{"id":414478,"date":"2026-08-23T07:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T07:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/414478\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T07:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T07:44:15","slug":"5-takeaways-from-cowboys-cardinals-joe-milton-states-his-case-for-qb2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/414478\/","title":{"rendered":"5 takeaways from Cowboys-Cardinals: Joe Milton states his case for QB2"},"content":{"rendered":"

GLENDALE,\u00a0Ariz.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0<\/a>haven\u2019t\u00a0won in this state for a long time.\u00a0Maybe it\u2019s\u00a0the heat or the mountains of Arizona.<\/p>\n

Whenever the Cowboys visit, something\u00a0goofy\u00a0happens, whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a regular-season\u00a0or\u00a0preseason\u00a0game.<\/p>\n

Everything worked for\u00a0Dallas\u00a0on\u00a0Saturday night, however,\u00a0when it\u00a0emerged\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a034-13\u00a0victory<\/a>\u00a0over the Cardinals,\u00a0ending a six-game losing streak to\u00a0the\u00a0Arizona\u00a0franchise.\u00a0The last time the Cowboys beat the Cardinals\u00a0in a regular-season or preseason\u00a0game\u00a0was in the 2017 Hall of Fame\u00a0Game.\u00a0That contest was held in Canton, Ohio.<\/p>\n

You must go back to Sept. 25, 2017, to find the last time the Cowboys defeated the Cardinals in this state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Cowboys took a commanding 24-6 lead at halftime thanks to three touchdowns\u00a0(two passing and one\u00a0rushing)\u00a0from quarterback Joe Milton.<\/p>\n

Backup receiver Jonathan\u00a0Mingo\u00a0caught\u00a0his first career touchdown\u00a0pass,\u00a0regular\u00a0season\u00a0or preseason,\u00a0on\u00a0a 53-yarder\u00a0from Milton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was another solid performance for the Cowboys\u2019 defense as well. Shavon Revel picked off a pass and there were\u00a0two\u00a0sacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nSo, what happens when you go 2-0 in the preseason?\n<\/p>\n

The Cowboys are 2-0 in the preseason for the first time since 2007,\u00a0when Wade Phillips was the coach. What happened that year?\u00a0The\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0finished\u00a013-3\u00a0and were the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Not sure if you know the rest of that story?\u00a0The\u00a0Cowboys were upset by the New York Giants in the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs with the main storyline being Tony Romo, Jason Witten and Bobby Carpenter visiting Mexico during the\u00a0playoff\u00a0bye\u00a0week.\u00a0That trip\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0hurt the Cowboys in that loss,\u00a0but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0nice to talk about it. Moving forward, a 2-0\u00a0start\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean much in the regular season, but it does\u00a0show the Cowboys are moving in a positive direction.<\/p>\n

\nJoe Milton vs. Sam Howell\n<\/p>\n

Milton started the second preseason game and took a lead over Sam Howell for the No. 2 job at quarterback. Milton completed 9 of 13 passes for 179 yards with two passing touchdowns and one rushing score. Milton finished with a 151.4 quarterback rating. Milton had six first-half possessions, with four ending in scores. One of Milton\u2019s best throws was a 53-yard touchdown pass down the Cowboys\u2019 sideline on a fade route to\u00a0Mingo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Howell had three possessions in the second half. He finished\u00a07 of 10\u00a0for\u00a065 yards\u00a0with an interception. Howell\u00a0completed his first four passes. The interception came under pressure\u00a0as Howell threw off his back foot toward\u00a0rookie\u00a0receiver\u00a0Anthony Smith. \u00a0Howell\u00a0attempted\u00a0two good throws, a fade to Jaden Smith and\u00a0a deep pass to Anthony\u00a0Smith,\u00a0that just fell incomplete. Depending on the\u00a0roster\u00a0construction, the Cowboys might keep both quarterbacks on the 53.\u00a0It seems the final preseason game\u00a0Friday\u00a0against New Orleans\u00a0will\u00a0decide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nCornerback\u00a0changes are eye-opening\n<\/p>\n

The Cowboys\u00a0made\u00a0changes with their cornerbacks Saturday night. Revel<\/a>\u00a0and Ameer Speed got the start. Calen Carson, who started last week with Revel,\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0come into the game until 11:09\u00a0left in the first half. Revel, after getting penalized for illegal contact to the face in the first quarter, picked off a Gardner Minshew II pass. Former Cowboys receiver Simi Fehoko\u00a0fell down\u00a0before the ball arrived, allowing Revel to snag the pass. It led to the first score of the game.\u00a0After Revel played two defensive series, he was replaced by Devin Moore.\u00a0Derion Kendrick played in the slot. Moore allowed a 32-yard reception to Fehoko on a deep pass down the sideline in the first half. The\u00a0fact that\u00a0Speed, a free agent signing,\u00a0and Moore, a 2026 fourth-round pick,\u00a0played\u00a0before Carson was telling. With one more preseason game left, Carson could be fighting for a roster spot.<\/p>\n

\nRookie\u00a0linebacker\u00a0Jaishawn Barham gets moving\n<\/p>\n

Third-round pick\u00a0Jaishawn Barham<\/a>\u00a0missed the preseason opener with a groin injury. He made his debut Saturday night as the middle linebacker,\u00a0getting the defensive signals from defensive coordinator Christian Parker. Barham had five first-half tackles, including a tackle for loss as he shot the gap on a run play. The Cowboys used different players at middle\u00a0linebacker\u00a0during training camp,\u00a0from\u00a0DeMarvion\u00a0Overshown, Curtis Robinson, Shemar\u00a0James\u00a0and Barham.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nWhat can\u00a0Camden\u00a0Brown do for you?\n<\/p>\n

After scoring two touchdowns in the preseason opener, receiver Camden Brown finished with two catches for 77 yards.\u00a0Brown\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0play in the second half.\u00a0\u00a0He\u00a0made a 70-yard reception in the second quarter off a Milton scramble. Brown got behind a defender and ran down the Cardinals\u2019\u00a0sideline before getting caught near the goal line. Later in the first half, Brown made a nice catch over the middle and held onto the ball after taking a hard hit from safety Wydett Williams Jr. The Cowboys might keep six receivers. Entering the final stages of the preseason,\u00a0Mingo, who caught his first career touchdown as a pro Saturday, and Brown are the leaders on the back end of the receiving group.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE,\u00a0Ariz.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The\u00a0Cowboys\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0won in this state for a long time.\u00a0Maybe it\u2019s\u00a0the heat or the mountains of Arizona. Whenever the Cowboys…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,2058,80,93042],"class_list":["post-414478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-live-updates","tag-nfl","tag-tp-dallas-cowboys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}