We all would have liked a nice clean victory in San Diego on Thursday night, but nothing goes that way with the preseason. One thing to know, while the Cowboys played very few starters, the Chargers played almost all of their starters. This caused Dallas’ 2nd stringers to play against San Diego’s 1st stringers, then Dallas’ 3rd string played against San Diego’s 2nd string, and so on. Don’t feel like the season is doomed yet.
Some bright spots from Thursday night:
- QB Brandon Weeden showed us why he deserved a chance
- QB Dustin Vaughan seems to be light-years ahead of Caleb Hanie
- RB Joseph Randle looks much quicker and more confident than last season
- S Ahmad Dixon showed up all night long and tallied 12 tackles before a helmet-to-helmet tackle took him out in the 4th quarter
- LB Anthony Hitchens had some very good plays, although he had some bad as well but he is learning
I will release a 53 man roster prediction after each preseason game but for now, I feel like this is the most likely 53 man roster:
| QB | Tony Romo Brandon Weeden |
| RB | DeMarco Murray Lance Dunbar Joseph Randle Ryan Williams |
| FB | Ryan Clutts |
| WR | Dez Bryant Terrance Williams Cole Beasley Dwayne Harris Devin Street Jamar Newsome |
| TE | Jason Witten Gavin Escobar James Hanna |
| Offensive line | Tyron Smith Mackenzy Bernadeau Travis Frederick Zack Martin Doug Free Ronald Leary Jeremy Parnell Darrion Weems |
| Defensive line | DeMarcus Lawrence Terrell McClain Henry Melton George Selvie Tyrone Crawford Jeremy Mincey Davon Coleman Ken Bishop Caesar Rayford Ken Boatright |
| LB | Bruce Carter Justin Durant DeVonte Holloman Kyle Wilber Anthony Hitchens Rolando McClain |
| CB | Brandon Carr Orlando Scandrick Morris Claiborne Sterling Moore Terrance Mitchell |
| S | Barry Church JJ Wilcox Jakar Hamilton Jeff Heath Ahmad Dixon |
| Specialists | Dan Bailey Cody Mandell L.P. Ladouceur |
For now, I see Dustin Vaughan as a practice squad candidate.
There is word that Josh Brent’s meeting with Roger Goodell went very well on Thursday afternoon, so expect to see him enter into the fold very soon.
Thanks for reading. What would you change about my 53 man prediction?
Let me know in the comments.
Anthony Spencer should be ready early. No way they keep five running backs. Uche Nwaneri makes the team.
Spencer still isn’t even practicing, so having him ready for Week 1 is highly unlikely. To go further, with Lawrence’s injury, Dallas really can’t afford someone else (Spencer) that isn’t playing to take up a roster spot at the same position. Lawrence isn’t eligible for PUP because he has practiced, otherwise that would be the way to go with him. Leaving Spencer on the PUP list keeps him out until Week 6 and then he wouldn’t take up one of the 53 roster spots.
As for Nwaneri, we will see. I think Dallas has enough flexibility with Weems (T/G), Bernadeau (G/C), Martin (G/C/T) that they could afford to go light on the OLine if they felt they needed a roster spot somewhere else, and if they go light I think Nwaneri is the odd man out.
Waiting for Spencer (and a pass rush) until week 6 might doom the season before it even starts. Better to have him and Lawrence in the chamber ready to go so they can be used as soon as possible. Spencer is said to be coming along nicely, and as soon as he’s ready to be even a situational player they need him desperately. There’s no one else worthy of a roster spot anyway to take their place. Wilber can play DE in pass rush situations in the meantime.
I never would go light on the offensive line. It’d be nice to have depth across the offense in total, because it might take 50 points a game to go 8-8 this year anyway.