Cowboys at Raiders day after thoughts: The rookie offensive line renaissance is here
After the first preseason game of the year against the Los Angeles Rams we debuted a weekly column here on the blog called Day After Thoughts. It is what it sounds like. Sometimes we all need a little bit of time to re-think what happened to the Dallas Cowboys or let it all properly marinate. Given that the contest ended past midnight in the central timezone, our cognitive thinking definitely need some rest to say the least.
Overall Saturday was a ton of fun in that the Cowboys shined just about everywhere. Here are thoughts on three specific things with full marination now complete.
The rookie offensive line renaissance is here
On paper it sounded great to consider Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe both starting this season, but in our heart of hearts we always thought it was an ambitious endeavor to say the least.
It is extraordinarily difficult for rookie offensive linemen to have success in the NFL and that idea has been warped for all of us because our team is so good at doing it. This is not normal.
The latest example of this phenomenon is fresh in our minds as Tyler Smith started at left tackle two years ago as a rookie, abruptly so given the last minute injury to Tyron Smith, and did it with incredible ease. Surely Tyler Guyton could too, right? Oh, and Cooper Beebe!
Amazingly Guyton has looked the part to this point in camp and the exhibitions, and with the injury to Chuma Edoga, his position as the starting left tackle is all but certain even if Myles Garrett awaits on the other side of the line of scrimmage in three weeks time. But things seemed to be taking a little bit longer for Cooper Beebe to get into the fold and while that is not shocking given the enormity of playing the center position, most fans were still holding out hope that he would take a leap sooner rather than later.
Leap taken. Cooper Beebe was splendid against Las Vegas.
Don’t overreact and get way too ahead of yourself here. We must always temper expectations in this kind of area. But Beebe looked, walked, talked and acted like a starting NFL center on Saturday night and doing that in his first ever start was impressive.
The offensive line in general has been in this weird level of transformation over the course of the last few years and it seems like a new golden era may actually be upon us as difficult as that is to believe. Perhaps the Cowboys really did do it again. Twice over.
The Brandon Aubrey field goal was fun, but he is such an underrated weapon
For the life of me I cannot get over the fact that Brandon Aubrey made a 66-yard field goal.
Aubrey’s rookie season was so stupidly amazing that it should not have been real. That the Cowboys discovered him as casually and as almost accidentally as they seemed to remains unbelievable.
The line of scrimmage on his FG attempt was the Raiders’ 48-yard line. That needs a repeated callout. The Raiders’ 48-yard line. The Cowboys scored points with the line of scrimmage basically being the middle of the field. If the challenge is to just get to the 50 then they are going to continue to score a lot of points this season.
We admittedly have not seen anything real from the new NFL kickoff as far as the Cowboys are concerned, but maybe it is worth not putting Aubrey out there. He is far too valuable of a point-scoring weapon. He must be protected at all costs.
It felt great to see the team have general overall success
Mike McCarthy said following Saturday’s game that it went well in just about every single way, particularly in that the team did not have any injuries to report.
This remains the most important thing obviously, but the game was really quite the delight. Dallas scored on offense which gave us a chance to celebrate Trey Lance, scored on defense thanks to Kemon Hall and had the Brandon Aubrey moment as noted.
It is not a secret that things with this team have been rather tough ever since we last saw them play a game that seriously mattered (all due respect to the preseason). Contract talk here, lack of free agency moves there, continued references to “all in” and what not, the non-football things took center stage in a way that hadn’t been the case in quite some time.
Seeing the football team have success in every way was such a breath of fresh air. We are right around the corner from the fall truly approaching and this was all like that first crisp breeze that hits your face and lets you know it’s time to break out the recipes that go well with this time of year. We aren’t quite there, but getting a taste was wonderful.