Cowboys at Chargers: The good, the bad, and the ugly from preseason Week 2

For the first time since 2012, the Dallas Cowboys won a preseason game on the road by defeating the Los Angeles Chargers 32-18 on Saturday night. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come, however, we always have to take what happens in preseason with a grain of salt.

Despite the impressive victory over the Chargers, the Cowboys still left a lot on the field in all three phases of the game. Thankfully there was more good than bad this week, but there was quite a bit of ugly mixed in as well. There are numerous ways we could have gone for each category, but below is the direction we decided to go for this week.

THE GOOD - KaVontae Turpin

The Cowboys could have something special in KaVontae Turpin. We finally got to witness just how explosive he is when he has the ball in his hands, and how dangerous he can be in the return game. If there was any doubt of that before, his 98-yard kick return for a touchdown and 86-yard punt return for a TD put any of that to bed.

Not only should Turpin add a pretty significant boost to Dallas’ return game, but he could add a spark to the offense as well. If Kellen Moore can figure out ways to get the ball to him in space, he could turn into quite a weapon out of the backfield as a gadget player or split out wide as a receiver. It’s really going to be interesting to see how he’s utilized moving forward.

THE BAD - Still too many questions remain unanswered

Too many questions and not enough answers. That pretty much sums up the Cowboys entire offseason so far, including their first two preseason games against the Broncos and Chargers. There are still just way too many things left unsettled right now to accurately predict what Dallas’ 53-man roster might look like, let alone how this team will perform in 2022.

We still don’t know who will back up Dak Prescott this year, who will serve as the swing tackle, or how the wide receiver depth will shake out behind CeeDee Lamb. Those are all pretty significant unknowns right now that may, or may not, negatively impact the organization in one way or another this year. With little time left until the season opener, the clock is ticking to figure all of this out.

THE UGLY - Cowboys’ 1st & 2nd wide receivers

The Cowboys seem to be dead-set on heading into the 2022 season with a bunch of young, and unproven, wide receivers behind their new No. 1 WR CeeDee Lamb. The problem with that is, not a single one of their first and second-year WRs have proven they are capable of stepping up to be a reliable target in the passing game this season.

Yes, we’ve seen flashes from Jalen Tolbert, Dennis Houston, Simi Fehoko, and a few other of the Cowboys young WRs, but no one is being productive on a consistent basis. That’s a pretty big concern considering the need to be relied upon early on until Michael Gallup returns to the starting lineup. Hopefully, things will change for the better with Dak Prescott under center instead of Cooper Rush or Will Grier.