Is Dak Prescott playing tonight?

The Dallas Cowboys will play their second of three preseason games on Saturday night. After spending most of the last two weeks with the LA Rams, the Cowboys will get a taste of the Las Vegas Raiders, who are expected to start most of their first-team players.

Mike McCarthy has taken a different approach in preseason. The Cowboys rested most of their starters last Sunday, including quarterback Dak Prescott, who has missed the occasional practice with what the team has described as maintenance for his surgically-repaired ankle.

Most teams like to get their starting QB at least a handful of plays before the regular season. However, Prescott has been prolific in training camp without CeeDee Lamb and McCarthy has decided that Prescott won't see any action on Saturday.

Dak Prescott won't play in Cowboys' preseason game vs. Raiders

This news is anything but shocking. Prescott didn't play a single snap last preseason. In the third game, McCarthy even let Prescott call plays for the offense. Fans may be concerned about potential rust in Week 1, but Prescott is adamant that he's ready for the regular season to start.

At the end of the day, there's no reason for the Cowboys to risk Prescott in a meaningless game. Furthermore, they need to get a proper evaluation of Trey Lance, who was far from surgical in the preseason opener.

Lance completed only 60.9% of his passes for 188 yards (4.6 yards per attempt) with zero touchdowns and a 72.0 quarterback rating. While Lance wasn't able to throw to CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks or Jalen Tolbert, he also went up against the Rams' backups. He needs to play a lot better tonight if he's going to put heat on Cooper Rush for the backup job.

Rush got one drive last week before Lance took over and played the rest of the game. Lance's 66 offensive snaps were the most of any Cowboy. Fans can expect a similar workload for Lance, especially since Prescott won't dress for the game.

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