Las Vegas Raiders report card after preseason Week 2 loss to Cowboys

The Las Vegas Raiders dropped their second game of the preseason on Saturday, as the Dallas Cowboys dominated from start to finish and came away with a 27-12 win at Allegiant Stadium.

Though it is just preseason, it's hard not to be concerned after this loss, as Dallas barely played any of their starters, while Las Vegas had starters in for a good chunk of the game. That was a particularly troubling fact for the offense and quarterbacks Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell.

As we do every week, we'll grade each unit's performance from Saturday's game. As you'd expect, the grades aren't going to be very high this week.

Las Vegas Raiders report card

Offense: D

Excluding the lone touchdown drive to start the second half, Luke Getsy's offense was horrendous. Minshew and O'Connell were out of sorts, the backup receivers had trouble getting open, and the offensive line struggled to create running lanes.

The unit started to find its rhythm in the second half, opening the third quarter with a 13-play touchdown drive that took over seven minutes. But all momentum was killed on the very next series when Aidan O'Connell tossed a pick-six.

It's way too early to panic about the offense, as the unit has a new offensive coordinator and has only played a handful of series together. Despite this, posting 12 points against a backup defense when you're playing some of your starters is unacceptable for the Raiders.

Defense: C

The first-team defense held its own for the most part, forcing multiple punts and bailing out the offense when it stalled on fourth downs. The second half was a different story, though, as the second- and third-string units struggled to stop the run and contain Trey Lance.

Dallas went on a 13-play, 88-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to seal the game, and it looked effortless. The Raiders had multiple coverage breakdowns and failed to get off the field on a critical third and fourth down.

The defense was definitely better than the offense, but it was nothing to be proud of heading into the final week of training camp.

Special teams: B+

Las Vegas' special teams were the lone bright spot of the game, as the unit started the contest by forcing a turnover on an AJ Cole punt. Ameer Abdullah stripped Cowboys punt returner Jalen Moreno-Cropper, and DJ Turner recovered the football in Dallas territory.

The return game also showed some flashes. Tre Tucker had a 43-yard punt return, and Tulu Griffin had a few nice kickoff returns. As expected, Daniel Carlson and AJ Cole were splendid, as Carlson nailed all his kicks and Cole landed all four of his punts inside the opposing team's 20-yard line.