After two lackluster preseason game efforts, the Dallas Cowboys closed out the preseason with a bang.
Dallas rolled to a 31-13 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Friday night. It gives the team a little momentum boost going into their Sept. 4th season opener against the Eagles in Philadelphia.
However, the biggest play of the night on Friday may have happened before either the Cowboys or the Falcons took the field.
“Hold-In” defensive end/linebacker Micah Parsons was walking toward the Cowboys’ locker room, munching on nachos.
As he passed a Falcons’ fan on an AT&T Stadium tour, the fan shouted out to Parsons to come play for Atlanta.
Parsons said nothing, but did make what appeared to be a “call me” gesture with his free hand in response.
Given Jerry Jones’ recent “Let me BS y’all” media tour trying to paint Parsons and his agent as the bad guys in this season’s edition of “Preseason Soap Opera”, the gesture is one more reason to wonder if we’ll ever see Parsons in a Cowboys uniform this year, or ever again.
Here are a few takeaways from Friday’s win.
Nice Opening Drive
For the first time this preseason, the Cowboys hit the run early and stayed with it on their opening drive.
The approach gave Joe Milton a chance to settle in. While he only hit one of his first two passes, he looked a lot more comfortable.
He even used his own legs for a first down and capped the drive with a two-yard touchdown run.
Milton still isn’t ready to run Dak Prescott out of town. But Cowboys’ fans should feel better about him being QB2 this fall.
Milton did finish with his best game of the preseason. His touchdown pass to Jalen Brooks had a lot more touch on it than Milton has shown so far.
It was a good sign that he is continuing to progress.
Feeling Blue
While Deuce Vaughn started in the backfield, and had some nice runs on the opening drive, Jaydon Blue’s preseason debut was what everyone wanted to see.
On the Cowboys’ second drive, Blue carried the ball four times for 10 yards and scored a one-yard touchdown. He plowed through a linebacker at the line for the score.
Blue left the game in the fourth quarter after apparently aggravating his right ankle injury he suffered in training camp.
Houston, We Have A Problem
James Houston is making life hard on the Cowboys coaching staff. Houston has been stellar this preseason and had another strong outing on Friday night.
If he isn’t on the Cowboys’ final roster, he’ll be in uniform somewhere else before the first week of the season.
Mazi Smith Update
Mazi Smith was controlled once again in Friday’s game, despite getting a lot of playing time, aside from a first-quarter tackle for loss on a third down play.
Smith tackled the running back for a minus-5-yard run. He did so simply because not one Falcons’ offensive lineman even attempted to block him on the play.
Otherwise, he generated little pressure on the pass rush, and was moved around easily on running plays.
Smith should not be the starter against the Eagles, but he’ll likely still make the roster as a backup. Unless he was showcased on Friday as trade bait.
