Dallas City News

Trey Lance, Brandon Aubrey Power Cowboys Over Raiders: Top 10 Whitty Observations – Richie Whitt, Athlon Sports

An excerpt of Whitt’s 10 thoughts on the Cowboys win over Raiders.

10. BEST FEET FORWARD – In the first half we were reminded that the best part of these Cowboys are special teams – specifically kicker Brandon Aubrey and punter Bryan Anger. Aubrey drilled a 54-yard field goal to cap Dallas’ first drive; Anger bombed a 54-yard punt on the second.

5. DEUCE, RESURRECTED – On the roster bubble and fighting a hamstring injury, running back Deuce Vaughn flashed the quickness that made him the darling of last year’s preseason. He made a nifty change-of-direction that froze would-be tackle Jack Jones on a 12-yard run and later skirted around the end for a 7-yard gain.

2. ROOKIE REVIEW – Best thing about this game was the flashes of potential from the Cowboys’ draft class. Offensive tackle Tyler Guyton held his own against Raiders’ elite pass-rusher Maxx Crosby, center Cooper Beebe continues to look like the game isn’t too big for him, and defensive end Marshawn Kneeland spent considerable time in Las Vegas’ backfield.

1. TREY TALK – He still wasn’t perfect with his accuracy, but give the Cowboys’ quarterback credit for major improvement over a week ago. He hit receivers in stride. He used his legs to keep plays alive. He made a savvy slide and timeout call to set up Aubrey’s 66-yarder at the end of the first half. He scored on a 2-yard touchdown run. And – unlike last week against the Chargers – he lofted a perfect fade pass to the corner of the end zone on the touchdown to Flournoy.

Lance’s stats in two preseason games: 40 of 64 for 339 yards, one touchdown, 3 sacks and 80 yards rushing.

Cowboys K Brandon Aubrey makes a 66-yard field goal – Charean Williams, PFT

An unofficial record.

Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey made a 66-yard field goal to end the first half of Saturday night’s preseason game against the Raiders.

The kick won’t officially count since it came in a preseason game, but it tied the longest field goal in NFL history. Ravens kicker Justin Tucker hit a 66-yarder on the final play to beat the Lions in a 2021 game.

How the Cowboys got better in 6 days – Nick Eatman, DallasCowboys.com

Jordan Phillips, Deuce Vaughn, Cooper Beebe, and Trey Lance get the nod from Eatman

There’s no denying the Cowboys looked like a completely different team here Saturday night than what we saw just six days ago in Los Angeles.

Again, throw the 27-12 score out the window. Just like it didn’t matter last week, getting the win this time is a nice bonus, but not the story of the night.

The Cowboys got better, and it started on Wednesday when they made a surprising trade to acquire veteran defensive tackle Jordan Phillips from the Giants for next to nothing – swapping a sixth for a seventh-round pick in 2026.

The running backs now seem to have a little more depth all of a sudden – to the point where the Cowboys will have some tough decisions to make.

But getting Deuce Vaughn back on the field this week seemed to be big for this offense. We all know Deuce rhymes with “juice” and No. 42 had some of that Saturday night. He actually had it on Wednesday when he got back to practice after missing more than a week with a hamstring injury, and he was able to carry that into the game.

Trey Lance was much better this time around. Hey, his passes are still off-target at times, but he looked more comfortable in the offense and even got the ball into the end zone – thanks to a 1-yard touchdown pass before halftime.

And one more for good measure, the Cowboys might have a new center now in Cooper Beebe. Last week, it seemed as if Brock Hoffman would win the job, but after getting first-team reps in practice and then his first start on Saturday, Beebe was rather impressive – and don’t forget it was against the Raiders’ starting defense.

Cowboys-Raiders takeaways: QB Trey Lance finds his rhythm – Calvin Watkins, DMN

All eyes on Trey Lance and the offense

The Cowboys scored their first touchdown of the preseason when Trey Lance connected on a 1-yard pass to receiver Ryan Flournoy with 1:07 left in the first half. There were two good things about the touchdown. Lance got his feet set to make the throw, something the coaches have been working on with him, and Flournoy made a nice jab step to shake corner Jake Jones so he could get free to make the catch. Lance finished 15 of 23 passing with no interceptions.

“Ryan killed him,” Lance said. “It was like a long handoff. A great route by Ryan.”

Lance entered in the third series of the game after Cooper Rush started.

The Cowboys are seeking improvement from their No. 3 quarterback. Before the game, Jerry Jones told KRLD-FM (105.3 The Fan) that the coaches wanted Lance to work more from the pocket. In the regular season, Jones said game plans would have Lance use his legs more. He scrambled for a long run at the end of the first half to set up a 66-yard field goal and gained 4 yards on a third-and-1 when using the zone read.

“I definitely felt more comfortable coming out,” Lance said. “I’d like to start out a little bit faster in the third quarter for sure. The whole entire third quarter, left some plays out there, but excited to watch the tape and learn a lot from the tape again.”

