Cowboys news: The good and bad of Trey Lance on display in loss vs. Chargers

Cowboys’ Trey Lance throws 5 picks. Chargers’ long TDs pace 26-19 victory over Dallas – Shuyler Dixon, Associated Press

Six total turnovers, but the Cowboys were in it up to the very last play. That’s preseason football for you.

Trey Lance played a bunch in the preseason for the Dallas Cowboys — and finished with a bevy of interceptions.

The third-string quarterback threw five interceptions — the last on the final play at the Los Angeles goal line — as the Chargers beat the Cowboys 26-19 in a preseason finale Saturday.

Derius Davis ran 70 yards for a touchdown on LA’s first play and Simi Fehoko caught a 78-yard scoring pass to start the second quarter.

Lance ran for a touchdown and threw for a score but another of the five interceptions was undrafted rookie Tre’mon Morris-Brash’s 25-yard pick-6 with Dallas trailing by a point in the fourth quarter.

It could be Lance’s last extensive action for the Cowboys. For now, the expiring year on Lance’s rookie contract will be spent as the third QB behind Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush.

NFL preseason Week 3 takeaways – Staff, ESPN

Todd Archer looks at the guys that didn’t play.

Sometimes not playing in a preseason can matter as much as playing can. Rookie Cooper Beebe was dressed but did not take a snap against the Chargers, which is a sign he will be the Week 1 starter at center. Same goes with first-round pick Tyler Guyton, who started at left tackle after Chuma Edoga suffered a toe injury.

With news of DaRon Bland needing 6-8 weeks to recover from upcoming foot surgery, cornerback depth will be tested. Andrew Booth, picked up in a trade earlier in camp from Minnesota, was beaten for a 78-yard touchdown a week after giving up a 48-yard grab vs. the Raiders. Caelen Carson did not play Saturday, which is another sign the Cowboys will be counting on the rookie fifth-round pick. Perhaps the Cowboys look for corner help during the final cut-down process.

Deuce Vaughn stated a case for a running back job. The coaches will have to find a way to get him the ball because he has some juice the other backs don’t have.

NFL Preseason Finale: Late Pick-6 dooms Cowboys, Trey Lance in 26-19 defeat to Chargers-K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire

Cowboys fell just short in the closing seconds.

Lance had several strong moments as he started to again test his downfield accuracy, but he also had several throws that showed his on-field immaturity. Near the end of the fourth quarter, down one point on a drive that started on their own eight-yard line, Lance threw a bad interception where Tre’Mon Morris tipped it to himself and raced 25-yards for the score.

It was the third and final big play in a game where other than that Dallas dominated, leaving them some positive points but in 26-19 defeat. Dallas ends their preseason 1-2 and now turns their attention to their Week 1 date, September 8, against the Cleveland Browns. Lance was trying to make a great final impression and finished the game throwing for 323 yards but five interceptions, including a final throw into the end zone after getting Dallas down to the Chargers’ 20-yard line with seven seconds left.

There were several plays where his ceiling is evident and a handful of others where his floor was saddening. He had two final drives, somehow, after the Pick-6 to still shoot for a tie or a win, but both ended in interceptions, although No. 4 was WR Cam Johnson getting bullied out of a catch by the defender.

Lance had some top moments though, most notably finding rookie sixth rounder Ryan Flournoy on a beautiful drop-in pass for a score, and then also a 46-yard run around the left side for his own score. That was one of several rushing plays where the Cowboys showed their dominance, gaining 246 yards on the ground as Deuce Vaughn, Malik Davis and Snoop Connor all averaged 5.5 yards per carry or more.

Dallas Cowboys’ trade for Trey Lance is a far-reaching disaster – Mac Engel, Star-Telegram

With Clarence Hill out at the Star-Telegram, Mac Engel and his hyperbolic Cowboys takes are back and he equates the trade of a fourth-round pick to two botched trades for first-round picks.

Along with Joey Galloway [2 first-round picks] and Roy Williams [1 first-round pick], Trey Lance [1 fourth-round pick] is now in the chat room of all-time horrible acquisitions made by Dallas Cowboys owner/GM/president Jerry Jones.

Of the countless moves Jerry has made since he bought the Cowboys in Feb. of 1989, dealing for Lance keeps moving up the list of memorable JJ goal line fumbles. This one could be the worst; at least Galloway and Williams actually played in regular-season games for the team. This deal continues to show all of the makings of a move where Jerry overpaid to add a player whose Cowboys’ career will consist of preseason plays, and regular-season checks cashed. Good for Trey. Horrible for the Cowboys offense.

Jerry Jones has no regrets about trading fourth-round pick for Trey Lance – Charean Williams, PFT

Jerry Jones is not about to shed any tears over a possibly wasted fourth-round pick.

“For a fourth-round pick? Are you kidding me?” Jones said, laughing. “Although we did get Dak [Prescott] with our second fourth-round pick [in 2016], so you’ve got a point there. But we’ve had some that didn’t play [who were drafted] in the fourth round, too.”

Jones isn’t ready to call it a bad trade yet.

“If I could have drawn this up, I would have hoped to get two-thirds of the number of plays you got to see him play [in the preseason],” Jones said. “Was very valuable for us, very valuable for him in light of the fact that he, relatively speaking, has had fewer plays. I saw some things out there that you can win with.”

“I saw some good, and I saw some things you’d like to have back,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “I hate that those five interceptions are going to be a stat on a game that I couldn’t have asked for more reps and a better situation to watch him play. He needed that, because the one thing he’s missing more than anything is the lack of reps much less NFL reps.

Cowboys’ DaRon Bland to have foot surgery, expected to miss 6-8 weeks: Who steps up?

