INGLEWOOD, California: Trey Lance’s first Dallas Cowboys preseason game resembled his first couple weeks of training camp drills. The quarterback in his fourth year lacked consistency.
Lance ended up playing all but one set after Cooper Rush got the start, making his debut on the field for the first time in 357 days. Lance did not turn the ball over, but he also failed to produce enough huge plays in Sunday’s 13–12 Dallas loss to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
“I’m excited to watch (the film),” Lance said. “I think I left some plays out there for sure, across the board, from the first quarter to the fourth. We get the ball four extra possessions and we don’t score a touchdown, that’s not a good feeling. It was fun. I learned a ton from it. I’ll learn a ton from the tape. But I want to score touchdowns for sure.”
Lance completed 25 of 41 passes for 188 yards, finishing with a 72.0 passer rating.
“I’m trying to get as much as I can with him,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “We want to see him run the offense at a high level. The footwork and some of the things we’re asking him to do conceptually, they’re new. We just need work. We just need as much time as we can.
“He’s making good progress. He’s definitely wired the right way. He’s a great athlete. We just have a lot of work to do.”
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McCarthy said he liked how Lance handled the play calls and commanded the huddle.
Rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton said Lance was “efficient” in the huddle.
“I think he’s a confident player,” Guyton added. “He knows what he wants to do. He’s quick and responsive. I like how he calls plays.”
It is clear that Lance is athletic. He frequently used his legs to either build time for anything to open up or pick up yards with his feet when he could not initially find an open receiver.
The middle of the second quarter provided one of the better instances. After the pocket collapsed, Lance managed to get away, buy some time, and then, on second-and-12, hit wide receiver David Durden along the left sideline for a 16-yard gain.
When the Rams coach Sean McVay was mic’d up for the NFL Network game broadcast, he said he was impressed by the play.
“You can’t lose the rush contain against Lance,” McVay said. “Good play by him. Lose contain, he escapes with his eyes down the field. You give him credit right there.”
Other times, Lance moved the chains with his foot. On six carries, he finished with a team-high 44 running yards. The furthest he could sprint was 19 yards.
“I think it’s just kind of a feel,” Lance said. “You get a good feel for it as the game progresses. Good decisions, bad decisions, I think it’s another thing I need to see on tape. See when I should’ve gone and when I should’ve gotten the ball out of my hand.”
On his first possession, Lance had a fantastic chance to lead Dallas on a touchdown drive. The Cowboys moved 41 yards in ten plays, but on fourth-and-1, Lance Tootoo threw too high to wide receiver Jalen Cropper in the corner of the end zone, causing play to stop at the Rams’ 3-yard line.
“I wish I had that play call back,” McCarthy said.
What does he need to do to connect on those plays in the future?
“Just make the throw,” Lance said. “Make the throw.”
Halfway through the fourth quarter, there was another chance for a touchdown pass. The Rams appeared to have botched a coverage, leaving tight end Princeton Fant wide open along the right sideline. Lance ran beneath wide receiver Cam Johnson for a 6-yard gain without seeing it.
“I saw it on the pictures (on the sideline),” Lance said. “It’s one of those things, I think I was a little bit ahead of it, too fast with my feet. … There’s plays like that across the board. It happens and it’s one of those things that I learn from. Don’t make the same mistake twice.”
For the Cowboys’ next two preseason games, there should not be any significant changes to the quarterbacking scheme. It is unlikely Dak Prescott will play. It is unlikely that Rush will receive much more work than he did on Sunday. Lance will therefore play most of the snaps in both games. Seeing how he improves on his first preseason action since joining the San Francisco 49ers in August of last year will be interesting. More than anything he encountered during the Cowboys’ 2017 practices, or the work he has lately received in OTAs, minicamp, and training camp when teammates are not hitting the quarterback, he ought to be able to learn from Sunday’s reps.
Lance does not think the Rams’ rust was a problem.
“It’s been a year but that’s never going to be an excuse at all,” he said. “I’ve had a ton of snaps in practice throughout OTAs and training camp. Just excited for next week.”
(Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
