SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- It is difficult to garner much righteous indignation out of a poor performance in the preseason when the stated goal at the start of training camp is to remain healthy.

But Sunday's 23-6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers for the Dallas Cowboys was something a little more than just a poor performance.

For a team that wants to play with some "Hah," as coach Jason Garrett put on a slew of t-shirts, the Cowboys played with more, "Huh," in the defeat.

"It was not every good," Garrett said. "It wasn't very good on offense. It wasn't very good on defense. It wasn't very good in the kicking game. It wasn't very good early, middle or late."

Even Jerry Jones wasn't fully buying the "Well, it's the preseason," argument.

"Let's just be hard on ourselves," the owner and general manager said outside the Cowboys' locker room. "I think tonight is where we need to look at it just for what it is -- it was not fun. Because I've seen these players do things in training camp, work hard, I can't say tonight's embarrassing because I haven't paid the price that these guys have paid for anything to be embarrassing. But, in general, I think that I could give you a lot of reasons why you could smile and look to the future positively even though we played the way we played."

The Cowboys did not have Dez Bryant for the second straight preseason game. They didn't have Tyron Smith, Ronald Leary and Zack Martin on the offensive line. They didn't have Brandon Carr, Morris Claiborne or Byron Jones at cornerback. They didn't have Sean Lee either. Rolando McClain remains a ways off as well. Anthony Hitchens was in Oxnard, California, with his right foot in a protective boot.

"We always want everybody back, but it's also the next man up," quarterback Tony Romo said. "The next guy has got to play and perform and we didn't do a good enough job of that throughout our football team. We weren't very good in a lot of areas -- kicking game, offense. Just part of improvement during the preseason and we have to make sure we're more mentally tough than what we are right now during the preseason."

Romo's preseason debut lasted three plays. He completed his one pass but it lost a yard. Jason Witten played only three snaps as well. Backup quarterback Brandon Weeden suffered a concussion and was replaced in the second quarter by Dustin Vaughan, who had one of his two interceptions returned for a touchdown.

The Cowboys did not get a first down until the second quarter. They avoided their first preseason shutout since 2004 when Jameill Showers connected on a 8-yard touchdown pass to Nick Harwell with 4:11 remaining.

Defensively, the Cowboys gave up 155 rushing yards on 38 carries. They recorded three sacks but they could not record a turnover.

Special teams was worse. Australian rugby star Jarryd Hayne averaged 28 yards per punt return. Dan Bailey missed a 43-yard field goal attempt. Quinton Patton blocked a Tom Hornsey punt for a touchdown.

A lot of the players on the field by then won't be around for the Cowboys' Sept. 13 opener, but that doesn't matter.

"When you're out there you have a responsibility to play to a certain level, period," Garrett said. "The standard that we set is high and we're looking for guys who can play to that standard. We didn't get enough of that."