Not a very exciting watch of a preseason game here, but there were some player performances to discuss for scouting purposes.
The teams went with second team/backups off the jump and it was just a battle of the backups and the backups to the backups for the entire game really—more of a showcase for roster spots and battles for positioning on the depth chart among guys who are gonna make the team regardless.
Dallas won the game big, as they should because they played the better game here. They were more inspired and they are deeper in talent, because the backups are where the true Dallas GM Will McClay operates in filling out the roster. Jerry Jones gets involved in the starting lineup, but he leaves Day 2 and Day 3 of the draft and the undrafted free agents and all of that to Will McClay—who is arguably the single best evaluator of talent in the NFL, especially with the lower-level guys. That paid off here in an obvious way as Dallas smacked the crap out of the Cardinals.
Player Notes...
-- The MVP of this game, shockingly to me, was Dallas QB Joe Milton (9-13 for 179 yards, 2 TD/0 INT, 3-2-1). When you think of Joe Milton having an MVP performance, you're probably thinking he must have run a lot and racked up yardage and scores on the ground. He did score a rushing touchdown, but he only ran three times for 2 yards and a short TD. Really, he beat the Cardinals with his passing game.
I don't know who put this game plan together for Milton, but they deserve a raise because it was absolutely perfectly tailored to Milton. A lot of rollouts and simplified plays to allow him to make decisions on the run, and he was terrific. I think he played about half of the game and threw for 179 yards and two touchdowns with no picks. Probably the best game I've ever seen him play. He's still just a backup QB, but he's now moving into that useful backup QB area, not just a scatterbrained running QB joke.
-- The battle for the Dallas #2 RB behind Javonte Williams is going to Malik Davis (5-29-0, 1-8-1/1). Davis started this game and took most all the snaps and touches early on, and he has just looked like the most consistent, best, most experienced guy of the three RBs who are battling for the backup job. VP Stephen Jones is out talking about it and anyone can see it from the preseason...this is Malik Davis's race to lose right now.
The Cowboys are trying with all of their might to make Jaydon Blue (15-75-0, 0-0-0/0) that guy, but he is not that guy. He still just gets handoffs and runs as fast as he can and then lowers his head and loses complete visibility whenever resistance is around. If he's got an open hole, he can dart through it. But he is so contact-averse, I just don't like watching him considering how Malik Davis and Phil Mafah (1-15-1, 0-0-0/0) bleed for this—but Jaydon Blue doesn't, yet he gets all the opportunity and then some. I think Dallas is coming to the realization that they need to pull the plug on Blue. But my guess is that they will keep him and put Mafah on the practice squad, in which case I pray some team blocks him right off of there and burns the Cowboys.
I say that not only because I like Phil Mafah as a player, but he had a beautiful 15-yard rushing TD in this game. He took a handoff up the middle that was totally congested—a play in which Blue would put his head down, run right into the crowd, and fall down. But not Mafah... He came to a complete stop, assessed the situation, completely changed direction on the field, and went from going up the middle to the weak side right, to then trying to take it all the way to the left to the wide side of the field, and he just outran the defenders. He outran them to the outside and then turned it up and outran them to the goal line—an untouched 15-yard TD where he probably ran 40 yards or more to get the 15 yards. His best highlight of his entire NFL career to date. He's the best #2 RB Dallas has, but I don't think they see it that way, and I hope they get absolutely burned by Mafah going someplace else and becoming something.
Oh, and that 15-yard thing of beauty rushing TD by Mafah... That was his only touch of the game. Because the Cowboys are complete idiots when it comes to Mafah vs. Blue.
-- Corey Kiner (10-29-1, 0-0-0/0) was the kinda starting RB for Arizona here, and he looked like the best running back in this game. Mafah is more talented in my book, but he only got 1 rushing opportunity to show it. Kiner got 10 carries, and they were all mostly up the middle behind bad blocking. With the effort that Kiner gave and the burst that he displayed, he deserves a spot in the NFL somewhere. He's not a starter, but he'd be a nice #2 or #3 RB option in an emergency.
-- Dallas rookie UDFA WR Camden Brown (0-0-0, 2-77-0/2) had another big game in the preseason. 70 of his 77 yards receiving came off of one play where he broke open, Joe Milton found him for about a 20- or 30-yard pass, and then Brown did the rest, almost taking it to the house—getting tackled at like the one-yard line. He's making it hard for Dallas to stash him on the practice squad and not have another team intervene and snag him for themselves.
-- I know that Arizona WR Simi Fehoko (0-0-0, 2-42-0/3) is a boring old journeyman veteran, but for the last couple years watching him play in the preseason and in the regular season when he gets a chance, that guy has to be like one of the best 100 wide receivers running around the NFL. He makes clutch catches and he finds a way to get open; he just has a veteran savvy about him that I wish would be rewarded with a bigger role on a team. But he'll probably get cut and put on the practice squad, and no one will notice.
-- Dallas rookie Jaishawn Barham (5 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 1 TFLs, 0 PDs, 0 INTs) had a decent game period. 5 tackles and one tackle for loss where he just willed his way to the backfield, blew everybody back, and ended up getting around the passing-by running back, and Barham just corralled him, pulled him back, and pulled him down for a TFL. He looks like he's gonna be a legit NFL defender, whether that's as a starter or backup and special teamer.
===========================
