SAN DIEGO – Dustin Vaughan tried not to think about the importance of Thursday’s preseason game against the San Diego Chargers was to his career.

But he is human.

“Leading up to it’s hard not to think that this is the biggest job interview that you have,” Vaughan said. “It’s hard not to think that way but when you hit field and start playing the game you really stop thinking that and really start thinking, How can we help the team win? What does our offense need to do? So you put yourself in the spot of the game instead of thinking about, ‘Did that incomplete pass just ruin my chances of making the team?’ because that can be detrimental.”

The Dallas Cowboys lost, 17-7, but Vaughan had some moments in the defeat to make the Cowboys believe there is something worth developing even if he did not throw a touchdown pass while completing 12-of-18 passes for 106 yards.

He displayed his arm strength with play-action passes to Devin Street on the Cowboys’ only scoring drive. He showed the ability to get away from trouble with a scramble to his right before finding Gavin Escobar for a 21-yard pickup. He even got away from a potential safety in the second half.

“He handled the duress of the game,” coach Jason Garrett said. “I thought he kept his poise. I thought he handled some third down situations well, moving around in the pocket, seeing down the field, playing where it's real life. It's nice to see him respond as well as he did.”

It wasn’t perfect. He forced a throw to Escobar when he had Street crossing underneath for what would have been a big gain. He had a fumbled exchange from center as well.

But there was progress. Perhaps it’s not enough to push for the No. 2 job behind Tony Romo just yet, but enough to keep the project going. He was active for just one game last year when Romo missed a game with two transverse process fractures.

“One of the problems when you come in from college, your hit with this playbook with so many more plays than what you’re used to,” Vaughan said. “A quarterback starts thinking so much – Am I doing the right thing? Am I doing the wrong thing? What do I need to do here? It slows their play down. It gets to the point where you get enough knowledge to where you can stop thinking and start playing. That’s really important. For me starting camp was to get that feeling of I’m confident in the way I can play, here we go, get up to the line of scrimmage, let’s play, let me read coverage, let me make the pass I know I can make. All that stuff is really important.”