Dallas Cowboys: Winners and losers vs. Texans in Preseason Week 2

Who stood out as winners and losers for the Dallas Cowboys as they hosted the Houston Texans in the second week of the preseason?

An extra preseason game for the Dallas Cowboys means they could be the only team to go 0-4 in the exhibition games. After Saturday, they’re one step closer to that “goal” since their 20-14 loss to the Houston Texans dropped them to 0-3.

It was a frustrating game that started out bad, got a little better as they went up 14-7, but then ended with a thud.

Turnovers gave the Texans 17 of their 14 points as the Cowboys continued to have the same issues we saw during their 6-10 season in 2020.

Here we look back over the game and identify some of the winners and losers for Dallas.

Winners: Noah Brown, Cedrick Wilson

Noah Brown won the minute Jason Garrett left the Dallas Cowboys. A former seventh-round pick out of Ohio State, Brown came into the league with excellent size and strength as a receiver — and great ability as a blocker. Unfortunately, Garrett only saw the skill he had as a blocker.

Every time No. 85 marched onto the field, everyone on the planet knew it was a run play and Brown was blocking. Since Garrett left, he’s been allowed to actually play receiver and he’s done well in that role.

On one drive specifically, he took over. Brown hauled in a 19-yard pass despite pass interference being called against Tremon Smith and then grabbed an 11-yarder a couple of plays later. He’s likely got a hold on the No. 5 job (with Simi Fehoko making a case as well) but the No. 4 job belongs to Cedrick Wilson.

Already having a great preseason, Wilson added to that with his first touchdown of these exhibition games. On the same drive where Brown showed out, Wilson caught a four-yarder early in the drive and capped things off with a nine-yard touchdown catch.