Growth from young QB
line, I’ll go down the Cowboys line.”
Bowles was asked to go down the line of Cowboys starting quarterbacks.
“You want him to get better every week,” he said. “You can’t compare last year to this year. He barely played. And he barely played this year, so it’ll be his first time out and if he commands the offense and does the things he’s supposed to do, that’s progress and we’ll go from there.”
Bowles refused to name a starter for Saturday, saying he and the coaching staff were to meet Thursday night to make a decision. All three quarterbacks — Josh McCown, Hackenberg and Bryce Petty — will play in the game, according to Bowles.
How much is unclear. Bowles said Hackenberg will play “some” with the first-team offensive line. However, even that statement comes with ambiguity, considering three of the five O-line positions are “up for grabs” at this point — both tackle spots and center.
Bowles will divide the playing time up among the three quarterbacks based on: “How much we want to see people, who we want to play next week, what type of game plan we’re bringing into it. If we want to run the ball more, we can hand it off with Josh. Or if we want to do some passes, we’ll go from there. Those type of things and what type of game plan we want to run will determine who we’re going to play first.”
For the first time in training camp Wednesday, Hackenberg received a majority of the first-team reps. He made a couple precise throws, but he also threw two interceptions, his third and fourth of the summer.
Bowles said the QB competition remains a “pretty even… three-man” battle.
Hackenberg’s play on Saturday night won’t affect his practice time next week, according to Bowles.
“I’m looking at a successful game for the team. I’m not really hoping for Christian to have a breakout or non-breakout game,” Bowles said. “I hope we make strides as an offense and as a team. Whatever game Christian has, he has. You want him to play well. I want all my guys to play well. So we’ll go from there. I’m not basing this game solely on Christian’s star debut as a movie theater actor.”