This game is merely a bridge between last weeks game and next week’s dress rehearsal.  Certainly the players on the bubble will try hard, but the Cowboys are looking to escape with zero injuries and some solid game film on their players.  If they could only choose one, they would choose the former.  With that in mind, the following are worth watching for:

1. The offensive line: Doug Free has played well in his previous two outings and the expectation is that he will continue to play effectively.  With Kyle Kosier possibly missing several games at the start of the regular season, heavy focus should be paid to Montrae Holland.  Holland has been with the Cowboys since 2008, so there should not be a learning curve.  Holland is unable to play center; however, prior to this year, neither did Kosier.  The biggest question mark will come from Robert Brewster who will be starting in place of Colombo (knee injury) and in lieu of Alex Barron (sprained ankle).  Fortunately, it appears the Cowboys will be proactive with the first team, especially Romo.  If the offensive line is unable to protect Romo early in the game, the Cowboys will adjust their play calling accordingly.

2. Injuries: Without a doubt, depth at the offensive line is being tested.  If Gurode or Davis happen to go down with injury, it would simply add to the nightmare.  If Holland and Brewster have mental mistakes which lead to unabated shots at Romo or the triumvirate of running backs, the injury concerns could continue to mount.  The good news is that the Cowboys are playing the Chargers.  The same Cowboys defense that had difficulty getting the Chargers offense off the field in 2009 should prevent the offense from having to play more than three series, all of which could be 3 and outs.  So there is a silver lining to the Chargers offense outmatching the Cowboys defense.

3. Ogletree: Kevin Ogletree has struggled in the first two pre-season games and reportedly as well in practice.  His past practice week was improved; hopefully that translates to productivity and catches with zero drops.  Ogletree has been embraced by most Cowboys fans and it would be disappointing if he were cut for struggling in his sophomore campaign.  With the depth at wide receiver, Ogletree is most likely competing against Sam Hurd for the final spot at WR.  Hurd is an outstanding special teams player, so Ogletree must play at a high level when given the opportunity.  One thing that is in Ogletree’s favor is that he is a cheap player as compared to Hurd’s 1.7 million dollar contract.

4. Extrapoints by Beuhler: This is a not so subtle way of saying we need to see touchdowns and not fieldgoals.  No one is pressing the panic button on the Cowboys impotence in the red zone, but touchdowns win games, field goals keep the other team in striking distance.  Romo stated that the Cowboys do not gameplan for pre-season games.  The suggestion is that this can lead to poor production in the redzone.  I disagree considering the Redskins scored six touchdowns in their first pre-season game against the Bills.  Unfortunately, touchdowns may not be plentiful against the Chargers who have a solid defense, have a ball control offense, along with consideration of the Cowboys woes at offensive line.

5. Rookies: Sean Lee (2nd round) will have his first opportunity on the field as well as Akwaski Owusu-Ansah (4th round).  Both players have been nursing injuries and finally will have an opportunity to make an impression.  Owusu-Ansah may be limited to special team returns; however, the return specialists have been unimpressive so far. Titus Ryan is no longer with the team, and Holley, McCann, and Wall do not appear to be mentioned in the same breath as Dante Hall, Joshua Cribbs, or Devin Hester.  The Cowboys would love to receive production from a drafted bench player and have the opportunity to spare wear and tear on Felix Jones or Dez Bryant.  As for Lee, Cowboys fans have been reading about him every since April and we all want our curiosity sated.  Is he Bobby Carpenter 2.0, or does he have an internal fire which will drive himself and the defense to new levels.  The first step to making that call comes Saturday night.

As for the game as a whole, don’t take too much from it.  Holland and Brewster will have to adjust to the speed and power of the starters playing at game speed.  As talented as the Cowboys defense is, the players rarely play at game speed.  Give all the new players and opportunity to adjust, and hopefully the 3rd and 4th drives of the night will lead to production.  From a defensive standpoint, I’m hoping to see a 3 and out or a turnover.  I don’t care that a 3 and out isn’t considered a turnover, but it is the next best thing.  A turnover can be the the product of one players mistake.  A 3 and out is the product of an entire offense being ineffective.

And on that note, I’m officially on vacation.  I’ll see yall right around the time the Texans are beating the Cowboys in the dress rehearsal, God forbid.

It is expected that Wall’s contract will be a four-year deal.

Dallas is working on getting first-rounder Dez Bryant under contract as soon as possible, along with second-round linebacker Sean Lee and nose tackle Josh Brent — who was selected in the supplemental draft. Brent is expected to be under contract before players report for training camp on Friday.

