Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has a friend in you.
If you are a Cowboys fan living in Hawaii, that is.
Jones was asked about the team’s overall experience in Hawaii soon after Dallas’ 14-10 preseason victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday and spoke highly of it.
“I talked to Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Rams last night,” Jones said in his folksy style. “We were talking about how much it meant for the Rams and the Cowboys to get to be in front of these NFL fans, but from my perspective, they’re Cowboys fans. You can readily see it by walking down the street or going into a hotel lobby that this is almost like walking in downtown Dallas.”
Jones added that he had an inkling that that’s what it would be like.
“When we were talking about coming over and playing, the Cowboys and the Rams, I said, ‘Now don’t be surprised if you see a lot of blue over there, Cowboy blue, on that island. I actually know the first names of every Cowboy fan over there.”
After the chuckles subsided, Jones added, “We’re proud and it made us feel good and it was an inspiration for the team to have this kind of reception.”
Penalties plague both teams
The phrase most often used during Saturday night’s exhibition football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the host Los Angeles Rams was, “and there’s a flag on the play.”
The two head coaches accepted a combined 29 penalties for 216 yards. It got so bad near the end, the officials, after Los Angeles challenged a pass play they believed was interference, eventually agreed, but spotted the football on the wrong 40. For the night, the coaches thought pass interference should have been called three times, but after further review, the zebras conceded only one.
Most of the penalties were procedure or holding related, although there were a few hits that were a little too aggressive, particularly by the Rams, that resulted in Dallas scoring a touchdown late in the third that proved to be the game-winner. Dallas ended the night with 88 yards in penalties, while the Rams racked up 128.
Big crowd in the house
It has been a while since so many football fans packed their way into Aloha Stadium. And while the actual attendance wasn’t announced, the crowd was listed at 49,936 tickets issued. Clearly, there weren’t that many people in the stadium, as local folks had two choices to watch the sold-out game on television — the Rams broadcast on KHON and the Cowboys version on KGMB.
Regardless, there were more than 40,000 in the house and most remained until the end to see if the Rams could rally for the win. That didn’t happen, as Dallas held off any Los Angeles attempts to score late. Those left in the house as the final seconds ticked off showed their appreciation by rising as one and giving a rousing ovation to the two teams.
By most accounts, this exhibition game was a big success, as the Los Angeles Times wrote a story Saturday about how Hawaii has become the destination for L.A. teams to come to get ready for the upcoming season. Late next month, the Los Angeles Clippers will open their 2019-20 season by practicing in Hawaii. They will play two exhibition games here, including one vs. the Houston Rockets in early October.
Backup quarterbacks put on a show
After Dallas starter Dak Prescott exited the stage after a stellar performance in the opening quarter, the backups on both sides did their best to match him.
The Cowboys signal-caller completed all five of his passes for 64 yards as he led Dallas to a touchdown on its opening drive before calling it a night. Dallas went with Mike White for part of the first, second and third quarters as he completed six of 11 for 25 yards before he gave way to true No. 2 Cooper Rush.
He led Dallas on what proved to be the winning drive late in the third quarter by completing an 8-yard pass to Devin Smith. For the night, Rush hit 10 of 16 for 83 yards. He was sacked twice, but overall, gave a good account of himself.
As for the Rams, true backup Blake Bortles did his part by leading the Rams on a game-tying drive late in the first quarter that included a 7-yard scoring pass to JoJo Natson. For the game, Bortles completed seven of 11 for 62 yards and was not sacked.
Fourth-stringer John Wolford played late, completing five of nine for 26 yards. Former Arkansas standout Brandon Allen competed as well as anyone under center by completing 14 of 21 for 115 yards as he played all of the second and most of the third quarter before giving way to Wolford. The only thing Allen didn’t do was get the Rams into the end zone. Through two preseason games, the Rams have only one touchdown and have scored a meager 13 points.
