Dallas Cowboys come up short against the 49ers, 17-9

The Dallas Cowboys were defeated by the San Fransisco 49ers in their first preseason game. Following the loss, there was plenty of good and bad to review.

The Dallas Cowboys faced off against the San Francisco 49ers Saturday night in both team’s first action of the preseason. While the Niners opted not to play any starters, the Cowboys elected to play many of theirs in the first quarter.

The Cowboys’ first-team offense and defense, while down a few starters, did a good job. Quarterback Dak Prescott and the offense were able to move the ball down the field using a very basic offense by new coordinator Kellen Moore.

After drawing a 26-yard pass interference call on a throw to Michael Gallup, the Cowboys were forced to settle for three points on their first offensive series, thus ending the night for the starters.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Cowboys’ starters gave up 23 yards and ending up forcing a punt after five plays by the 49ers. The defensive starters came out and showed they are ready to continue where they left off last season. A very good sign for this team.

Now for the good and bad from the game.

The Good

The Dallas Cowboys cornerbacks minus starter Byron Jones held up well against the 49ers passing attack. Chidobe Awuzie made a few plays on the football and some nice tackles before his night was over.  Good sign especially when your best cornerback is recovering from hip surgery.

Another good sign that the Cowboys can hopefully take into the season was their lack of penalties in this game. The Cowboys ended the game with only five penalties for 59 yards in this game. Hopefully, the Cowboys can keep that trend going into the season.

The last good sign I’ll talk about for the Cowboys was the play of quarterback Cooper Rush. Rush while unable to get the Cowboys into the endzone, was able to still put six points on the board. Rush ended his night going 16 for 26 and 142 yards on the night and effectively separated himself from fellow quarterback Mike White, who ended the night going 9 for 20 with and 87 passing yards.

The Bad

The Dallas Cowboys didn’t have too many bad things in this game but the few they had are worrisome. First would be the second team interior defensive line. Specifically Christian Covington, who was getting pushed around by the backups of the 49ers in the running game. If the Cowboys are going to win the division again they need their back up one technique tackle to hold up in the running game.

Another was the running game for the Cowboys which ended the game with only 55 yards on 18 attempts for the game. Cowboys rookie running back Mike Weber ended the night with a team-high 18 yards rushing. The Cowboys are in a contract dispute with star running back Ezekiel Elliott and this outing didn’t show that they can handle the load if he continues his hold out.

The last thing that really stood out as a bad sign for the Cowboys would be the injuries sustained during the game. First, you back up linebacker Luke Gifford who went down with an ankle injury. Next, you had wide receiver Cedrick Wilson go down after a hit by 49ers safety Adrian Colbert who was ejected immediately after. The Cowboys can’t afford to lose anyone in the preseason especially two that the Cowboys think highly of.

How do you feel about the Dallas Cowboys first preseason game? Let us know in the comment section below.