The Cowboys had a solid effort in a 23-10 win over Indianapolis during their first preseason game this evening. Below are some notes about the game.

First Half

Dallas had two long drives in the first half, both resulting a field goals. Tony Romo went 9 of 10 for 91 yards during those drives. Brad Johnson led the Cowboys on a drive near the end of the first half, but the drive stalled after Johnson lost 13 yards on a botched play. Dallas led 6-3 at halftime.

Second Half

Keith Davis made a nice pick off of a tipped Jim Sorgi pass, returning it 41 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Rookie quarterback Matt Moore completed his first three passes of the preseason for 58 yards. Each of those passes were to second-year tight end Tony Curtis. Tyson Thompson had a two-yard touchdown in the third quarter to give Dallas a 20-3 lead.

Cornerback Joey Thomas, who has been mentioned as solid player in training camp, made a nice pick in the end zone on a long pass by quarterback Josh Betts.

Misc. Notes

* Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett was on the sideline instead of the pressbox. Maybe that means nothing, but it was good to see how he interacted with Romo prior to the game.

* Also good to see Tyson Thompson returning kickoffs after he missed much of last season.

* The starters at tackle were rookie Doug Free and Pat McQuistan.

* Most of the regulars touched the ball in the first two drives, including Julius Jones, Terrell Owens, Patrick Crayton, Sam Hurd, Jason Witten, Marion Barber, and Anthony Fasano.

* Leonard Davis looked versatile, getting off the ball while pulling on at least one of the plays.

* Fasano had three nice catches in the second Dallas drive that ran into the second quarter. He later dropped a pass that he shouldn’t have, trying to make a sliding catch at the end of the second quarter

* Romo continues to show good field vision.

* The defense showed different looks, but did not produce that much pressure.

* The secondary looked a bit shaky on a few plays. However, Anthony Henry made a nice play near the goalline on the Colts’ first drive.

* The defense, led by Bradie James, had a nice play to stop the Colts on a fourth-and-one in the second quarter.

* Personally, I thought Jones looked a little better than Barber, at least at the start of the game. Jones got off the ball very well on several runs in the opening drive. Barber looked good on the last drive of the first half, but it was against backups for the most part.

* Minor point, but Akin Ayodele wore #51, which was Al Singleton’s number for the past several years. Ayodele’s website still shows #50, though.

Three items that had me scratching my head:

* Gatorade ran the commercial with Bill Parcells in a toll booth, asking whether Gatorade is in you. Wasn’t that great when Parcells was still the coach, and even worse since he isn’t.

* Although Leonard Davis looked pretty good, Troy Aikman had no business comparing him to Larry Allen.

* Mat McBriar holds the ball with his left hand, even with a right-footed kicker

Noteworthy Stats:

Romo: 10-11, 93 yards, 0 TD, 0 Int.
Moore: 7-9, 88 yards, 0 TD, 0 Int.

Barber: 12 att., 48 yards.
Thompson: 11 att., 34 yards, 1 TD.
Jones: 6 att., 22 yards.

Fasano: 3 rec., 43 yards.
Owens: 1 rec., 8 yards.
Curtis: 3 rec., 58 yards.

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