ARLINGTON - Thanks to the Hall of Fame weekend, the Dallas Cowboys this summer were afforded an extra game during which to evaluate players. Thanks to a COVID protocol outbreak, the Cowboys this week were afforded a little more elbow room, with the shuffling of players to that list allowing a handful of back-end roster candidates to stay, and to play, in Sunday's preseason-closing 34-14 loss here at AT&T Stadium against Trevor Lawrence's Jacksonville Jaguars.
But the "extra'' is over now. It's time to cut to 53.
“From my perspective, I just want to make sure they all get the opportunity,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said leading up to a game in which the top 30-plus guys on the roster stayed in bubblewrap. “I want to make sure we have all the information. We’re fortunate. Not only do we have a fourth preseason game but our young players have played excessively throughout the preseason.
“I feel like we’re in good shape there.''
The Cowboys' best "shape'' comes in the form of so many stars who did not participate in this exhibition, instead saving themselves for the real thing, the NFL season-opener Thursday, Sept. 9 at Tampa. So Dak Prescott did his pregame throwing warmup and Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, DeMarcus Lawrence and others played three-hour cheerleader.
And who, among the teammates trying to avoid Tuesday's cutdown scythe, earned their cheers?
Here's what McCarthy said after the game: “These are the worst days. The next 48 hours is clearly the worst part of the job.”
Did Garrett Gilbert jump back in front of Cooper Rush as Dak Prescott's QB backup? Hard to say. Did a third running back obviously distinguish himself? Hard to say. Did a reserve defensive tackle or offensive lineman jump off the page?
Hard to say. Hard to cut. Hard times.
"You have a personnel department opinion, you have the coaching department’s opinion, and then you have the finance component of it, too,'' he said. "All those things have to come together to make the best decision that you can.”
The decisions - life-changing ones - are coming.