NFL Power Rankings, Week 1: Dolphins hurt by trade talk, Bears look foolish

The Dallas Cowboys had an extra game this preseason since they were featured in the preseason opener, the Hall of Fame Game. They looked bad in that contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers and things seemed to only get worse from there.

Dallas finished 0-4 after a defeat at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars who really didn’t look great in the preseason until they got to play against Dallas. In fact, Trevor Lawrence had no touchdown passes in his first two games but had two in roughly 15 minutes against the Cowboys.

Sure, it was reserves — and has been all preseason — that have been beaten up on but that’s not enough to alleviate concerns. Dallas had far too many injuries last season to just pretend they won’t need their backups at some point in 2021. And those guys left a lot to be desired.

There’s also a major concern about the coaching staff. Mike McCarthy isn’t inspiring confidence and Dan Quinn’s defense doesn’t look much better than Mike Nolan’s. If that’s not enough to worry about, it should be stated that McCarthy dedicated much of this preseason to developing Ben DiNucci at quarterback despite him looking nothing like a player who should be on the field with an NFL team.

Fans might be stoked about Dak Prescott being back but they could be in for a letdown. This is still a team paying too much for guys who used to be good (Zeke, Jaylon Smith) while putting too much on the shoulders of the quarterback.