Punchless Cowboys fall in preseason game at San Francisco

. Before assessing the play of the Dallas Cowboys in the preseason, it must be noted that they were winless in the exhibition season last year, leaving no hint of the breakthough 12-4 regular season to come.

They still could return to Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl 50 after the season.

But that’s a long way off and the Cowboys have a lot of growing to do.

As of now, the Cowboys have little to be happy about after Sunday’s 23-6 preseason loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Even Dan Bailey, who is the most accurate kicker in NFL history, missed a 43-yard field goal attempt.

Coach Jason Garrett made a good decision to limit quarterback Tony Romo’s snaps to one series that included two handoffs and a screen pass.

The offense, which was again without an injured Dez Bryant, was bad for a second consecutive week.

The Cowboys didn’t get much done in a 17-7 preseason opening loss to the San Diego Chargers.

They were worse against the 49ers, opening the game with four consecutive three-and-out series.

Vaughan, who was in the game early because backup Brandon Weeden was forced out after three series of work with a concussion, threw an interception two possessions later.

“We didn’t get much going on offense early on in this ballgame, and that’s disappointing,” Garrett said. “They controlled the line of scrimmage, and we didn’t make very many first downs with that unit. I felt we moved it a little better as it went on, but the turnovers in the second quarter killed us.”

Romo sat out last week’s game at San Diego so the Cowboys wanted to get him some playing time on the field.

But they never planned on him being out there long or chancing him to an injury because of the backup line and concerns about the turf.

What the Cowboys did find out is that Vaughan might not be as close to pushing Weeden for the backup job as previously thought. He completed 7 of 16 passes for 84 yards and had a quarterback rating of 20.8.

The Cowboys avoided the shutout when fourth quarterback Jameill Showers tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Nick Harwell with 4:11 left in the game.

The best news on offense was the play of running back Joseph Randle, who played despite missing practice earlier in the week with a strained oblique.

Darren McFadden got the start at running back, carrying three times for 4 yards.

Randle had seven carries for 30 yards, playing behind the second- and third-string offensive line.

The Cowboys’ run defense, which played without starting weakside linebacker Sean Lee and defensive tackles Tyrone Crawford and Nick Hayden, was bad for a second consecutive preseason game.

The 49ers rushed 17 times for 84 yards in the first half, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. Starting running back Carlos Hyde had seven carries for 39 yards.

The bright spot on defense was the play of the team’s rookie pass rushers Randy Gregory and Ryan Russell. Both had sacks in the game. Second-year defensive end Ben Gardner also had a sack.

“That was the bright spot of the game,” Garrett said. “We were in some compromising positions on defense — bad field position and scoring opportunities for them. We kept them out of the end zone, had some timely sacks, and that was impressive.”

Gregory was especially impressive. He got his sack against Pro Bowl tackle Joe Staley. He induced holding calls against two other linemen. The second-round pick from Nebraska remains his own worst critic.

“In my opinion, I didn’t get to the quarterback enough,” Gregory said. “I ran past the quarterback too much; didn’t keep containment enough. It’s something I will work on in the second half.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2015 at 10:15 PM with the headline "Punchless Cowboys fall in preseason game at San Francisco."