NFL Preseason 2018: Winners and losers from Week 3

The dress rehearsal games from Week 3 of the 2018 NFL preseason are all completed, so who were the big winners and losers from all the action?

After this weekend’s slate of games, the 2018 NFL preseason has essentially come to a close. Week 3 of the preseason is what many refer to as the “dress rehearsal” games as we see more of the starters than in any other time of the preseason. Consequently, Week 4 of the preseason largely becomes about filling out the back end of the 53-man roster and the practice squad than anything else.

With that being the case, Week 3 of the preseason is a time when we can start to learn a lot about many teams. We see how young players are progressing, how systems are taking shape on both sides of the ball, and generally how teams are looking with the regular season getting much closer.

Now that this crucial week is over, let’s take a look at who emerged as both winners and losers from Week 3 of the 2018 NFL preseason.

Loser: The Dallas Cowboys offense

There are truthfully a lot of ways in which the Dallas Cowboys offense did not have a great week in the third week of the 2018 preseason. On the field, they sat the bulk of their starters (i.e. Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott) and the backups got absolutely destroyed by the Arizona Cardinals defense. It was an absolutely atrocious showing from Cooper Rush and the second-string offense, one that will be hard to forget because it was so bad.

Having said that, the bad things for this offense don’t stop there. The Travis Frederick news from this week is certainly a blow to this group. While Joe Looney may actually be Dallas’ best backup offensive lineman, he’s not an All-Pro caliber player like the man he’s replacing in the middle of the offense. Subsequently, that puts a little dink in the armor that is the Cowboys’ greatest strength.

Given everything that happened this week between injuries, players sitting out and what the reserves looked like, it’s hard to have a good feeling about this Cowboys offense with the regular season on the horizon. Sure, they could turn things around as soon as Prescott and Elliott get on the field. But as of now, things don’t look great for this group that needs to bounce back after a disappointing 2017 campaign.