As many of yall know, I love “what if” scenarios.  They make you think about not only what could have been, but also make you think about what is.  More often than not, the reflection makes you appreciate the “what is” even more.  It is widely speculated the the Ravens were going to pull the trigger on Dez Bryant at the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.  The Cowboys traded up with the New England Patriots (swapping the Cowboys 3rd round pick for the New England 4th round pick).  The Cowboys drafted Bryant (who was rated as the 11th best player in the draft according to their draft board).

How do we know Bryant was rated 11th?  Because the Cowboys in-house television department mistakenly put a video clip of Jerry Jones in front of the board up on the team site for an infinitesimal amount of time.  Just enough time that people downloaded, cropped, and zoomed insight into the Cowboys draft day efforts.  Fortunately, the information was leaked on the third day which helped lessen the blow.  It should be noted, that most teams are very surreptitious about their draft efforts, but are willing to float misinformation prior to and during the draft.  If another team were to stumble across the draft board, certainly they would believe it wasn’t accurate and simply and effort of the Cowboys to mislead.

Now back to the conjecture.  If the Ravens either traded up in the first round (24th pick or earlier) and drafted Bryant, then the Cowboys would have considered the next player on their board.  Byran Bulaga (rated 13th) had just been drafted by the Green Bay Packers at 23.  Introducing the Dallas Cowboys first round draft pick of 2010 drafted 27th overall, Sean Lee!!!  (While doing research for this “article” I noticed that BTB’s did beat me to the punch, though I like to think I am taking this in a more detailed direction.)  Jared Odrick (DT) and Kyle Wilson (CB) were the next available players on the Cowboys’s board.  While it is possible that the Cowboys would decide to take Odrick or Wilson, I don’t believe they would look past Lee.

Considering this scenario, the Cowboys would still have their 2nd and 3rd round picks in tact.  With the Cowboys drafting of Lee, it is relatively safe to presume the remainder of the draft would not change substantially since Lee continued to drop until the Cowboys drafted him at the 55th overall pick.

The Cowboys next scheduled pick is in the 2nd round (59th overall).  The highest rated player left on their board with a first round grade is… Navarro Bowman.  Another Penn State linebacker.  How could the Cowboys take another linebacker in this draft where they have glaring needs at tackle and free safety.  Certainly you say to yourself, “They filled the LB need and they won’t consider another ILB until the 3rd day.”  The next best player on their board is Morgan Burnett, safety from Georgia Tech.  Burnett both fills a need and is only rated 10 players below Bowman.  Brandon Ghee is the next best available player, 18 players below Bowman.  I would be sincerely surprised if the Cowboys did draft back to back linebackers; the Cowboys certainly would have been eager to trade back in the draft and pick up additional picks.  Jerry Jones has been very disciplined lately about drafting the best available player, but there were several trades around and at the 59th pick.  If the Cowboys traded down, they would have received from Cleveland, a 3rd and two 5th round picks.  For the sake of this argument, I’m going to presume they don’t trade down.  One quick argument against the Cowboys trading down.  There was no guarantee that Bowman, Burnett or Ghee would be available when they would draft in the 3rd round.  As it turned out, all three were available, but the risk may not have been palatable.  Introducing the Dallas Cowboys 2nd round draft pick of 2010, drafted 59th overall… Navarro Bowman, linebacker from Penn State (or Morgan Burnett).

It should be noted that there is an illegible name on the draft board (9th best player in the 2nd round), so that alone could have certainly altered this exercise.  Notably missing from the Cowboys draft board are Tebow, Tim; Cook, Chris; Benn, Arrelious; Dunlap, Carlos; Cody, Terrence; Spikes, Brandon; Angerer, Pat; Brown, Charles; Walton, JD; Griffen, Everson; Campbell, Bruce; and Thomas, Cam.

With their 3rd round pick (90th overall), the best players on the board were Brandon Ghee, Corey Wooten (4 player spots below Ghee), Joe McNight (3 spots below Wooten), and Taylor Price (5 spots below McNight).  I like Wooten better than Ghee, but following the board…  Introducing the Dallas Cowboys 3rd round draft pick of 2010, drafted 90th overall… Brandon Ghee, corner-back from Wake Forest.

At this point, normalcy returns to the remainder of the draft.  Owusu-Ansah in the 4th, Sam Young and Jamar Wall in the 6th, and Sean Lissemore in the 7th.  Certainly when considering the 2010 Cowboys draft class, it will all be considered a success only based on production on the field and in comparison to who else could have been taken.

The real question is, “Are Bryant and Lee heading the top of the draft class better than Lee, Bowman (or Burnett), and Ghee.”  Considering the alternative, I certainly do appreciate the 2010 draft class more.