ARLINGTON, Texas — Perspective is necessary when evaluating the Dallas Cowboys’ 34-14 blowout loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars before a sparse crowd at AT&T Stadium on Sunday.
The most important thing was the ending.
The clock struck zero, allowing the Cowboys to officially turn their attention to the Sept. 9 season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Never mind that the Cowboys (0-4) finished the preseason without a win.
It was a successful one because they suffered no major injuries to their starters and star players.
That was the primary focus Sunday as the Cowboys held out 30 players from the game, including quarterback Dak Prescott, all 22 starters and some key reserves, in advance of the Sept. 9 season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Coach McCarthy said the next 11 days will go by fast thought the next two days will go by also as the team begins the process of cutting the roster to 53 by Tuesday.
The players have the next four days off before resuming practice on Thursday when they’ll set their sights on Week 1.
“Not to be Captain Obvious, but it’s full steam ahead to Tampa,“ McCarthy said. “I look forward to it. We started this quest on April 19, there’s 300 days that are available to reach the Super Bowl and in between there you have to keep your eye on the target one day at a time. This is the first game, it’s the most important game because it’s the next game. Our guys, trust me, we’re looking forward to it and we can’t wait to get there.”
McCarthy said Sunday’s game against the Jaguars and the preseason in general was about getting reps for his rookies and young players. He was pleased about the work they got and happy about their performance.
“I was hopeful we would perform better,” McCarthy said, “but that was not the case. Just a lot of basic errors and penalties and things like that. You’re looking for a young guy to step up and do some things. The best thing is the amount of football in particular our draft class were able to participate in the entire preseason.”
The Jaguars treated Sunday’s game as their dress rehearsal for the season, playing rookie starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick out of Clemson, for three series.
The Cowboys backups and roster hopefuls on defense offered little little resistance as Lawrence completed 11-of-12 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns. His scoring tosses of 18 and 4 yards to Pharoh Cooper and Laviska Shenault Jr. were things of beauty.
What was not pretty was the work of backup quarterback Cooper Rush against the Jaguars’ first-team defense. Rush was 4-of-8 for 16 yards in three series of work.
Though he was playing with backups against starters, it was an uninspiring performance and a step back from last week’s sterling effort against the Houston Texans that put him in the driver’s seat to win the No. 2 job behind Prescott.
Rush lamented not converting a couple of third downs against the Jaguars, but he is pleased with what he has shown in camp and preseason. He said he will simply sit by the phone at home until Tuesday.
“We’ll see,” Rush said. “It’s a stressful time for a lot of guys. Now, it’s a waiting game.”
The big question is whether the Cowboys will try to upgrade the position as they navigate final cuts to 53 on Tuesday or stick with Rush as the backup.
Garrett Gilbert had his best outing of the preseason, completing 9-of-16 passes for 87 yards. He tossed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Parker to cap a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive, but it’s not expected to be enough to merit serious consideration as the primary backup.
And since the Cowboys used the game to give quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier some experience as the play caller in case something happened to offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, were they legitimately doing a serious evaluation of the No. 2 job against the Jaguars.
Outside of that, consider the preseason a success from the Cowboys’ point of view.
Prescott, who missed the entire preseason due a shoulder strain, is fully healthy and “good to go” for the season opener against the Buccaneers, said team owner Jerry Jones.
McCarthy said they are going to do everything they can to get the rust off of Prescott, who missed the entire preseason and hasn’t seen game action since sustaining a fractured ankle last October.
Getting him competitive reps in practice is the primary focus now.
“We lost some opportunities to practice with Dak,” McCarthy said. “Now that he’s back, we need to get as much in as we possibly can between now and the Tampa Bay game. Our focus is on Tampa.”
All the players and coaches who missed the Jaguars game due to COVID-19 protocols — defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, safety Damontae Kazee, receiver CeeDee Lamb, defensive tackle Carlos Watkins and guard Connor Williams — should return to practice soon now that the team preps for the start of the regular season.
