Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones isn’t still high on Trey Lance despite his five-interception game.
The former third overall pick had the definition of a rough outing in his preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers. While starting and playing the entire game during the first time this preseason, Lance became just the second quarterback to throw five interceptions in a preseason game over the past 30 seasons.
Jones — who indicated before and after the game that Lance will be on the 53-man roster — said he saw “good” things out of his young quarterback.
“Shame about our interceptions because I thought Lance was really, in many ways, had some good things happen out there,” said Jones following the game on Saturday, August 24. “That will be a reflection on numbers, but I saw him do some good things.”
Jerry Jones Says Trey Lance ‘Needed’ Game Reps
In defense of Jones, he has a point — Lance did continue to show off his athleticism on a couple of long runs, including a 46-yard scamper that resulted in a touchdown.
However, it’s clear from a passing standpoint that Lance is lacking reps. It’s no secret that the young quarterback really didn’t see much practice time last season after spending the year as the No. 3 quarterback behind Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush. It also didn’t help that he was acquired at the end of last year’s preseason — meaning he really didn’t gain any experience in the Cowboys’ offense or with their players.
Jones used that as an argument for why Lance looks so green as he enters his fourth season in the NFL. However, he hasn’t appeared in a game since Week 2 of the 2022 season and has just eight games and four starts under his belt.
“Well, I saw good and some things you would like to have back,” Jones said. “I hate that those five interceptions are going to be a stat on a game that I couldn’t have asked for more reps and a better situation to watch him play. He needed that because the one thing he’s missing more than anything is the lack of reps, much less NFL reps. Saw some good things. Saw some things you’d like to have back. Overall, I’m glad to have that outing with us.”
Jones also made sure to stress that he does not regret trading a fourth-round pick for Lance.
“For a fourth-round pick? Are you kidding me?” Jones said. “Although we did get Dak [Prescott] with our second fourth-round pick [in 2016], so you’ve got a point there. But we’ve had some that didn’t play [who were drafted] in the fourth round, too.”
Trey Lance Says Confidence is Still There After 5-INT Game
Furthermore, while the overall performance was bad — any five-turnover game is a bad one for a quarterback — Lance had actually looked decent prior to the last three drives of the game, all occurring within the last six minutes of the fourth quarter. Lance threw three interceptions on each one of those drives, including one that was forced within tight coverage in the end zone that lost the game.
In Lance’s defense, he did admit his mistakes following the game, but made sure to stress that his confidence isn’t wavering.
“Ups and downs for sure,” Lance said when describing his afternoon. “I turned the ball over too many times. I think that’s kind of the story. We had a chance to still win it at the end and yeah, I just have to take care of the ball better. Super proud of these guys. We competed our asses off, regardless of coming off the turnover, and the defense as well kept us in it, so excited for that. My confidence isn’t going anywhere. This sucks. This is one that I’m not going to forget about anytime soon, but it’s part of it. You just have to flush it, turn the page and be able to do that. Give me 12 hours, and it’ll be all good tomorrow. But yeah, these suck.”
Lance had been competing for the No. 2 job with Rush, who has been Prescott’s primary backup in recent seasons and has been a member of the organization since 2017.
Based upon how Lance looked in the preseason finale, it’s more likely to expect Rush as the backup to Prescott rather than Lance for the 2024 season.
