KT's Cowboys Notes From San Diego

By Kevin "KT" Turner | @ktfuntweets

Aside from the final preseason game, the first preseason game is always one of my least favorite outings of the year.

As expected, most of the starters and big names did not participate in the game.  That's a decision I completely agree with. Anyone who was slightly banged up should have been sitting, and I commend Coach Garrett for his decision to play it safe with the guys who have various injuries.

Terrance Williams In The Spotlight

Although the first drive ended poorly with a turnover when Travis Frederick snapped the ball over Brandon Weeden's head, I was really happy to see Terrance Williams in the spotlight.  T-Will was a guy at camp that was quite frankly a little disappointing.  Early on in the first drive, Weeden hit him on a slant route, (a route in which I saw him have a couple of drops at practice last week), then T-Will made a nice play catching an intermediate dig route over the middle, but extended the play to get to the chains by being elusive enough to get to the sideline.

Nobody likes to think about the idea of Dez getting hurt, but should it happen, Terrance Williams showed for one night, that he can be the primary target in an offense.

Lucky's Performance

There's been a lot of talk about Lucky Whitehead both as a receiver in the offense, but also on special teams.  Evaluating his game tape in college, I never took him seriously as a WR, but considered him a special teams threat who I really wanted the Cowboys to select in the late rounds.  He did fumble on his first punt return, but the explosion and get up the field mentality that he has showed in a kick return later in the game.

I don't think that fumble loses the punt return job for him, but it also has to be a little concerning for the Cowboys as they decide if he or Cole Beasley will be the primary punt returner. If I were in charge, Lucky would be the primary punt returner, but Cole Beasley would be used sparingly when the situation calls for it.

A Good Start For La'el

The play of La'el Collins really stood out. I know he was going up against 2nd, 3rd, and sometimes 4th string football players, but he was really impressive in his time on the field. This is a good kid with a long-term outlook on football. He knows he needs to continue to improve and won't be handed a job. I still don't think he's in a position to start. I truly think it will take an injury for him to get a lot of playing time this year, but that was an excellent start to a very promising career.

Finding A Swing Tackle

Darrion Weems on the other hand struggled mightily.  The Cowboys are counting on him to be their swing tackle, taking over the spot that Jeremy Parnell filled last season. He did nothing to make anybody comfortable as he was beat a lot more often than he should have. It's been out of sight and out of mind so far, but after that performance from Weems, I'm really wondering how big of a loss the injury to 3rd round pick Chaz Green will be.

Doug Free missed 5 games last year, and it's fair to assume he'll miss some time this year as well. They need to be able to trust Weems. I hope I'm overreacting and Weems will be better on tape than what I saw live.

Vaughan Serviceable

As for Dustin Vaughn, count me as a guy who wasn't blown away by how he played. He was serviceable, but there were times when I thought he rushed and tried to get rid of the ball faster than he needed too. I'll also say that he was not helped a lot by his pass catchers.

In The Secondary

Over to the defensive side, I can't say enough about the play of Corey White. White is a forgotten man in the secondary, but he was hovering around the ball. After the game he was frustrated that he didn't intercept any passes. I thought he was very good in man-to-man coverage, breaking up would-be completions. I also think there's some versatility in this player to possibly play some free safety. I'm really interested to see how the Cowboys secondary depth chart looks, when they take on the New York Giants in week 1.

Byron Jones played a ton, and bounced around a lot last night.  The one route I saw him struggle with in camp was the comeback route. I would love to see Byron play with confidence and not second guess his speed. Early in the game the Chargers threw to Keenan Allen's back shoulder, and Jones was late on the comeback because he had bailed out early. I want to see him hang in there a step or two longer, because I truly think he can run with the elite receivers in the game.

Gregory's First Action

I was impressed with how well Randy Gregory held the edge on running plays and showed an array of work in-progress pass rush moves. In college he was a "run around guy", where he would use his lean frame and quickness to run around offensive tackles. Now, we're seeing him try a lot of different ways to get to the quarterback.

None of these pass rush moves are particularly strong yet, but it's something he's been working on.  The future is a lot brighter for this kid than I ever thought after watching his college tape.

Kevin "KT" Turner is the producer of the Ben and Skin Show on 105.3 The Fan, heard Monday through Friday 3-7pm.  You can follow him on twitter @ktfuntweets or email him at kevin.turner@cbsradio.com.  KT wants you to know that he loves you.