With the storm cloud that is the Micah Parsons situation only growing over the head of the 2025 Dallas Cowboys, one thing in the future forecast is crystal clear. Following the conclusion of Friday night’s preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons, the wins and losses will matter, and simply being pleased the Cowboys made it through four quarters without major injuries will be gone. The defending champion Philadelphia Eagles are waiting for their banner night to host Brian Schottenheimer’s team
in his first real game.
With this in mind, is there anything the Cowboys can show at home against the Falcons to prove they’ve grown as a team through training camp in Oxnard and the preseason? So far against the Rams and Ravens, the Cowboys have not been able to do many of the things they’ve set out to with their backups getting nearly all the run. They’ve struggled to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, getting a push in their own run game or defending the interior run, completing deep passes with Joe Milton at QB, and have had their share of unforced penalties.
Obviously, it would be easy to say fixing all of these things would be the signs of progress to look for against Atlanta, but since Dallas has fully committed to resting so many key starters this preseason, some of these goals must be adjusted. The Cowboys will still be able to use this game in their evaluation before roster cuts. There are still players fighting to make the team and those inevitably playing their last four quarters either with the Cowboys or in the NFL on Friday night.
Whichever team wins this game will also earn their first of the preseason, before both open their regular seasons against playoff teams from a year ago as the Falcons host the Buccaneers in week one. Here are some things to look for in the final exhibition from AT&T Stadium.
Get the tight ends involved more
When it comes to the caliber of players the Cowboys have kept on ice this preseason, every phase of the game has hardly been affected equally. Three of the team’s absolute best pound-for-pound players are Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens. All three players can be linked to the same phase of the game, and one that has a huge say on gamedays towards deciding wins and losses, which is making explosive plays through the air.
With that in mind, the Cowboys had a 39-yard pass play to Traeshon Holden and a 20-yarder to Ryan Flournoy against the Rams, and a 49-yard shot to Jonathan Mingo, 33 yards to Princeton Fant, and 23 yards to Flournoy against the Ravens, showing some potential in the big pass play department. That 33-yard catch by Fant was the longest of the preseason by a Cowboys tight end. Rivaldo Fairweather had the first touchdown of the preseason for the Cowboys against the Rams in the red zone as well.
The Cowboys have been without second-year TE Brevyn Spann-Ford this preseason, a player that came into camp with a lot of buzz about earning a larger role alongside the newly extended Jake Ferguson, who also has not played the last two weeks. Luke Schoonmaker has gotten in these games with an opportunity to continue developing after making some promising plays for an offense lacking juice a year ago, but only has one catch for one yard on three targets, which came against the Rams despite playing 12 snaps against the Ravens.
The Falcons played the Titans in their second preseason game last week, and Titans tight end Gunnar Helm was their leading receiver catching all four of his targets for 48 yards with a 25-yard touchdown. Their defense also gave up the fourth-highest yards per catch to tight ends last season. They are a defense that can be attacked between the seams, and while there are multiple ways the Cowboys can do this that would be encouraging based on who they’ve utilized this preseason, getting more from any combination of Schoonmaker, Fairweather, and Fant would be welcomed.
Score 6 in the red zone
Speaking of tight ends, a great area for them to show up is the red zone, where the Cowboys were shutout from scoring touchdowns in two trips against the Ravens. It doesn’t just have to be tight ends getting involved down here though, as any last opportunity to score touchdowns will surely interest receivers fighting for bottom of the depth chart spots, or even rookie running back Jaydon Blue expected to make his team debut. At his best, Blue is a dynamic back that can make big plays through the air or on the ground, so seeing any flash of that, especially within scoring range, would be great against the Falcons.
The Cowboys have favored a lot of fade and go routes this preseason regardless of field position. There is no reason to think this won’t continue with even more of an emphasis on winning jump balls in the red zone, when that is exactly what both Lamb and Pickens do so well. Add in big targets like Ryan Flournoy, Jalen Brooks, or even Jalen Tolbert in this mix, and up-and-coming receivers like Holden or Josh Kelly have a harder time carving out what their diminished role could look like on offense. If the Cowboys want to get the best possible evaluation of their full depth chart at WR though, they’ll open up the playbook just a little bit, in search of any players that can help an offense that finished second to last (ahead of only the Giants) in scoring red zone touchdowns a year ago.
The Cowboys and everybody else already know that Brandon Aubrey is good. They need touchdowns not field goals to feel good about things.
