Klingler Outshines George
NFL exhibitions
David Klingler crashed Jeff George’s coming out party.
George made his Oakland debut Sunday night but it was Klingler, the backup quarterback, who provided the fireworks with three touchdown passes as the Raiders outgunned the Dallas Cowboys 34-27 in an NFL exhibition opener in Irving, Texas.
“I’ll get better next week,” George said. “I learned a lot just watching from the sidelines. Klingler was making some good deep throws. I have my own game to work on. I’ll be there when the regular season starts.”
Klingler burned the youthful and injury-riddled Dallas secondary with three touchdown passes in the second quarter after George, who has played for two other NFL teams, made his Oakland debut with an unspectacular first quarter.
Joe Bugel, the former Arizona Cardinals head coach, got the win in his debut as Al Davis’ new head man.
“It was a good way to start,” Bugel said. “We showed we’ve got good depth at quarterback. We have three great quarterbacks. Klingler really aired it out. Jeff will get better. He’s the type of quarterback that looks for the primary receiver and then if he is not open begins to scramble out of the pocket.”
Klingler threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Robert Rosenstiel. Then he went deep for a 62-yard scoring pass to Olanda Truitt and a 74-yarder to Kenny Shedd late in the second quarter against a mix of free agent rookie defenders such as former WSU standout Singor Mobley and Montrell Williams.
“Our receivers made some great moves and I just put the ball in there,” Klingler said.
Klingler finished 5 of 8 for 184 yards.
Third-string quarterback Donald Hollas winged a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Grace late in the game after Shay Muirbrook had intercepted Jason Garrett.
Dallas had four cornerbacks out of the game because of injuries.
Jaguars 23, Panthers 9
At Jacksonville, Fla., linebacker Eddie Robinson had an interception and one of seven sacks for Jacksonville, and Mark Brunell led the Jaguars on two first-quarter touchdown drives in a victory over mistake-prone Carolina.
The Panthers turned the ball over twice and managed only one sustained drive in the first half behind Kerry Collins, resulting in John Kasay’s 40-yard field goal.
They got inside the 10-yard line twice in the second half but had to settle for field goals because of a penalty and a dropped pass.