While Lance progressed, the rushing attack didn’t gain clarity. There were some positive performances in the contest, including from Deuce Vaughn who rushed for 34 yards on 5 carries. All the healthy running backs played except for Ezekiel Elliott as the Cowboys seek to fill three or maybe four spots at that position.

Rookies Tyler Guyton (left tackle) and Cooper Beebe (center) started their first NFL games on Saturday.

Dallas QB3 Trey Lance finds groove in Cowboys’ victory in Las Vegas – Staff, Associated Press

The arrow is pointing up for Lance.

This week, [Lance] looked much more poised than he did at SoFi Stadium, where he led a handful of sustained drives that stalled in the red zone and ended with kicker Brandon Aubrey putting nine points on the board.

Saturday, with the glow of Las Vegas Boulevard peaking through Allegiant Stadium’s lanai doors, Lance found his groove right around the same time running backs Deuce Vaughn and Royce Freeman and got the running game churning.

Lance’s overall play displayed the type of game management he was scouted for after winning two FCS championships with North Dakota State. The former 49er has appeared in just eight games during his career, with only four starts to his credit.

McCarthy said Lance took the step he was hoping his third-string quarterback would in the team’s second straight road game.

“I felt that some of the things we were trying to do, (getting) certain individuals touches, (we) didn’t get him into a rhythm right away,” McCarthy said. “But you know, two 14-play drives, I mean, that’s incredible for preseason football. I think it just shows you his understanding and confidence.

“When you stand up here and you talk about your quarterback running the running the offense, the pace of operation, those are steps that every quarterback has to take. And I thought our tempo was really good tonight. We were getting into the huddle and he was commanding. He saw plenty of pressure. … I thought we saw a good amount of pressure … so really good experience for him tonight.”

What we learned about Mike Zimmer’s defense – Clarence E. Hill, Star-Telegram

All eyes on the defense

What the Cowboys were able to do against the Raiders, who played most of their starters on both sides of the ball for much of the first half, spoke volumes about coach Mike McCarthy and the defense taking heed to the coaching and schemes of new coordinator Mike Zimmer.

Gardner Minshew and Aiden O’Connell, locked in battle for the Raiders starting quarterback job, were neutralized by a Cowboys defense that didn’t play a single starter and opened the game with a defensive tackle who been with the team for two days.

They ended up with just two field goals in the first half as the Zimmer and the Cowboys defense always had an answer as the foundation of a 13-6 halftime lead.

Linebacker Willie Harvey dropped a potential pick-6 on the opening of the game against Minshew. And it was cornerback Kemon Hall who made it count to open the fourth quarter with a 69-yard interception return for a touchdown against O’Connell to put the Cowboys up 20-12. Hall jumped a pass intended for tight end Harrison Bryant and took it to the house. Minshew finished 10 of 21 for just 95 yards. Three Raiders quarterbacks combined to complete 30 of 49 passes for 234 yards. Also showing up big for the Cowboys defense were safeties Markquese Bell and Juanyeh Thomas, cornerback Andrew Booth, linebacker Nick Vigil and safety Israel Mukuamu.

“I’m proud of our guys. I love the way they came out and competed,” McCarthy said. “What a great opportunity to go against their first group. I think the defense clearly set the tempo with the stops. We had two fourth down stops. Those are huge as are the takeaways. We’re off to a good start here in the first two weeks. This was a great experience. I think anytime you have a chance for your young guys to play against guys with experience, you can’t buy that, especially going into the season like we are. So this was good night for us.”

2024 NFL preseason, Week 2: What We Learned from Saturday’s games – Nick Shook, NFL.com

Recently acquired CB Andrew Booth turned some heads as well.

For a second straight August, Dallas swapped defensive backs via trade, acquiring Booth from Minnesota in a low-level deal that understandably didn’t move the needle much. Booth made waves Saturday, though, showing off some excellent tackling ability in the open field on his way to a team-best six tackles in the first half.

Sure, I could talk about Trey Lance in this space, as Lance put together a couple nice scoring drives, but Booth was the one who impressed me most, especially considering how much of an afterthought the trade was. He might provide some nice depth to a Dallas defense that many expect to be a menace in 2024.

Cowboys’ defense stellar again, Trey Lance steadies to beat Raiders 27-12 – K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire

How the defense shut down the Raiders’ passing game against their quarterbacks battling for a starting job.

The Dallas defense was once again the story of the contest, however. The pressure they lacked against the Rams was there on this evening, with Marshawn Kneeland looking like a potential impact player both against the pass and the run.

New addition Jordan Phillips made a handful of plays at the line and behind it, and last week’s goat Albert Huggins turned things around and routinely broke into the backfield to pressure the Raiders QBs.

In the back seven, Hall’s big play came on the heels of his competition for CB5 or CB6 [with] Andrew Booth. Burned early on a deep pass, he bounced back to make several key open-field tackles among his eight takedowns and looked the part of a rotational backup.

Juanyeh Thomas looked ready for the regular season as well with two pass breakups, one at the LOS and one in deep coverage and Dallas looks deep in the secondary.

Rookie Marist Liafau shook off his first-game jitters and was making plays on the evening as well.