Special teams count. The preseason counts. The dress rehearsal is important. All of these are true.
The Dallas Cowboys lost quite handily to the Arizona Cardinals in their dress rehearsal, but it was a contest that they knowingly played without guys like Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, and Zack Martin.
Absences by such key figures may help us rationalize what the game means in its total context, but they don’t necessarily excuse everyone else who had to play in it.