"The Cowboys played their second exhibition game in five days Thursday, losing to Oakland, 17-9, at Cowboys Stadium. Now comes a period of practice and introspection.

The Cowboys don't play again until Aug. 21 at San Diego . That gives coach Wade Phillips and his staff time to review what has gone right, what has gone wrong and what has no chance. These players are sure to come up during the review:

In search of quickness, Barber lost weight in the off-season. He looks like the same plodding runner. Barber has handled the ball six times in exhibition play and produced only 13 yards. That hardly represents improvement from his showing in two postseason games last season: 18 yards on 11 carries.

Against the Raiders, Barber had three runs for 5 yards and one catch for 1 yard. The reception showed the limitation to his game. Barber lacks a burst. He got the throw from Tony Romo in the flat, made cornerback Chris Johnson miss and still gained only 1 yard.

David Buehler

For the second consecutive game, the first-team offense moved well on its opening try only to bog down near the goal line and settle for a field goal. Buehler converted again, this time from 42 yards. Buehler also made kicks of 27 and 28 yards in the second half.

The 42-yarder was a good test for Buehler. So was kicking at home.

Nick Folk and Shaun Suisham both had troubles last season in the controlled conditions of Cowboys Stadium. They were a combined 10-of-16, giving the Cowboys the third-lowest success rate on field goal tries (.625) at home in the league last season. The home failures compounded the kicking problem.

Buehler kicked often in this stadium during the off-season and is comfortable with the place.

"It's the ultimate home-field advantage," said Buehler, who also put four kickoffs into the end zone. "