With his roster spot still up in the air, Barry Church took advantage of an injury-depleted safety spot and came up with one of the marquee plays in Saturday’s 16-14 victory preseason game in San Diego.
The former Toledo safety scooped up a second-quarter fumble by Chargers running back Darren Sproles on the Cowboys (2-1) 13-yard line and returned it 80 yards before being tackled eight yards from the endzone.
“The fumble [recovery] had to be one of the top 3 football experiences of my life,” Church said. “Just hearing the crowd roar and San Diego fans boo just made my day.”
Church sidestepped a low arm tackle attempt by San Diego receiver Legedu Naanee and received blocks from Terence Newman, Jay Ratliff and Sean Lee but could not avoid Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who beat the Cowboys down the field and slipped past Anthony Spencer’s attempted block for the tackle.
“[Rivers] is a wild dude,” Church said. “I should’ve scored but I ran out of gas.”
The four-time 1st team All-MAC performer led Dallas with five solo tackles after replacing starting strong safety Gerald Sensabaugh, who left the game in the first quarter with a shoulder injury. Fifth-year safety Patrick Watkins was also held out of Saturday’s game against San Diego. Church is currently slotted behind Sensabaugh and ahead of Watkins in the Cowboys most recent depth chart.
“I felt good running with the starting defense,” Church said. “It was very important [to play well], especially with Pat being out. It was my opportunity to step up and show people what I can do. I just have to continue going hard.”
“I thought he played real well tonight,” Dallas safety coach Brett Maxie said to DallasCowboys.com. “He’s a guy who understands what we’re doing. For a young guy to come in like he did, I thought he played well.”
Church is not the only undrafted safety grabbing attention for the Cowboys, as Danny McCray of LSU has also done his best to earn his way on the team, mostly showcasing his skills as a special teams athlete, including three tackles on kickoff coverage on Saturday. While both Church and McCray are competing for one of the final spots on the team, each may end up being hard to keep off the final 53-man roster.
“It’s coming down to the wire,” Maxie said. “We’re going to have some really tough decisions to make in the next few weeks. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know those two kids played really well tonight.”
“I really thought both the young safeties came in and did some good things,” Dallas head coach Wade Phillips said after the game. “They had some rookie mistakes. Overall, I thought they did well.”
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