The Cowboys got the kind of preseason opener that can leave two impressions at once: the scoreboard was nice, but the laundry on the field was hard to ignore. Dallas blanked Seattle after the Seahawks opened with a touchdown drive, and there were real bright spots - Camden Brown looked electric, and both backup quarterbacks handled their business. But the 13 penalties and the mental mistakes told a different story.
A few players, in particular, made life harder on themselves.
Caelen Carson had the roughest night of the bunch. With DaRon Bland and Cobie Durant resting and Caleb Downs on the field for only seven snaps, Carson was asked to carry plenty of the load.
Instead, he wound up in the middle of too much traffic, drawing three penalties in the first half. One of them was a defensive pass interference call that should have been overturned in his favor, but the facemask that followed helped extend a Seahawks drive that ended in a touchdown, and he was later flagged for defensive holding as well.
Carson did flash with some solid open-field tackling and a pass breakup, but those kinds of plays are supposed to come with the territory for a third-year corner facing second- and third-string competition.
Traeshon Holden also had a night he’ll want to forget. After Camden Brown’s breakout put him in the spotlight, Holden tried to jump on a bouncing punt with Seattle’s gunners closing fast.
That’s the kind of gamble that can look brilliant if it works. Here, it didn’t.
He muffed it, and the broadcast caught him on the bench with a towel over his head afterward. Dallas was up 17-7 at the time, and Holden handed Seattle a short field that nearly turned into a one-score game.
The Cowboys’ defense stopped the Seahawks on downs, but the mistake was still a brutal one for a player fighting for a roster spot.
Langston Patterson didn’t make much of a case either. With Jaishawn Barham out because of a groin injury and DeMarvion Overshown and Dee Winters resting as projected starters, there were snaps available at linebacker.
Patterson barely got on the field, playing just 15 of 56 defensive snaps, and the PFF numbers reflected the struggle. He had trouble fitting the right gaps and wasn’t much better when it came to shedding blocks, finishing with a 47.8 run-defense grade that ranked 21st out of 28 players who saw action Saturday.
DJ Rogers also missed a chance to separate himself. The undrafted tight end caught his lone target and tried to turn it into more, but the ball came loose pretty easily as he moved upfield.
It luckily went out of bounds, but that kind of lapse can’t happen for a player trying to stick in the league. With Jake Ferguson and Brevyn Spann Ford resting and Luke Schoonmaker already ahead of him, Rogers needed a clean showing and didn’t get one.
He now looks well behind Michael Trigg in the fight for TE4, and Trigg’s strong play could even put pressure on Schoonmaker’s hold on the No. 3 job.
Dallas won the game, but not everyone came out of it looking like a winner.
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