After the first half of the Cowboys-Raiders preseason game on Saturday, it looked like the word of the week was going to be: Anemic.
Because the NFC East was looking pretty anemic when it came to the scoreboard in the second week of preseason play.
Philadelphia managed only 14 points in their win – needing to score 11 in the final quarter against scrubs to get there. The Giants only managed 10 in their loss to the Texans.
Washington’s offense went AWOL against Miami, scoring just six points.
The Cowboys had but three points at the two-minute warning of the first half.
A 10-point run in the final 67 seconds made it 13 by halftime. Dallas tacked on 14 more in the fourth quarter.
They missed outscoring the rest of the division combined by just four points.
Dallas Cowboys
That was a much better effort, and result, than the preseason opener last week in Los Angeles, wasn’t it?
With Mazi Smith back in Oxnard dealing with an allergic reaction, the Cowboys cured their own allergy to scoring preseason touchdowns.
Trey Lance may have improved his chances to back up Dak Prescott this year. He at least improved his market value if Dallas decides to trade him.
Lance threw for a touchdown and ran for another in the 27-12 win over the Raiders in Las Vegas.
Despite two big plays, the Dallas defense did another solid job.
Mike Zimmer has the defense playing much better than last year. And we still haven’t seen most of the starters out there yet either.
Brandon Aubrey tied the NFL record for longest field goal at 66 yards. It won’t be official since it came in a preseason game though.
A lot to be excited about this week.
Hopefully, Dallas can close out the preseason with some momentum going into the regular season.
Next Game: The Cowboys play their first preseason game at home on Saturday at 3 p.m. when they host the Los Angeles Chargers.
New York Giants
Daniel Jones finally returned to the field after his 2023 season was derailed by an ACL injury.
The Giants probably wish he’d waited one more week to come back.
Jones tossed two interceptions, and his lone touchdown pass was a pick six. The Texans rolled to a 28-10 win in Houston over New York.
Jones did rebound to lead the Giants to back-to-back scoring drives, accounting for New York’s 10 points.
New York’s run game did score the Giants’ lone touchdown, but overall looked anemic on Saturday. The team has a lot of work to do in that area.
The Giants’ defense fared little better.
Next Game: The Giants hit the road, technically. They are the visiting team on Saturday night at 6:30 when they face the New York Jets in their home stadium.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles moved to 2-0 on the preseason, but they had to rally with 11 fourth-quarter points to do it.
Once again, the Eagles’ expected opening-game starters were far from the field. None of the backups lit the night on fire in Thursday’s game in New England.
Still, they’ll take the 14-13 victory over the Patriots and run.
Needless to say, however, Philadelphia’s offense isn’t scaring any defensive coordinators across the NFL right now.
As Cowboys’ fans can attest, a Kellen Moore offense was never scary. The Eagles may not be running that tush push as much in 2024 at this rate.
Second-year quarterback Tanner McKee – the Eagles’ sixth-round pick last year – made a strong case to supplant Kenny Pickett as the backup.
McKee was 15-of-19 for 140 yards on Thursday. McKee led the Eagles on a seven-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in the game-winning score.
His two-point pass capped the eight-point drive for the final score.
Pickett – who was the Steelers’ first-round pick in 2022 — was 11-of-13 for just 67 yards.
Next Game: The Eagles host the 2–0 Vikings on Saturday at noon.
Washington Commanders
Washington fell to 0-2 for the preseason with an anemic 13-6 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Saturday in South Florida.
The Commanders had one final play from the Dolphins’ seven with 10 seconds left. But Trace McSorley’s fourth down pass to Mitchell Tinsley sailed a little high.
McSorley is battling Jeff Driskel for the backup job behind Heisman Trophy winner, Jayden Daniels.
Daniels was 10-for-12 for 78 yards in his brief action. But Daniels failed to get the Commanders into the end zone.
Washington settled for a pair of field goals in the loss.
Next Game: The Commanders host the final game of the NFL preseason at 6 p.m. on Sunday against the Patriots.
Cowboys have had the luxury of being the best team in this weakest division for many, many years. This luxury has been a boon for one player in particular, DP. Now he wants to be paid as the best player in the league based on beating up on bad to mediocre teams ie Giants, Wash, (even Philly until recently) in the regular season pretty much every year. His horrible post season record refutes his regular season success. His $60-$70 million APY demands are over the top and will most likely be detrimental to the team down the road.