Howell's finale rally reopens Cowboys' backup QB race
Sam Howell's fourth-quarter comeback against the Saints undid weeks of Joe Milton momentum, and Jerry Jones is now talking about keeping both.
Howell's finale rally reopens the backup QB race
Joe Milton got the start Friday and played it clean — 8 of 15 for 92 yards, two more on the ground — but it was Sam Howell who made the preseason finale matter. Dallas trailed by 15 in the fourth quarter when Howell came off the bench and drove the offense back into the game, finishing 12 of 18 for 155 yards with two touchdowns and running in the tying two-point conversion himself before the Saints won it late on a field goal.
.@Sam7Howell TIES THE GAME ‼️ 📺: #NOvsDAL on CBS11 📲: Stream on NFL+ t.co/XM2vIx7C1d t.co/LFMLhdWaas
It undid a month of momentum Milton had been building. Through the first two preseason games, Milton had been 21 of 28 for 286 yards, three touchdowns and a rushing score, against Howell's 15 of 22 for 159 yards with a touchdown and a pick, and Brian Schottenheimer had said the competition was "probably neck and neck, and Sam maybe a little bit ahead," per NFL.com. After Friday, Jerry Jones floated the idea of not choosing at all: "That's one that we may just split the difference and have two backup quarterbacks here — the easy way to do it," Jones said, per NBC Sports.
Cowboys close preseason 2-1 as the finale slips away
Dallas finishes the exhibition slate 2-1 after Friday's 27-24 loss to the Saints at AT&T Stadium, following wins over the Seahawks (17-7) on August 16 and the Cardinals (34-13) on August 23. None of it touches the record that actually counts — that's still 0-0 — but the tape is what the staff takes into cutdown weekend, and Friday's had plenty in it.
Saints24-27
Cardinals34-13
Seahawks17-7Phil Mafah carried 12 times for 46 yards behind an offensive line that rotated bodies most of the night. Brandon Aubrey made three of four field-goal attempts, including a 58-yarder, and converted his lone extra point. And with roster spots on the line in the fourth quarter, it was Howell's rally — not the final score — that stuck.
Liufau headed for surgery on a fractured forearm
The one injury that actually stings from Friday: Marist Liufau broke his left forearm making a tackle in the first quarter and is scheduled for surgery as early as Monday, Todd Archer of ESPN.com reports. Schottenheimer said afterward that Liufau would be out "weeks" and wouldn't rule out an injured-reserve stint to open the season for the linebacker-turned-edge rusher, who'd also been a core piece of the special teams units.
Cowboys linebacker and special teamer Marist Liufau suffers broken forearm. t.co/hZlwtxS2du
Jerry Jones sounded more optimistic after talking with the surgeons, calling the break "one that's in the right spot, and if you're going to have one, it's the one to have," and suggesting Liufau could be back "quickly," per ESPN.com. Either way, it's a real subtraction from a linebacker room that was counting on a player who'd made a real jump in his second training camp.
A Sunday night trip to face Harbaugh's new-look Giants
The games that count start Sunday night in New York, the Cowboys' first Week 1 meeting with the Giants since 2023 and the debut of John Harbaugh as New York's head coach. The Giants closed their own preseason 2-1, their last tune-up a 23-6 win at the Jets, and hand the ball to Jaxson Dart, who threw for 2,272 yards and accounted for 15 touchdowns as a rookie in 2025 and torched Dallas for 262 total yards in last season's finale at MetLife Stadium.
Dallas opened as a 2.5-point favorite, and the total was set at 48.5 — a number that reads high-scoring for a division opener between two offenses built to move fast. It's the first real form the Howell-Milton question, the Liufau injury and everything else from camp will actually be tested against.