The Dallas Cowboys took care of business 34-14 against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium, and the big story to come out of the Saturday preseason game was Joe Milton. Handed the start, Milton was sublime, ending his night going 9 of 13 for 179 yards and a touchdown, along with having a 151.4 rating. But while the numbers where good, it was how Milton operated the offense that stood out to me. He was calm and confident; his command at the line of scrimmage was on another level, plus he made several throws where he took a little bit off the ball and showed some delicate touch. Milton produced a superb half of football to firmly move into the QB2 position. READ MORE:
Joe Milton Shines in Cowboys Preseason Win at Cardinals But speaking post-game, head coach Brian Schottenheimer gave credit to Joe, but insisted the battle is far from over. “Joe’s put together two really good halves, Sam really made one mistake down in the red zone, got fooled on one, turned it over, that can’t happen,” Schottenheimer said. “But this is long from over. “Gotta give Joe credit, he’s played really well the last two games but we have a lot of confidence in Sam as well.” Milton's performance was a stark contrast to what we saw from him last season, and the credit for his development goes to Schottenheimer, Klayton Adams, and Steve Shimko. We didn't see Mike McCarthy develop Trey Lance like this in the years the pair were together. We had grave concerns for Milton and his standing on this team, but now, if Dak Prescott were to go down, granted, not ideal, but you get a little bit of confidence seeing Milton perform the way he did. READ MORE:
Top 10 Cowboys Players Who Have 'Exceeded' Expectations In Camp The operation was good; again, there were no mistakes, no bad throws, and when a play was there to be made, Joe made it. But perhaps the best thing about Joe's performance, not just against the Cardinals, but the Seattle Seahawks as well, was that he wasn't rifling balls into his receiver's chest with pure power. There was touch, there was finesse. And for Schottenheimer, yes, the arm strength was cool, but the NFL is far more about playing the quarterback position than it is throwing the football 80+ yards. "I first remember heard about Joe Milton and everyone applauded him for how hard and how far he could throw the ball, cool, that's awesome, go be in a carnival somewhere," Schottenheimer said. "That's not what playing NFL quarterback is. It's not I can throw the ball 85 yards. You're throwing through small windows, over people. You're changing arm slots. "So, like to me, arm strength is cool, but go to the fair and win a teddy bear, but you got to play quarterback, and that's what I think you see Joe learning is he's playing quarterback, and he's playing quarterback at a high level. " We know of his physical gifts, but we wanted to see how he played quarterback, and in his two preseason games, Milton is night and day compared to where he was at this stage last season. Schottenheimer says the backup quarterback battle is "far from over," but most of us know, and if we didn't before the Cardinals win, we do now, Milton is your QB2 behind Dak.
