Cowboys Preseason Week One Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Cowboys first preseason game had a lot to offer in the first two possessions.

Romo led the first team offense to a 74-yard touchdown drive. But after the starters came off the field the Cowboys reserves did little to impress. The Raiders backups broke the game open on their way to a 31-10 win over the Cowboys.

The Good

Romo's scoring drive included; a seven-yard completion to Martellus Bennett, a 12-yard completion to Roy Williams, an eight-yard TD pass to Witten, and a 12-yard reverse by Patrick Crayton. Sam Hurd—who played mostly in the second half—was the offensive player of the night, catching five balls for 79 yards.

Smash, Dash, and Tash all had good runs in limited action. Marion Barber had 13 yards on four rushes, Felix had a 14-yard scamper on the Cowboys TD drive and Tashard Choice had eight carries for 29 yards.

Kicker David Buehler was solid on kickoffs as the Raiders average starting position was the 24 yard line, and he hit a 39-yard field goal to add to his night.

Orlando Scandrick had a solid game but wasn't thrown at much—considering the backups starting on the other side of him. Keith Brooking had three tackles and a sack but because of a box score error it was credited to Greg Isander. Safety Gerald Sensabaugh had two pass breakups and a monster hit on Raiders receiver Louis Murphy.

The Bad

Jon Kitna went 7-10 for 87 yards but threw an interception, fumbeled a snap and let a shotgun snap go over his head. and Stephen McGee—who played the entire second half—couldn't move the Cowboys down the field as he went 4-9 for 34 yards. The offense in the second half had just six first downs.

The Raiders picked on the backups in the Cowboys secondary. Mike Mickens got beat on a few passes but nothing deep. Courtney Brown was beat on a 48-yard pass leading to a Raiders touchdown and Alan Ball, who got his first reps at corner on Tuesday, was also beaten for a deep pass.

Starting safety Gerald Sensabaugh was called for a 47-yard pass interference, but the starting defense tightened up after that and held the Raiders to a field goal.

Nick Folk, the starting kicker, missed a field goal to end the first half.

The Ugly

The third team defense got lit up as they gave up 21 points in the second half, raising concerns about the depth on both sides of the ball for the Cowboys.

Miles Austin, who is expected to be a big contributor this season, allowed the only pass thrown to him to bounce off his hands.

The Cowboys defense got only one sack all game, but they didn't blitz much as it's considered bush league during the preseason.

This game isn't cause for alarm and no fan should put too much emphasis on this game. It's the first preseason game and there is going to be some rust in the machine.

However, Wade Phillips wasn't happy with what he saw, "That isn't the way we want to start team-wise, I don't think. The individuals that we think are going to do well...did some good things. Some of those guys are where we want them to be, others aren't. Our second group and our young guys, they made a lot of mistakes."

We'll see next week if the Cowboys correct those mistakes.