{"id":152735,"date":"2025-08-17T09:07:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T09:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/152735\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T09:07:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T09:07:18","slug":"dallas-cowboys-have-more-questions-than-answers-with-one-preseason-game-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/152735\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys have more questions than answers with one preseason game left"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON \u2014 The work week, leading up to Saturday\u2019s 31-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens<\/a>, began with an admission about a mystery. In the words of Cowboys<\/a> head coach Brian Schottenheimer, there was a reason quarterback Joe Milton played more than Will Grier in the first preseason game against the Rams. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a negative against Will Grier that he\u2019s not getting the reps,\u201d Schottenheimer said about the first preseason game and training camp as a whole. \u201cI\u2019ve been around Will Grier for a couple years now. We know who Will Grier is. We are not surprised when he goes in and does that. It\u2019s figuring out more of Joe Milton, it\u2019s the unknown more than the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schottenheimer figured the more Milton played, the more answers they\u2019d have on him and their backup quarterback situation. <\/p>\n

Instead, it\u2019s been the opposite<\/a>. Milton is now 26 for 47 this preseason with 265 yards passing, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also took a safety on the opening drive of Saturday\u2019s game. Milton gave himself a D grade for last week\u2019s performance<\/a>. This week he said he would give himself the same. If not for the interception, that would\u2019ve risen to a C-plus in his mind.<\/p>\n

Cowboys<\/p>\n

Be the smartest Cowboys fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I just need to get better day by day. Not just getting 1% better, but taking that up to 2%. Just try to get better and challenge my teammates around me to keep pushing me and keeping pushing myself, too.\u201d <\/p>\n

For the Cowboys, the Milton mystery has been a microcosm of a larger mystery. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys entered this offseason with plenty of questions. No team is immune from them initially, but over time, answers usually emerge. Instead, those initial questions have only added layers, compounded by what we\u2019ve seen during the first two preseason games.<\/p>\n

Milton and the backup quarterback situation is one question that lacks an answer. Others abound. <\/p>\n

Take their perceived weaknesses, for example. The Cowboys, once again, had questions entering the offseason in the running game: both in performing it themselves, and stopping it. <\/p>\n

Collectively, the Cowboys have shown spurts of good run defense through the first two weeks. They allowed 3.8 yards per carry against the Ravens overall. They also haven\u2019t done enough, especially on the interior, to inspire hope that they could handle the likes of Saquon Barkley and the Eagles in Week 1. It\u2019s sparked external conversation about whether the Cowboys could add to the interior defensive line<\/a> when the roster is cut to 53. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys also struggled to run the ball Saturday. Miles Sanders, their leading rusher, finished with 7 carries for 15 yards. As a team they averaged 2.5 yards per carry. <\/p>\n

Their secondary has also gotten more curious as the offseason has progressed. Currently, the Cowboys are seemingly deciding between undrafted rookie Zion Childress and former undrafted corner Kemon Hall, who had an interception on Saturday, at nickel corner. That is, if they don\u2019t use DaRon Bland in the slot. The Cowboys call Bland a \u201cweapon\u201d for them, adding that they plan to use him in multiple ways. If he plays inside, however, that means that the Cowboys would likely have either Andrew Booth or Troy Pride Jr. starting on the outside. <\/p>\n

See photos of Dallas Cowboys preseason game against Baltimore Ravens<\/p>\n

\"DallasView Gallery<\/p>\n

Which way will the Cowboys go before Week 1? Schottenheimer has said multiple times this week that they don\u2019t have to make any decisions yet, at any position. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just told the guys get ready, because a couple of practices this week are going to be really physical,\u201d Schottenheimer said after the loss, \u201cand we have to. It\u2019s like all these position battles: we don\u2019t have to decide anything now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, the Cowboys will have to decide on a backup quarterback. <\/p>\n

Eventually, they\u2019ll have to trim their roster to 53 players, which should include some tough decisions on the back end of the receiver position. <\/p>\n

Eventually, we\u2019ll see in a game how well quarterback Dak Prescott has progressed from his latest season-ending injury. He and many other starters have yet to play this preseason. <\/p>\n

Eventually, the Cowboys will provide an answer to perhaps the biggest question of all: How will Schottenheimer the head coach do? He\u2019s cited multiple times the luxury of being vanilla during the preseason; the ability to keep his cards close to his chest until the moment when he has to finally show them.<\/p>\n

None of those questions have been answered yet. And with one preseason game left to go, those answers feel more mysterious than ever. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s too many good football players, too many good coaches for us to perform the way that we did tonight,\u201d Schottenheimer said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to say that that\u2019s just a preseason game. We\u2019re not going to say, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re going to be fine.\u2019 No, we\u2019re going to look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Cowboys-Ravens coverage <\/p>\n

\u2014 Five takeaways from Cowboys-Ravens: Milton\u2019s struggles continue, battle for nickel corner<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Joe Milton didn\u2019t help his case to be Cowboys backup QB in preseason loss vs. Baltimore<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dallas\u2019 preseason duds highlight dramatic gap still between Cowboys and Eagles<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Cowboys WR Jonathan Mingo to undergo MRI exam for possible PCL injury<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Happy homecomings for QB Cooper Rush, rookie K Tyler Loop in Ravens\u2019 win over Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n

Rush, the former Cowboys backup QB, and Loop, a former Lovejoy standout, played big parts in Baltimore\u2019s preseason win.<\/p>\n

\"Cleveland<\/a>Pick-6 leads Browns to win over Eagles in preseason game with Shedeur Sanders sidelined<\/a><\/p>\n

In a game missing most regular starters on both sides, the Eagles got a better look at their draft picks fighting for playing time.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Cowboys WR Jonathan Mingo to undergo MRI exam for possible PCL injury<\/a><\/p>\n

Mingo was injured\u00a0trying to make a leaping catch in the end zone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON \u2014 The work week, leading up to Saturday\u2019s 31-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, began with an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":152736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,59853,7311,1596,8998,1232,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-152735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-att-stadium","10":"tag-cowboys","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-cowboys","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115043319547920255","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}