The Dallas Cowboys play their second preseason game on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Most Cowboys fans are hoping that this game goes a lot better than the first one did.
In their first pre-season game the Cowboys lost 17-7.
Losing the game is not that important, but what is important is the number of penalties called on Dallas.
The Cowboys committed 17 penalties for 129 yards.
That is inexcusable, even in the first preseason game.
Most penalties in first preseason game this year:
Cowboys: 17 (129 yards)
Patriots: 12 (89)
Browns: 11 (139)
Bengals: 11 (104)
Texans: 11 (99)
Bills: 11 (90)
Chargers: 9 (120)— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 14, 2022
Head Coach, Mike McCarthy, even stressed at the end of last season how the penalties needed to be cleaned up heading into 2022.
Well, that was not the case after preseason game one.
That leads us to the first thing the Cowboys must do to have a successful second preseason game.
3. Clean Up The Penalties
Penalties were the reason the Cowboys got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs and it has to stop.
Mike McCarthy needs to have a successful season if he wants to retain his job in Dallas.
If he does not teach his team some discipline soon he may not even make it through the year.
The Cowboys start the year with two tough games.
They host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cincinnati Bengals for the first two weeks of the season.
Dallas must be playing good football right out the gate if they want to avoid an 0-2 start.
While some of the calls may have been bad, that is something every team will have to deal with throughout the 17-game season.
Keep a keen eye on Dallas and how they respond to the officiating in game two.
2. Having A Wide Receiver Step Up
The Cowboys need wide receiver help.
Yet, Jerry Jones and Co. feel as if they have good enough receivers in the building that can contribute to a successful passing offense.
CeeDee Lamb is the star of the group but Dallas is still looking for a legit number two option while Michael Gallup returns from injury.
The first preseason game did not paint a good picture for the wide receiver room.
Rookie Jalen Tolbert had only two catches on seven targets for 10 yards.
While undrafted free-agent Brandon Smith led the team in receiving yards on one catch for 40 yards.
2021 fifth-round pick, Semi Fehoko was the only one to score a touchdown in the game.
Cowboys WR Simi Fehoko (81) has had a good training camp. Now he gets Dallas’ first preseason TD. Nice throw by Ben DiNucci pic.twitter.com/tcpJMASHLm
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 14, 2022
The rest of the preseason will be a great time for any one of these Cowboys receivers to step up and take over a starting role.
It will certainly be interesting to see who it is.
1. Finding A QB2
The backup quarterback competition has some interesting appeal.
Cooper Rush was seemingly the favorite to win the job in the offseason but with the way, he has played this preseason that is no sure thing.
In the first preseason game, Rush was bad.
He completed 12 of 20 passes for 84 yards and one interception.
But, the only other options on the team are Ben DiNucci and Will Grier.
DiNucci has seemingly no chance of winning the backup quarterback job but Grier certainly does.
Grier could not play in the first preseason game because of a groin injury.
But, he is expected to play against Los Angeles and a good outing could boost him up to the QB2 role.
Grier had a good college career at West Virginia and he has the talent to be a capable backup quarterback.
Assuming he can play the 27-year-old QB is who Cowboys fans should tune in to see.
