OXNARD, California -- The value of joint practices for NFL teams ahead of their first preseason games is to see what they need to focus on in their final ramp up to the regular season. In the Dallas Cowboys' case, the Los Angeles Rams gave first-year coach Brian Schottenheimer plenty of notes on Tuesday.

Schottenheimer decided to have his Cowboys not undergo any game-planning ahead of the practice with the Rams, opting to use the event as somewhat of a stress test for his team. On offense, Schottenheimer's side of the football, Dallas' preferred identity -- building through its ground game -- was challenged early and often. That was somewhat expected given the youth on the offensive front with Nathan Thomas, a 2024 seventh-round pick, filling in for an injured Tyler Guyton at left tackle, 2024 third-round pick Cooper Beebe at center and 2025 first-round pick Tyler Booker at right guard. 

That young group had to deal with a Rams defensive line that gave the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles fits in the playoffs. With reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year Jared Verse leading the way, the Los Angeles defensive line lived in the Cowboys' backfield with regularity when Dallas decided to hand the ball off. Only once Dallas was able to pop the Rams downfield in the passing game did any daylight open in the run game. Javonte Williams had the best run of the day for the Cowboys, but it was only a seven- or eight-yard gain. 

Cowboys' Jerry Jones hasn't spoken with Micah Parsons since trade request, not confident he'll play Week 1

Garrett Podell

Schottenheimer credited Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula for providing his young offensive line plenty of different looks to learn from. 

"Quite honestly, they gave us some fits, so we had some communication errors," Schottenheimer said after practice. "Run game wasn't great on offense. A couple of guys stepped up, made some big plays, but there's always things to learn from. Don't lose sight of why we do this. We do this for that exact reason: to get looks that we haven't seen, different blitzes and all that stuff."

Booker said his experience against the Rams made him realize he much he'll need to study specific personnel. 

"Honestly we have to start faster in the run game," Booker said. "There's a lot of things I could do better to help that as a player, for sure. Just recognizing the different kind of fronts that I'll have to play against. The front that our defense plays is a different kind of front than the Rams play that we played today. Knowing the different kinds of fronts, knowing I might get a different look from one another is something I could be a lot more cognizant of... Knowing my personnel and knowing who I'm going against."

Specifically, Schottenheimer would like for his linemen to be able to plow their way into the second level of the defense to the linebackers at the start of an offensive play. On Tuesday, the Rams beat the Cowboys to their spots more often than not. 

"When you're double-teaming people, what happens is the linebackers have to make a decision," Schottenheimer said. "So the linebackers were playing fast and downhill, and they were fitting gaps. It's all based on how you try to build a wall on defense, and we just got to play with our eyes a little bit better. We got fit on the double teams, but we didn't come off to the second level, so there's too much color at the point of attack."

Lamb, Pickens duo creating problems for Rams defense

Schottenheimer did see plenty he liked in the pass game with two-time All-Pro CeeDee Lamb teaming up with George Pickens, who averaged an NFL-best 16.7 yards per reception across the last two seasons. 

Dak Prescott found Pickens for two impressive contested touchdowns in the red zone, indicating how much confidence he already has in his new playmaker. At least one was erased because of an illegal shift penalty, but in joint practice, it's more about proof of concept. That's certainly been there with Prescott throwing to Lamb and Pickens. 

"You see the problems they create, and I think they both made some really good plays," Schottenheimer said. "You see their ability to separate, [win on] contested balls and things like that. Again, we're not game-planning. We're literally being pretty vanilla, but those guys, you don't have to do much to get them open."

With defenses so worried about Lamb and Pickens, the Cowboys could have opportunities in the run game. 

"You need to be able to run the ball when they know you're going to run it, and you need to be able to throw it when they know you have to throw it," Schottenheimer said. "I thought we had a great two-minute drive there at the end with the ones that was really good. Those guys [Lamb and Pickens] certainly help you. You feel really good about those two guys' ability to win their matchups one on one, and we could potentially get some light boxes because of the threat that we have on the outside."

Milton flashes with big play before day cut short by injury

It wasn't just Prescott getting into the end zone through the air on Tuesday. Backup quarterback Joe Milton had the play of the day with his 65-yard touchdown bomb to Jalen Brooks for Dallas' first score in 11-on-11 work vs. the Rams. 

Jerry Jones is impressed by what he's seen from the strong-armed Milton. 

"Well, I like [No.] 10 today very much, and of course Dak looked good too, but I thought 10 did some very good things out there," Jones said. 

Milton exited practice early after hitting his thumb on a defender's helmet, but Jones classified the injury as nothing to worry about.

"I've had a full report on that, and it doesn't look serious," Jones said.

Schottenheimer confirmed Jones' assessment and said the team wants to be "smart" with Milton's injury ahead of Saturday's preseason game. 

"Trainers think he's fine," Schottenheimer said. "He had pretty good strength in it, but just for the game coming up in a couple of days, we just want to be smart with it. We'll do more testing, but I think he is fine. He felt like he could go back in. It was more of a precautionary thing. He used up a lot of his velocity on that bomb, and we're like 'I think we'll just sit him out for a little while.'"

Defense struggles without Micah Parsons 

When Cowboys All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons has been on the football field, Dallas has had the NFL's highest defensive expected points added (EPA) per play the last four years. When he's been off the field, they've had the NFL's worst defensive EPA/play. Parsons is that valuable. 

The 26-year-old is still embroiled in contract negotiations, so the Cowboys got a taste of life without him on Tuesday with Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs also still out with a knee injury. It wasn't pretty.

Troy Pride Jr. has filled in as an outside cornerback regularly with Kaiir Elam manning the other outside corner spot and DaRon Bland in the slot with Diggs out. On Tuesday, Pride struggled mightily. Rams receiver Davante Adams burned him deep early on. The secondary's struggles, plus the pass rush being a step late at times without Parsons, led to Rams quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo finding the end zone with relative ease.

"Obviously, we have some things to work on, but we'll be making a strong push," rookie edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku said. "I think we were able to get [to the quarterback] a good amount. There are certain situations where we need to obviously do more. At this level, quarterbacks have a clock in their head. They're going to get the ball out fast. You might have won on the edge, but you're a half-step too late."