FRIDAY NIGHT PRESEASON NFL: DALLAS COWBOYS AT ARIZONA CARDINALS

BY ADAM GREENE

Our Friday night preseason last call comes in Arizona as the Cardinals host the Dallas Cowboys, fresh off the premier of HBO’s Hard Knocks and a lackluster loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Hall of Fame game.

The Cardinals find themselves once again full of preseason expectations and the exact same road blocks as last season to achieving them; the rest of the NFC West. Arizona could be a better team, and they certainly look that way on paper, and finish with the same or a worse record simply because the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams all got better too.

Dallas is in the midst of a warts and all look deep inside the team on Hard Knocks, and while the premier episode was outstanding, as NFL Films decided to continue its recent trend of actually focusing on the super stars and not some practice squad wannabe and whatever waddling toddler he drug to camp with him, it still showed a team in desperate need of leadership and direction. Something Mike McCarthy cannot provide, regardless of how many lines he can quote from Austin Powers.

DALLAS COWBOYS AT ARIZONA CARDINALS (-1.5, O/U 39.5)

Location: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.

Broadcast: NFL Network

Kickoff: Aug. 13, 10 p.m. EST

DALLAS COWBOYS (0-1)

There’s just no way we’re going to see Dak Prescott this preseason and I am more than OK with that. As shown in Hard Knocks, McCarthy’s half-assed head coaching got Prescott’s arm strained as they had no one assigned to keeping his reps down early in camp. His number shocked them later from the GPS data when, you know, McCarthy was standing right there and should have realized his multimillion dollar QB was throwing way too much. There’s a reason head coaches get fired from appearing on Hard Knocks. For the Cowboys’ sake, let’s hope McCarthy keeps that trend going.

Because of that, we’re getting more Garrett Gilbert, Ben DiNucci and Cooper Rush. I do think they’ll stupidly play their starting wideouts and offensive line a while, but that’s just McCarthy. He’s the guy that got Jordy Nelson’s knee destroyed in a meaningless preseason game in 2015.

ARIZONA CARDINALS (0-0)

The Cardinals have plenty of new toys to play with this season, thanks to the addition of A.J. Green and J.J. Watt, but make no mistake. You won’t see either of those guys Friday night. In fact, so many of Arizona’s roster is listed as questionable or out, they might have to drag some people out of the stands to play offense. Kliff Kingsbury probably won’t play Kyler Murray more than a series before tossing the keys to Colt McCoy. Whatever Arizona hopes to accomplish this season, it can’t do it if everyone’s not healthy and right now, according to the injury report, that ain’t a lot of guys.

THE PICK

I like McCoy and he’s started and won NFL games, but the Cardinals are coming into this match up short handed on a roster that’s not that deep to begin with. Dallas has the one preseason contest under its belt and its back ups didn’t look like a disaster. This one’s not going to light up the scoreboard, but McCarthy will get to celebrate his first win of the preseason before shutting down the local Golden Corral. Cowboys 13, Cardinals 9

Last week

Straight up: 1-0

Against the spread: 1-0

Preseason

Straight up: 1-0

Against the spread: 1-0

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