INGLEWOOD, Calif. — New Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer opted to keep the vast majority of his key players in bubble wrap for his NFL head-coaching debut in the team’s preseason opener at the Los Angeles Rams.
It certainly looked like it out on the field Saturday night in a 31-21 defeat. Dallas couldn’t have started out the night any slower if they tried. Defensively, the Cowboys surrendered two touchdowns, nine first downs and 140 total yards on the Rams’ first two drives of the game. Yes, numerous starters and key contributors didn’t play Saturday, but the complete lack of execution by the depth players was a little worrisome. It could be an indication that owner and general manager Jerry Jones needs to make a move to bolster the depth at both defensive tackle and cornerback before the NFL’s season opener on Sept. 4 at the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles.
The Rams outgained the Cowboys 160-1 in total yards at the end of the first quarter. Los Angeles picked up 10 first downs to Dallas’ zero as they raced out to a 14-0 advantage. Yes, Schottenheimer said his Cowboys would “be playing with a 7 iron most of the preseason” and playing a very basic, vanilla brand of football so as to not reveal who they are schematically in his first year in charge. However, there’s certainly a case to be made that Schottenheimer might have let the pendulum on that swing too far the other way.
“It’s definitely not a storybook beginning, that’s for sure,” Schottenheimer said postgame. … “I think [quarterback] Joe [Milton] was throwing some fastballs out there early. I’m proud of our guys the way they settled down, but certainly not the right way to start the game. That’s what you do in the preseason, man. You learn from it.”
Especially noteworthy is who didn’t play on Saturday night. First-round rookie right guard Tyler Booker didn’t suit up, and neither did Cooper Beebe, the 2024 third-round pick who is entering just his second season as a full-time center.
“There’s three games for us, and so we had a specific plan going into this game of who he wanted to play,” Schottenheimer said. “There’ll be more guys that play next week. I’m not going to tell you who, but it was more about ‘hey, this was the rotation we wanted to get this week.'”
Notable healthy players not playing
Standouts
Cowboys backup quarterback Joe Milton’s play stood out, but in the sense that he was as inconsistent as some of his more uneven training camp practices.
Milton started slow, with three consecutive incompletions to begin the game, but he settled in on the Cowboys’ final drive of the first half, connecting with wide receiver Jalen Brooks multiple times. That led to Dallas settling for a 25-yard field goal to end the half. That duo created the biggest play for Dallas’ offense in their Tuesday joint practice against the Rams, a passing touchdown of over 60 yards.
He attempted to replicate his deep ball touchdown from the joint practice early in the second half, but this time his intended target was Ryan Flournoy. Also, Flournoy was blanketed in double coverage. Milton’s throw was just to the left of Flournoy, which allowed Los Angeles safety Cam Lampkin to pick his throw off.
“He’s got a checkdown in front, ultra competitive. He’s moving left, and threw it up there. He’s trusting Flo in that situation and trying to make a play,” Schottenheimer said. “I think that that’s one of the things that when Joe watches, he’ll be like ‘yeah, I probably should have taken the checkdown. I got moved off my launch point.’ Again, that’s why he needs to play.”
On the ensuing possession, Cowboys fifth-year safety Israel Mukuamu picked off Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett’s underthrown, 20-yard deep ball to wide receiver Konata Mumpfield to negate Milton’s poorly executed gamble. That’s a big deal for Mukuamu as someone who is competing for reps at the wide open nickel corner spot following Jourdan Lewis’ free agency departure to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Just blessed,” Mukuamu said postgame. “Been waiting for this moment. God put it out there for me. … All praise to the most high.”
Milton finally led the Cowboys into the end zone with 8:48 left to play by rifling the football to the back right corner to hit undrafted tight end Rivaldo Fairweather for a seven-yard touchdown. He followed his scoring strike by hitting rookie wideout Josh Kelly for a two-point conversion in the middle of the end zone. That trimmed the deficit to 10, 24-14. Milton finished with 143 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception on 17 of 29 passing. He also ran for 22 yards on five carries.
“I do think he settled down,” Schottenheimer said. “I think he found his rhythm, started using his legs a little bit better. Terrific talent that every rep he gets is going to help him become a great pro.”
“I feel like if I was grading myself, definitely a D, probably a D- if I’m being hard on myself Milton said. … “I just got to settle down early and just make all those throws.”
Top rookies
Second-round rookie edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku registered a quarterback hit on nine pass rush snaps Saturday night. A decent outing in limited exposure for college football’s No. 2 sack artist from 2024 (16.5 sacks at Boston College last season).
Seventh-round rookie running back Phil Mafah subbed in for Deuce Vaughn off the bench, and he ripped off 14 yards on his first three carries. He finished with 36 yards on 10 carries.
“I thought Phila Mafah ran really hard,” Schottenheimer said. “I thought that was good.”
Undrafted rookie wide receiver Traeshon Holden didn’t enter the game until the fourth quarter, but he finished as the Cowboys’ leading receiver with 42 yards on two catches. His best play of the day was far and away his 35-yard gain down the right sideline on his second catch of the night. Holden sprung himself wide open for the easy reception.
“Every day, he makes a play,” Schottenheimer said. “We kind of saw they were playing some cloud to that side, some Cover 2, and Joe made a beautiful throw into the hole shot. Traeshon has done that in every practice. Literally every day. … When you do that, you get noticed and when you do that, you get more opportunities. Just proud of him, and … you’ll see him moving up the depth chart.”
Who struggled
Almost all of the Dallas cornerbacks who took the field Saturday evening early on at SoFi Stadium. Cornerback Robert Rochell got burned early, but Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett overthrew his intended target, and Rochell ended up being ruled out of the game at the conclusion of the opening drive with a hamstring injury. Cornerback Andrew Booth allowed Los Angeles second-year wide receiver Xavier Smith to gain 39 yards on a vertical route deep down the left sideline on a fourth down on the opening drive. The 39-yard gain was more yards than Smith had in 15 games played as a rookie in 2024, six yards on two catches.
That play also set up a first-and-goal at the five, and the Rams ended up plunging into the end zone a few plays later on a two-yard touchdown run by Los Angeles running back Blake Corum. Corum rumbled for touchdowns on each of the Rams’ first two drives and finished with 32 yards on nine carries, including the two scores.
The run defense, by a mostly backup-led defensive unit, rode the struggle bus as well. Los Angeles finished with 181 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns on 38 carries. That’s 4.8 yards per carry. Certainly less than ideal for Matt Eberflus’ defense — even though it was a backup-led effort tonight.
The entire roster combined to struggle with execution in general. Consecutive illegal formation penalties stalled out the Dallas Cowboys’ first promising drive of the game. Dallas ended the drive with five penalties in total, two of which were illegal formation infractions against offensive lineman Asim Richards. They settled for a 35-yard field goal from kicker Brandon Aubrey. Los Angeles’ lead was cut to 14-3 with 8:04 left before halftime. Dallas committed 11 penalties in total, including an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb for standing on the white of the sideline, which caused an official to collide with him.
“I told the guys ‘hey, we competed hard, but we got to clean some stuff up. We can’t have the penalties, 11 penalties or whatever that was,” Schottenheimer said. … “[Spoke with Lamb] Briefly. We got to be better with discipline, and I think I hope the guy [the official] is OK. I think he’s OK, but we have to do better than that. CeeDee knows better. We know better. … We have to do a better job coaching and playing. … You can’t give away penalties in this league. So we have to be better.”
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