this is the QB of our generation?
Not yet.
Trevor’s INT here came when I guess he tried to force a pass to Calvin Ridley (2-21-0/2)…I guess that’s what Trevor was thinking. I dunno, it was such an inexplicable pass. But this was Ridley’s debut and he looked…fine. There’s a sense that Ridley’s return is like Jerry Rice reincarnated and has returned and decided to play for the Jaguars for some reason. Ridley looked fine. The Jags have three good starting WRs now…so do most NFL teams these days. All I can think is -- those three WRs (Ridley, Kirk, Zay) are going to split targets and drag all of them down to WR2/3s for FF with random WR1 games…and random WR3/4 games. AND it will hurt Evan Engram’s (0-0-0/1) target counts as well.
If someone wins from this group for FF…it’s probably Ridley…because they’re gonna force it to him because of the media hubbub about his triumphant return.
-- RB review for Jacksonville…
Travis Etienne (5-22-0) played in the first three 1st-team series here, but I was looking to see who would be in next, and it was who I suspected/feared: rookie Tank Bigsby (9-52-0). Bigsby was sprinkling in early, so he is definitely the #2. He did nothing that made me change my thinking on him. Just another solid, generic, straight-ahead running RB with not-great agility to try and change directions in a hurry, but has some bulk so he can fall forward for some extra yards.
Etienne will get a good amount of work this year. Bigsby is not the future.
I was hoping D’Ernest Johnson (5-31-0) was going to go claim that #2 spot, as I believe/hoped he would be the best of the #2 hopefuls…but that ain’t happening. JaMycal Hasty was in the game ahead of Johnson. Johnson worked with the non-1st-team guys. I don’t even know if he’ll make the team. He looked pretty generic, defeated in his time out there.
-- RB review for Dallas…
The backfield situation was touched on in the Subscriber Extra notes for this game, which I put out first because the topic was hot. Be sure that you take note of it from yesterday.
One RB thing I didn’t mention, something I saw in this game…Hunter Luepke (3-6-0) getting some run as a tailback. I was surprised. I like his background…I was hopeful for his RB-HB-TE potential with his nice size and measurables, and well…he was not good here. He looked scared to be there/touching the ball. He’s a good kid and it was a rookie debut, so we’ll need to give him another chance this preseason…but I was completely soured on this first viewing.
-- Not much to report on the Dallas receiver front in this game…
Jalen Tolbert (2-29-1/2) had a couple nice catches, but nothing amazing…ball went his way…he caught it. The Dallas sidelines acted like they needed to over-celebrate him/his TD because things haven’t gone well for him on the field, just looks good in non-contact practices in the NFL -- the pity is not a great sign. But he looked capable this game.
Dennis Houston (3-33-0/3) is better than Tolbert and ruled the 2nd-half when he was in…but that’s the thing, he was in the game in the later half…Tolbert played ahead of him, which I’m sure that’s how this is gonna go in-season.
Rookie TE Luke Schoonmaker (1-8-0/1) debuted and caught a pass but not enough action here for me to make an early call one way or the other.
-- The MVP of this game might have been out-of-nowhere CFL QB Nathan Rourke (9-17 for 153 yards, 1 TD/0 INT, 6-20-1). He made a couple plays in this game that were 50% talent and 150% heart/will.
Watch this play, if you haven’t seen it prior: https://youtu.be/mIo07mQDsVg
I scouted this young man out of Ohio University a few years ago (scouting report on FFM). He’s got some moxie but lacked NFL-desired size, but he really put out good tape here for a shot to stick in the NFL. He set a record in the CFL with a 78.7 completion percentage in the 2022 season. He will probably be the Jags #3 QB, but if something ever happened to Prince Trevor, Rourke may end up getting the call from the bullpen over C.J. Beathard.
-- We’ll wrap up with IDP notes…
Damone Clark (5 tackles) is a new starting ILB for Dallas this year. He played some in this game from the start with a mixed 1st/2nd team run against the Jags 1st-team. He’s got a good vision for getting through traffic and seeking out/tackling the ballcarrier on running plays.
Dallas 2nd-year SAF Juanyeh Thomas (1 tackle, 2 PDs, 1 INT) has been one of the talks of camp…and he was all over the place in his brief appearance here…running with the 1st-team. His stock is on the rise. He looks legit from his body to his play.
Didn’t have any notes on the Jaguars defenders except noticing that rookie Ventrell Miller (2 tackles, 1 TFL) was playing very late into this game…not a great sign when he came in and what group he was with. I thought he would have been better in college and perhaps a quick contributor in the pros…but it’s been very quiet for Ventrell for the past couple years.
