ARLINGTON, TX – The Dallas Cowboys opened up preseason against the Jacksonville Jaguars in AT&T Stadium. It was nice to see Dallas back in action after a long off season. There was so much to look out for in this game and a lot of players stood out. Here are some of the players that made an impact in Saturday’s game.
LB Damone Clark:
Clark looked super comfortable in this preseason game. His comfort in the game has definitely increased from his rookie season last year. He had four solo tackles in the beginning of the game and that was more than the rest of the defense combined.
LB DeMarvion Overshown:
The linebacker unit looked really good today. Between Clark and Overshown they played extremely well. Overshown showed up and showed out today.
WR Jalen Tolbert:
Tolbert is probably the most overall improved player this year. We got to speak with him during camp and he openly talked about the hard work that he did during the off season with some of his teammates to become a more confident player. Dallas was down 14-0 and right before the half when the second-year wide receiver scored his first NFL touchdown for the Cowboys. He looks strong and very confident going up against Jacksonville’s DB’s. He has definitely improved tremendously.
TE Jake Ferguson:
The Ferg looks ready to go. He is clearly TE1 here and that showed today. The TE room is stacked but there is no lying about the fact that Jake Fergusion is the best fit for the job.
DT Mazi Smith:
It was the first NFL game for the rookie first rounder and there were definitely some ups and downs. He was double-teamed from the jump and if teams continue to do that it will benefit Micah Parsons, Sam Williams, and Demarcus Lawrence in the regular season.
RB Deuce Vaughn :
We talked about Deuce Vaughn in the pregame segment about how everyone loves an underdog story. Vaughns size is so small that everyone wanted to see how he would get through the NFL defense. The rookie had no issues today, after getting loose for 26 yards and moving the chains Vaughn scores his first NFL touchdown for the Cowboys and gives the Cowboys a 16-14 lead over Jacksonville.
Being the first game back obviously we are going to see first game jitters and it’s not going to look perfect. In the first quarter the Cowboys really struggled with protecting the ball. KaVontae Turpin fumbled a punt return after being stripped and it was recovered by Jacksonville. According to head coach Mike McCarthy Turpin wasn’t even in the plan to return punts during preseason, obviously that changed.
The second fumble came from running back Rico Dowdle. He exploded out of the back field and what looked like it was going to be a touchdown ended up being a fumble at the goal line and recovered once again by Jacksonville. Despite the fumble Dowdle had a great day for Dallas.
Another issue of concern is the depth of the Offensive line. They struggled all game and it’s something Dallas will have to address if they want to see better results in the regular season.
The Cowboys next game will be Saturday, August 19th at 9:00 PM against the Seattle Seahawks.