Finish at the quarterback
While the rest of the football world may not believe it, the Cowboys have talented pass rushers not named Micah Parsons. In fact, several of them have stood out in training camp and the preseason, although none have been able to finish with a sack yet. Sam Williams, rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku, James Houston, and Perrion Winfrey from the interior have all gotten close though. Pressures may be good, but sacks are great when it comes to the philosophy of DC Matt Eberflus, which is to take the ball away.
It doesn’t take too long of a glance at the Cowboys full depth chart on defense, particularly in the secondary right now, to see this isn’t a defense built to play a shutdown style. Opposing quarterbacks are going to be able to complete the ball against this defense and make their share of plays if they can stay upright and avoid turnovers, two things the full strength Cowboys defense will be after with a force in the regular season.
The Falcons offensive line has remained mostly unchanged this preseason, and includes rookie seventh-round pick Jack Nelson, journeyman Elijah Wilkinson, who has not started a game since 2023, and Kyle Hinton who is also a former seventh-round pick that didn’t start any games last season. Easton Stick has seen the majority of the work at quarterback for Atlanta in his third season, but first with the Falcons. In four career starts for the Chargers, Stick was sacked 12 times.
The time is now for the Cowboys to actually finish a sack before their next opponent is Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley in the backfield. The preseason may not be the time to talk about teams playing with identity, style, and full game planning, but momentum plays are still very much a thing. There are few things that instantly create momentum more than sacks, which the Cowboys will be after on Friday, possibly to help set up positive field position for an offense that could use that type of spark as well.
More of the same from Tyler Booker
The Cowboys have found plenty of ways to make their usual splashes and stay in the football world’s conversation this offseason, but doing so with a flashy first-round pick was not in the cards. Dallas went back to the trusty well of taking a blue-chip offensive lineman at 12th overall. Alabama’s Tyler Booker is next in line to “replace” future Ring of Honor and Hall of Famer Zack Martin.
Booker made his Cowboys debut against the Ravens, and played a clean game with flashes of the refined technique and raw power in the run game that makes him a fit in Dallas.
The chance to make any highlight-worthy pancake blocks out in space was all but taken away with the Cowboys only running the ball 17 times, and Miles Sanders getting the most carries with seven. While the situation at running back still feels uncertain, the tea leaves are pointing towards JaVontae Williams getting the first shot to lead the committee approach, given how the Cowboys have kept him on the bench in the preseason, and the tight formations they’ve wanted to run the ball out of suiting Williams very well. Pairing a powerful back with a powerful blocker like Booker could be the spark the Cowboys need to at least start trending in the right direction of being a physical ground team again. Williams may not be the only back called upon to bring this element, as Phil Mafah and Malik Davis have made their claims to push players like Sanders or Deuce Vaughn off the roster.
If this is truly the case, the Cowboys may come out and pound the ball a lot more against the Falcons with all of these backs, giving Booker even more of a chance to shine. If it does, seeing more of the same of what he did against the Ravens, just in a larger sample size, would be just fine.
Dig in the Toia box
The Cowboys are no strangers to putting young players and draft picks into tough situations early on in their careers. Given their affinity for dragging out star players contracts later on, this is the alternative they live with, convincing themselves year after year their homegrown draft picks are all ready to take on larger roles than they should.
Currently, this spotlight belongs to seventh-round pick Jay Toia, a defensive tackle out of UCLA. Toia was part of the Cowboys apparent solution to being caught perpetually undermanned on the defensive interior, as they also drafted DT Tommy Akingbesote 30 picks later with their final seventh-round selection. The problem is, Akingbesote has not made a mark this preseason. Another problem is that Mazi Smith is yet again adjusting to a new defensive scheme, and not looking anything like the type of first-round pick that can anchor a position group. The situation when it comes to stopping the run from the defensive tackle position for the Cowboys is as dire as it’s been in years, and that’s saying a lot considering the state the position was in under Dan Quinn’s “just play all the pass rushers” approach, followed by Mike Zimmer in 2024.
Jay Toia looked like a player at least capable of getting in the mix as a rookie and learning on the fly how to use his body at the 1-tech position, where he is a natural fit. Early on in padded practices in Oxnard, Toia was a regular standout giving offensive linemen problems and consistently staying square to the line of scrimmage as an anchor player. These things have not translated to the preseason games, with Toia getting pushed around and taken advantage of with leverage when caught with way too high of a pad level.
The Cowboys really don’t have much of a competition right now for who else can take these snaps from Toia, so every rep against the Falcons is going to be very important for him. If this defense wants to earn themselves pass rush opportunities and put opposing offenses behind the sticks, they’ll need to stiffen up quite a bit against the inside run, something Toia, Smith, Winfrey, and Earnest Brown as a DT group have not been able to help them do in two preseason games so far.