The depth of the Cowboys’ cornerbacks will be tested to start the season.

The Dallas Cowboys will start the regular season without All-Pro cornerback DaRon Bland, who will have surgery for a stress fracture in his foot, the team announced Saturday. Bland is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

There’s no denying Bland’s absence is a huge loss for Dallas. He has quickly become one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks. The Cowboys have an outstanding starter in Trevon Diggs and a good inside corner in Jourdan Lewis. But there are now some big questions at the other starting outside corner spot.

Rookie Caelen Carson has looked good in camp, but is he ready to start? A name to know here is veteran defensive back Israel Mukuamu. He has been working at safety, but he can play corner and has performed well in camp. Dallas will also look at other rosters as teams trim down to their 53-man roster.

Cowboys Jerry Jones ‘not at all’ looking at outside CBs after DaRon Bland’s injury, confident in Caelen Carson – Garrett Podell, CBSSports

The Cowboys aren’t going shopping for a corner.

With just over two weeks remaining until the Cowboys kick off their 2024 regular season in Cleveland against the Browns on Sept. 8, Dallas owner and general manager Jerry Jones is anticipating Bland’s return to be sometime between Weeks 5 and 6. That’s a timeline he views as “good news.”

“Well, I’m glad it’s not for an extended period of time,” Jones said after the team’s preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday. “We lose him four or five ball games. I go though that pretty quick and pretty cavalier. It’s not cavalier, it’s [the injury] serious, but the good news is we’re going to have him for the meat of the deal. That’s the good news.”

There are a handful of established, veteran cornerback options who are currently free agents like four-time Pro Bowler Xavien Howard, 2010’s All-Decade Team member Patrick Peterson and former Patriots Super Bowl-winning corner J.C. Jackson, to name a few. Any of them could be brought in to help lessen the blow of Bland’s injury. However, Jones adamantly declared he doesn’t have an eye toward what’s out there, instead choosing to emphasize his own young talent.

“Not at all,” Jones said when asked if he is going to look outside the team for cornerback depth. “Not in any way. No, not at all. The good news is we’ve got some guys that have really shown well in camp. We won’t be looking at all.”

“I like the fact that he’s [Carson] playing at the level he is for how long a time in the NFL, which is not much,” Jones said. “He is certainly going to get a great opportunity to fill in here. We’ve had a couple guys come in here and do pretty well the last three or four years as a rookie cornerback. So maybe he’ll make All-Pro.”

These 5 players made the team Saturday – Nick Eatman, DallasCowboys.com

Eatman has Trey Lance, Deuce Vaughn, Ryan Flournoy, and Asim Richards making the team, plus one surprise linebacker.

Buddy Johnson – This one is close. I almost went with Josh Ball for this last spot, but wanted to address the defense. Johnson was right there on the edge of the bubble with other linebackers Nick Vigil, Willie Harvey and maybe even Darius Harris, who keeps playing well. But Johnson has made plays every chance he gets and did the same on Saturday in the first half. I like the way he plays the run and the pass, and he will be a valuable asset on special teams. This is a hunch, but I’m going to say Johnson did enough to make the team from this game.

Jerry Jones says Cowboys’ handling of TE on 53-man roster will be ‘real interesting’ – Calvin Watkins, DMN

Is this the Cowboys’ deepest position?

“That’s our longest position there and that will be real interesting,” team owner and general manager Jerry Jones said of the tight ends. “We love our fullback but we got some tight ends that can play fullback.”

The Cowboys have two tight ends with secure spots on the roster in Jake Ferguson and Luke Schoonmaker. After that, it’s uncertain.

Princeton Fant, Brevyn Spann-Ford, Alec Holler, Peyton Hendershot and John Stephens are fighting for one or maybe two spots.

The Cowboys will have fullback Hunter Luepke on the 53-man roster, unless the team doesn’t want to lose one of their tight ends when cuts go down Tuesday.

Cowboys vs. Chargers Stock Report: Deuce Vaughn, Ryan Flournoy rise while Trey Lance falls – RJ Ochoa, Blogging the Boys

How did these roster hopefuls fare in their final audition before the 53-man roster cut?

Stock Up: Deuce Vaughn

It is obvious that Vaughn offers a skillset that the team can use if they are truly committed to doing so. He can absolutely be a player that contributes and he has proven that over the course of the last month. Put him on the 53.

Stock Up: Buddy Johnson

It remains to be seen exactly how the Cowboys are going to construct their linebacker group, but Buddy Johnson has made a case to be a part of it. He had a phenomenal play in the first half of this game where he batted a pass down near the quarterback when Dallas was up against their goal line. The move forced the Chargers to settle for a field goal instead of scoring a touchdown.

Stock Up: Israel Mukuamu

Over time we have seen the Cowboys play Israel Mukuamu all over the place, but the reason for that is he can contribute. Saturday was another productive day for him and he seems like someone who can be an option for the team to at the very least survive time without Bland.

Stock Up: Royce Freeman

In the first half of this game the Cowboys saw Royce Freeman be quite productive. We still don’t know exactly how many running backs they are going to carry, but Freeman runs hard and did so against the Chargers. He has a case.

Stock Down: John Stephens Jr.

John Stephens Jr. caught an incredible pass from Trey Lance early in the game, perhaps Lance’s best throw to date, up the seam. Unfortunately he fumbled it shortly after. Simply put these kinds of things cannot happen. You cannot afford to make those mistakes in the eleventh hour.

Stock Down: Junior Fehoko

Simply put he has not flashed in any real way since joining the team last year. He had a poor step on the Simi Fehoko long touchdown early in the game. It just wasn’t there on Saturday.