Cowboys Offense Evaluation at Rams in 'Emotional' Brian Schottenheimer Debut

The Dallas Cowboys' first preseason game is in the books with a 31-21 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in what was an up-and-down afternoon. ... and an emotional one for the new head coach.

"I got a little bit choked up coming to the stadium and then when Jerry (Jones) and I talked a little bit, I'll be honest," Schottenheimer said. "I got a little emotional. It's been a dream of mine to be in this chair."

And then the game started ...

There were a couple of offensive things I was interested to see play out in Schottenheimer's first preseason game after weeks of training camp build-up.

Given that a host of starters would be sitting, it was a chance for players to enhance their stock or see it drop.

Let's review the three offensive storylines from the Rams loss.

The Joe Milton experience

Back-to-back three-and-outs to start the game, with Milton's cannon of an arm having its sights well and truly out of whack, as several passes were fired into his receivers or wide of the mark routinely early on, with Dallas having just one yard of offense in the first quarter to L.A.'s 160.

Joe's arm talent has never been a question, but could he operate the offense and march down the field instead of relying on his physical tools, was the biggest watch.

He had a couple of nice completions to Jalen Brooks to end the first half (Milton was 17 for 29 for 143 yards, one touchdown, one interception on the day). The second half saw Milton begin with a long bomb that was picked off, and the following drive, his cannon of an arm wildly overthrew Ryan Flournoy, who didn't have a soul near him.

In the fourth quarter, two nice passes to Traeshon Holden for 42 yards showed Milton was getting comfortable before a nice touch pass (something we've preached we needed to see) found tight end Rivaldo Fairweather for a touchdown. Milton then followed that up with a nice little lofted pass to Josh Kelly for the two-point conversion.

Overall, Joe was ok, but he needs to reel in that power because touch and anticipation will be what sees him take his game to the next level.

Run game

Phil Mafah's stock? Yeah, I'm buying, with the rookie's physicality on show several times as he finished with a punishing 36 yards from 10 carries. He also had a couple of nice runs brought back thanks to penalties, but he did his chances of making the roster no harm at all.

Deuce Vaughn was barely sighted (two carries, 11 yards), but it was Malik Davis, signed off the couch this week, who flashes for 63 yards from seven carries to easily be the best Cowboys runner stat-wise.

But Mafah was the big winner at SoFi.

Receivers- Who steps up?

Jalen Brooks connected with Milton nicely for 26 yards in the first half on two receptions, while Flournoy, who was routinely getting wide open, will also have some good things to watch back on film.

But the big winner was Holden, who had not been sighted until the fourth quarter, exploded with 42 yards on two catches on one drive to make his presence felt, and continued his good training camp form.

The scoreline matters little, but Mafah and Holden were the big winners here with their roster spots maybe locked down as a result.