Cowboys Country

QB Grier, 'Coach' Dak Lead Cowboys Over Raiders - Top 10 Whitty Observations

With Dak Prescott calling plays and lame-duck quarterback Will Grier executing them, the Dallas Cowboys ended their preseason with a 31-16 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Richie Whitt

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In the big scheme of 2023 it will get lost and forgotten, but for one interesting August evening at AT&T Stadium Dak Prescott called the plays, a lame-duck quarterback executed them and the Dallas Cowboys routed the Las Vegas Raiders, 31-16, in their preseason finale.

10. EXHIBITION, EXAGGERATED - No Cowboys of note played, or were even wearing pads. CeeDee Lamb sported a bucket hat and, inside AT&T Stadium, sunglasses. Dak Prescott donned a headset and tried his hand at calling plays. And for 60 minutes of meaningless football Saturday night we watched a quarterback who is guaranteed to be cut on Tuesday (Will Grier) hand-off and throw mostly to guys (Hunter Luepke, Dontario Drummond, et al) who will be lucky to land on Dallas' practice squad. 

Which begs the question, again: Why do 30-something professional football players who prepare year-round, go through OTAs, minicamps and training camp need three preseason games, but 18-year-old college players need none at all? 

Most - only - relevant play of the night: Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey made a 59-yard field goal.

9. TREY TRADE - The buzz around the Cowboys is still about Friday's trade to acquire quarterback Trey Lance. We still don't get it. Trading a 4th-round draft pick for a 3rd-string quarterback doesn't add up. And, no, there isn't real "value."

Lance was the No. 3 overall pick in 2021, but that was before the NFL - particularly the San Francisco 49ers - saw him actually play. Now, he's a guy who can't beat out Sam Darnold! So the Cowboys didn't trade for the No. 3 pick, they traded for a quarterback who some observers in San Francisco were convinced the Niners were going to cut on Tuesday.

8. TREY TRADE TALK - Let's allow Cowboys' VP Stephen Jones the chance to explain the trade. "In this league you have to be ready when opportunity presents itself," he said during the second half of Saturday night's TV broadcast. "This came down in a hurry. It wasn't something that was necessarily on our radar. But it's a quarterback-driven league. To get a value like this was a big upgrade for our team. It's a huge positive."

The one thing Stephen said that did resonate: Lance is 23; Prescott and backup Cooper Rush will be 30 by 2024 training camp.

7. TREY TRADE TALK II - While most of the NFL roasts the 49ers for trading a quarterback that only two years ago they gave up three first-round picks to acquire, San Francisco general manger John Lynch addressed the deal with the Cowboys during Friday night's preseason game against the Chargers. 

"We took a shot and it didn't work out," Lynch said. "We own that." 

The Niners salvaged something out of Lance, getting the 4th-round pick from Dallas. Lynch said his club fielded multiple offers for the quarterback. "Dallas stepped up and really wanted him. They came after him," he said. "And Trey's story is still very much unwritten."

6. JUST WIN, BRADY - Dressed in Raiders' black, who was that familiar face chatting with Jerry Jones before the game? None other than Tom Brady. The guy with seven Super Bowl rings and, these days, a piece of the Raiders as a minority owner.

5. TREY TRADE TALK III - Lance wound up playing only 8 games for the Niners, the fewest played by a Top 5 draft pick for the franchise he debuted with since 1967 ... Can't be a good sign when renowned "quarterback guru" Kyle Shanahan gives up on a quarterback ... Cowboys claim they had a "2nd-round grade" on Lance in 2021, which means they were way off in their evaluation as well. ... If Lance can bring with him a shred of knowledge that can help the Cowboys finally beat the 49ers in January, the trade will be totally worth it.

4. SUPER EXPECTATIONS - Two guys who think the Cowboys will play in Super Bowl LVIII next February: Jim Nantz and Rob Gronkowski.

3. HYPE-RBOLE! - Look, we're all enamored by what we saw this preseason from rookie running back Deuce Vaughn. But on the CBS TV pregame show co-host Hailey Sutton went a bit over the top, calling Vaughn "America's favorite running back." Added Sutton, "It's been great to see America rallying around him."

2. PRESCOTT, PLAY-CALLER - Hard to argue with Prescott's debut as offensive play-caller, as the Cowboys produced 31 points and 457 yards. "It's every quarterback's dream," he said before the game. "I've only ever gotten to do it on Madden." Here's the part of the story that's not so cute: Three times inside the 10-yard line, Dak called a "waggle" where Grier faked a hand-off left and then rolled to his right to pass. 

Good news: The play worked every time, twice for touchdowns on a 2-yard run by Grier and a 9-yard catch by second-round rookie tight end Luke Schoonmaker. Bad news: The New York Giants - and every Cowboys' opponent - now know Prescott's preferred play in the Red Zone.

1. LAME-DUCK HERO - Grier made the most of his game-long audition, completing 29 of 35 passes for 305 yards and combining for all four Cowboys touchdowns (two passing, two rushing). Maybe his stat sheet will catch the eye of a new team, or maybe even his old coaches such as Kellen Moore with the Chargers or Ron Rivera in Washington. 

But the scenario was just ... weird. And tough.

“It’s been tough,'' Grier said afterwards. "But I’ve been through tougher stuff.” 

Tough. And weird. The Cowboys gave valuable playing time and invested sideline support into a player they have already decided isn't good enough to play for them. It's like a husband deciding to divorce his wife, but before signing the papers going out and buying her new clothes, scheduling her a day at the salon and helping her setting up her Match.com profile to make sure she attracts new suitors.

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Richie Whitt
RICHIE WHITT

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