Governor’s Cup empty for ‘Boys, Texans have a better QB2, Mills

LLANO, Texas — Preseason football should not be taken very seriously, this preseason less so than ever.  It’s been shortened to three games, while the regular season extends from 16 to 17.  This preseason is all about avoiding injuries and Covid and protecting the starters for the games that count.  LA Rams coach Sean McVay took protectionism to a new level by announcing that he would not play his starters in any preseason game.

But of course, that doesn’t keep us from drawing conclusions from what we see and don’t see.  We do get insights into a team’s culture, energy level and communication between coaches and players.  We see how much confidence there is in the first-round draft picks, who are supposed to have major impact.

The second game of the preseason schedule is the most meaningful, with the final exhibition dismissively called a dress rehearsal.  The stars do not play in that one; the only contact is usually limited to the scrubs trying to fill out the roster.

So here are a couple of my first of the too early impressions:

The Houston Texans are better than most people think, while the Cowboys are worse.

The Texans were 4-12 last year, and this year franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson is demanding a trade that can’t happen because he’s unable to extricate himself from a legal quagmire, 22 women claiming he sexually assaulted them.

But in Saturday night’s Battle of Texas, the annual duel between the Lone Star State’s two largest cities, Houston won 20-14 in Arlington and carried away the Governor’s Cup.  

The governor was not on hand to bestow his trophy because, as irony would have it, he’s been in Covid quarantine since a super-spreading fund-raiser in which he and most of the hundreds in attendance were unmasked.  He’s raising money for politicians such as himself who want to spare children the discomfort of wearing a mask.  Perhaps he will argue that nothing is more comfortable than death.

On a less somber note, also missing Saturday’s game was star runner Zeke Elliott, who extended to 4 years his streak of no preseason games, and quarterback Dak Prescott, missing his first preseason.  Without Zeke or the mysteriously shoulder-dinged Dak, the Cowboys’ defense is better than their offense, even with defensive coordinator Dan Quinn out with Covid protocols.  Houston was 0-for-10 on third-down conversions.  Watson’s successor, the oft-discarded Tyrod Taylor, completed 2 of 5 for 10 yards.

David Culley, the Texans’ 65-year-old rookie coach, took a long look at third-round draft pick Davis Mills, who is tall (6-4), mobile (ran once, for 7 yards) and accurate (10 of 16, 115 yards, 0 INT).  But he wouldn’t know a blitz if it bit him in the butt, and a couple of them did.  Mills’ college football career was stifled by California’s Covid protocols, but the fact that he played at all for Stanford suggests he’s smart enough to figure out an NFL blitz if he gets a few more lessons. 

With Mills on his learning curve, the best backup quarterback of the night was fourth-year pro Cooper Rush, who completed 10 of 12 for 97 yards, 2 TDs, no picks.  Rush, whose work has been curtailed by – what else? – a sore shoulder, has tissue-soft competition for the backup role in Dallas: Garrett Gilbert, Ben DiNucci.  

But when asked if he’s decided on his QB2, coach Mike McCarthy was not reassuring: “We’ve got one more week, and we need it.”

The Cowboys look at the preseason as a time for healing, primarily, of course, their quarterback, who missed most of last season with a shattered ankle and now has an arm muscle injury that can be fully mended only through extended rest.  For a quarterback trying to perfect choreography with receivers, running backs and 320-pound linemen, extensive rest is not an option.

The game at Jerry World was an opportunity for Amari Cooper to show he’s over the team’s second-most concerning ankle surgery.  But here again, not much reassurance.  Cooper caught one pass against the Texans, for -4 yards.

There was, at least, the re-emergence of the vaunted Cowboys offensive line.  The starters played as a unit for the first time in a year, going three series against a Houston D-line that’s adapting to Lovie Smith’s 4-3 alignment.   Charles Omenihu, who at 6-5, 280 pounds got swallowed up in the 3-4, splashed Saturday night with more room to operate: 2 sacks, 2 QB hits, 2 tackles for loss, 1 fumble recovery.

But the play of the day came in the third quarter, a 54-yard pick-6 off a deflected pass from DiNucci by Lonnie Johnson Jr., who’s switching from corner to safety, which better suits his size: 6-2, 213 pounds.

“In this whole defense,” Johnson said, “our job is to fly around the ball and get the ball.  That’s what we’re going to do, get takeaways for our offense.”

The Texans had three takeaways in their other preseason game, a 26-7 victory over Green Bay.  Smith’s in-your-face defense, which put the Chicago Bears in a Super Bowl, could bring unexpected success to the Texans.  Of course they will be held back by their quarterbacking.  Davis Mills needs a few more weeks to catch Taylor.   Meanwhile the Cowboys hold their breath every time Prescott cranks his right arm.