Dallas Cowboys 2022 NFL preseason round-up: Gallup and Washington, Ernie Zampese, defensive saviors…

Cowboys’ plan at wide receiver

The final cuts to the 53-man roster must be made by 4 p.m. ET today and the Cowboys still have a ton of wide receivers on the roster. It was reported yesterday by Mickey Spagnola that the Cowboys will definitely be keeping both veterans Michael Gallup and James Washington. Both players are currently injured, but Spagnola reported that Washington would be placed on Injured Reserve.

This confirms what we already suspected to be true - Gallup is expected to be ready to play before Week 5, and Washington is not. Putting Washington on IR gives the Cowboys a backup plan if the young guys aren’t working out as they hope. After four games, if they feel they need him, Washington will be available. If not, they can always keep him there. Keeping him also means cutting elsewhere, though. But that is why we often put the word final in quotes. Things are bound to change on this roster even after 4 p.m. today. Just wait until waivers are cleared.

Former Cowboys OC Ernie Zampese dies

Ernie Zampese, former Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator of the 1990s, has died at age 86. Zampese was the play-caller in the Cowboys’ most successful era, leading them to their last Super Bowl championships in 1995.

Zampese first worked with the San Diego Chargers in 1979 and there he stayed for eight years. During that time, the Chargers made the playoffs four times and the AFC championship game twice. He moved over to the Cowboys in 1994 to the offense led by the “Triplets” - QB Troy Aikman, RB Emmitt Smith, and WR Michael Irvin. He was with the team just one year before they had a Super Bowl victory.

Several of the players Zampese coached are in the Professional Football Hall of Fame, including Aikman, Fouts, Irvin, Smith, Charlie Joiner, and Kellen Winslow. At the Hall of Fame game in August, Zampese received an award of excellence.

Zampese’s son, Ken Zampese, is the quarterbacks coach for the Washington Commanders, who released the news of his death on Monday.

Cowboys critiqued for bad offseason moves

This is a tough one to argue against. When you sum it all up, you get an offseason that saw Dallas’ best WR Amari Cooper traded away for nothing, one of their best DEs go back on his initial word to head to the Denver Broncos because he was unhappy with the wording of his contract, injuries to top players and refusal to do anything about that. They have lost both their tackles, two of their top WRs, and a top pass rusher. It’s true that when the Cowboys lost good players, they did little to nothing to fix the situation.

FOX sports broadcaster Colin Cowherd let his opinions be known, and he is saying what a lot of us are thinking.

Indeed, it has been frustrating to watch. No one was unaware that Tyron Smith has a history of injuries, and no one was shocked when he was injured. That didn’t make it any less painful to witness two-ish weeks before the start of the regular season, when we found out that he’ll be out until at least December. On an offense with two declining running backs, injured receivers, somehow their o-line is still the biggest of their worries. Connor McGovern and Terrence Steele, two players who struggled last season AND in the preseason this year, are now starting as Prescott’s main protection. Yikes.

“The Cowboys are becoming the Raiders,” said Cowherd. “With Al Davis aging and Jerry aging. They’re out of touch. They are playing catch up.”

I hate to say it, but he ain’t wrong.

Defense the bright spot on the Cowboys

Okay, let’s end this with a little bit of positivity, shall we? Obviously, no team is winning any Super Bowls with just one half of their team carrying the load. But hey, it’s something. And we’ll take what we can get right now.

After the offensive saga that has been Dallas’ offseason, the defense provides some light. The Cowboys finally have good weapons at safety. They struggled mightily at that position for years, but now, Israel Mukuamu and Marquese Bell have stepped up to help out Jayron Kearse.

In defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s first season with Dallas last year, the Cowboys led the league in takeaways with 34 - 26 of those were interceptions. In the preseason, we saw five turnovers just in the game against the Seahawks, and four of those were interceptions, including one by Bell and one by Mukuamu. They keep giving the ball back to the offense. Now, they just need the offense to do something with it.