LAS-VEGAS– Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy wants quarterback Trey Lance to find his comfort zone and play within his abilities.
Forget about catering to San Francisco’s 3rd overall pick out of North Dakota State in 2021. The key will be to make sure the Cowboys didn’t make a mistake when they signed McCarthy nearly a year ago.
The 24-year-old did quite well in Dallas’ 27-12 friendly win over the Raiders on Saturday.
After Cooper Rush, starting quarterback Dak Prescott’s backup, played the entire first quarter, Lance threw for 151 yards and completed 15 of 23 pass attempts, including his first touchdown as a Cowboy in the final three quarters.
“I definitely felt more comfortable coming out,” said Lance, who finished with a 98.3 quarterback rating. “I definitely would have liked to have started a little faster in the third quarter. There were definitely some plays throughout the third quarter. But I was excited to watch the video. Again, I learned a lot from it and it was fun competing with those guys.”
Last week in a 13-12 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Lance completed 25 of 41 passes for 188 yards with no interceptions and led the Cowboys with 44 rushing yards, but he also finished the game with a quarterback rating of 72.0.
He seemed much calmer this week than he did at SoFi Stadium, where he led several sustained drives that stalled in the red zone and ended with kicker Brandon Aubrey putting nine points on the scoreboard.
On Saturday, as the light from Las Vegas Boulevard filtered through the patio doors of Allegiant Stadium, Lance found his form around the same time as running backs Deuce Vaughn and Royce Freeman and got the running game going.
On his third drive, with the Raiders already leading 6-3, Lance looked like the guy McCarthy envisioned, gaining composure in adversity and seemingly letting his instincts take over as he led the Cowboys on a 14-play, 76-yard touchdown drive past six of Las Vegas’ defensive linemen.
From his shotgun formation, Lance took two steps back and, with exceptional flair, threw a floating pass to rookie wide receiver Ryan Flournoy, who beat Raiders cornerback Jack Jones.
On their next drive, Lance showed off his one-two punch skills with a 20-yard run to set up the Cowboys for a 66-yard field goal by Aubrey just before time expired in the second quarter.
Lance later completed a 13-play, 98-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to win the game.
Lance’s overall play showed the type of game management he was expected to have after winning two FCS championships with North Dakota State. The former 49er has only appeared in eight games in his career, starting just four of those.
McCarthy said Lance made the step he hoped his third quarterback would make in his team’s second straight away game.
“I felt like we didn’t get him in a rhythm right away with some of the things we tried to do, to certain individual players,” McCarthy said. “But you know, two 14-game drives is incredible for preseason. I think that just shows his understanding and his confidence.”
“When you stand here and talk about how your quarterback runs the offense, how fast the game runs, those are steps that every quarterback has to take. And I thought our tempo was really good tonight. We got in the huddle and he was commanding. He saw a lot of pressure. … I thought we saw a lot of pressure … so really a good experience for him tonight.”
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