3 things learned from Cowboys preseason shellacking of the lowly Cards

The Dallas Cowboys outclassed the Arizona Cardinals in Saturday night's first half, going up 24-6 with strong performances through the air, on the ground, and on defense. The Cardinals played better after the halftime break, but the outcome was never in doubt with Dallas winning 34-13. It was a complete performance, the special teams unit even had no major negatives.

The result left plenty to talk about. Jaishawn Barham and Julius Wood brought a physicality the Cardinals seemed unwilling to match. The battle for wide receiver five stayed on fire, lighting the possibility Dallas must keep six. Did Joe Milton win the backup quarterback job? Could Malik Davis & Jaydon Blue have closed the competition behind Javonte Williams?

Dallas looks different. It might just be preseason, but it was evident in this game serving as another puzzle piece to help the Cowboys form the image of this year's team. Here's everything that was learned from the performance.

Davis averaged 5.6 yards per attempt in the first exhibition against Seattle, but some credited the offensive line and his running against lesser competition in the second half. Davis started against the Cardinals and still performed well.

He was the lynchpin on the ground on their opening drive into the red zone, then scored a receiving touchdown on their second while also had a nice blitz pickup to protect the quarterback. Davis ended the night with five rushes for 29 yards, an eight-yard touchdown reception and a solid grasp of looking like the best backup on the roster.

Barham wasn’t happy about having to miss the game in Seattle, as he dealt with a groin injury, and he seemed to take out his frustrations in Arizona. His second snap was a tackle for a loss, and he looked like a dad playing with his children as he powered through his blocker, bringing down the ball carrier with one arm.

He added a run stop at the line of scrimmage, a pressure on a pass rush rep, and when he left the game, Barham had more tackles than anybody else with five. He also nearly stopped a screen pass going through the blocker as the ball was caught. The runner stayed up, but the play was blown.

A breakout performance in a preseason contest is rare, but it might have happened for the Cowboys. Barham had a pressure rate over 25%, a run stop rate over 10%, and a true pass set win rate over 27.5%.

Joe Milton is in a battle with free agent addition Sam Howell, who seemed to hold an edge going into and leaving out of the first preseason game. Howell started that contest and played well, though Milton raised his stock by matching Howell in the second half, throwing 12 completions on 15 attempts for 107 yards and a touchdown pass.

Milton got the start in Arizona on Saturday and built off last week as he played a phenomenal half. He completed nine of his 13 attempts for nearly 200 yards and two touchdowns, running for another score after 70-yard catch and run landed the offense at the one-yard line. It was the best Milton ever looked in an NFL game, leaving with a 151.4 quarterback rating. He made deep touch passes, smart decisions, and even made something out of a broken play that looked like a sack.

You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or on YouTube at Across the Cowboys podcast

This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: 3 things learned from Cowboys preseason shellacking of the lowly Cards