Archer: Could Lance Dunbar be X factor Sunday vs. Giants?

Cotton

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Could Lance Dunbar be X factor Sunday vs. Giants?
3:19 PM CT
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer

FRISCO, Texas – Now that the regular season is upon us, Five Wonders is back for its normal Tuesday spin.

There’s much to wonder about with the New York Giants coming to town to open the season Sunday. Maybe even more than five things, but we’ll just keep it at five.

Away we go:

1. I wonder how much of an X factor Lance Dunbar will be against the Giants. He has made a tremendous recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn patellar tendon suffered Week 4 last season in order to be ready for Week 1 this season. Dunbar did not play in the preseason, but he has been back to practice for two weeks. He said he feels fine and as explosive as he was before the injury. In last year’s season opener against the Giants, Dunbar caught eight passes for 70 yards, including two for 40 yards on what was the Cowboys’ game-winning drive in the final minute.

2. A year ago as the Cowboys got ready to play the Giants in Week 1, the one-handed grab by Odell Beckham Jr. made in 2014 was replayed as often as the “Agony of defeat” video. The catch, which was great but not the greatest ever, in my opinion, has not been as prevalent this offseason, which is good news for Brandon Carr. In the two games last year against the Cowboys, Beckham caught nine passes for 79 yards and did not score a touchdown. I wonder if the Cowboys follow a similar defensive plan on Beckham for the opener. With Byron Jones playing full time at safety, the defense has more of a pure center-field safety to take away the deep balls to Beckham with Carr playing underneath.

3. With injuries at other spots perhaps the Cowboys could dress eight offensive linemen Sunday even if their preference is to keep only seven on the 46-man roster. If they do keep seven, I wonder if they would go with Ronald Leary over Joey Looney as the backup interior offensive lineman. Leary does not play center, like Looney, but the Cowboys might feel like Zack Martin, their starting right guard, would be a better backup center than Looney if something were to happen to Travis Frederick. Of course, since the Cowboys are paying Leary $2.3 million this year, they might decide having him active is the best approach

4. The Cowboys will be in their nickel defense for a lot of Sunday’s game because of how much the Giants like to use three wide receiver sets, but when New York brings a base personnel group on the field, I have two wonders: Who starts at strongside linebacker and who are the two cornerbacks? At the start of training camp, I would have said Kyle Wilber, but he has to play defensive end to start the year. Could it be Justin Durant? Andrew Gachkar? At cornerback, I’d bet Orlando Scandrick and Carr will be the starters, but Morris Claiborne has done well enough to earn consideration.

5. I wonder who the 53rd player on the roster is to start the season. Keeping two fullbacks in Keith Smith and Rod Smith is odd even if they can play multiple positions. Keeping only eight defensive linemen seems light, especially with rookie Charles Tapper not likely to play vs. New York. Cornerback Dax Swanson was something of a surprise to stick around the final roster as well. It would have to be one of the two fullbacks but given the sway of special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia on the roster, maybe it’s Swanson, who is the fifth cornerback.
 

townsend

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"X Factor" seems like a fancy way to say player that can't do anything well enough to justify a roster spot.
 

boozeman

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This fullback thing is really bugging me. Lookit, I get that they both play STs and they believe Keith Smith is like an extra LB too, but c'mon.
 

boozeman

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"X Factor" seems like a fancy way to say player that can't do anything well enough to justify a roster spot.
I have never seen a player get as much mileage and pub from a few games of production as Dunbar has. I just don't get it.
 

jsmith6919

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I have never seen a player get as much mileage and pub from a few games of production as Dunbar has. I just don't get it.
Well at least they upped the bar a little bit, Matt Johnson got the hype from practice alone
 

Cowboysrock55

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I have never seen a player get as much mileage and pub from a few games of production as Dunbar has. I just don't get it.
He is a WR as far as I'm concerned. He might line up in the backfield but it is smoke and mirrors. The guy is a WR lining up in the backfield.
 

Carp

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I really hope Durant starts...always have liked the player.
 

Simpleton

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He is a WR as far as I'm concerned. He might line up in the backfield but it is smoke and mirrors. The guy is a WR lining up in the backfield.
Agreed, I don't see the allure when there isn't any kind of credible threat of him actually running the ball, it basically just telegraphs our intention to pass in one form or fashion.

The Oakland game was 3 years ago at this point.
 

E_D_Guapo

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I have never seen a player get as much mileage and pub from a few games of production as Dunbar has. I just don't get it.
Because Jerry is ignoring the fact that Dunbar can not stay on the field and is hanging onto Linehan comparing him to Reggie Bush a couple offseasons ago. I'll set the over/under of Dunbar missing time due to injury at week 6 and I'll take the under.
 

mcnuttz

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I'm more upset about Dunbar being on the roster than the two FBs.
 

Hawkeye19

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Only rolling with 8 DL is a mystery to me considering the inexperience and overall lack of talent. When your strategy is to just throw crap against the wall and hope something sticks-- go ahead and throw more crap.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Only rolling with 8 DL is a mystery to me considering the inexperience and overall lack of talent. When your strategy is to just throw crap against the wall and hope something sticks-- go ahead and throw more crap.
The only thing I can think of is that they expect Wilber to play at DE half the time. But I've never really seen any great pass rush out of him at DE to suggest to me it's a good move. I'm sure the Cowboys are banking on the fact that their D-line will be +1 for sure in 4 weeks. If he had an ankle sprain instead we'd be calling it 9 D-lineman.
 

Hawkeye19

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The only thing I can think of is that they expect Wilber to play at DE half the time. But I've never really seen any great pass rush out of him at DE to suggest to me it's a good move. I'm sure the Cowboys are banking on the fact that their D-line will be +1 for sure in 4 weeks. If he had an ankle sprain instead we'd be calling it 9 D-lineman.
I suppose you're right about D Law's return in 4 weeks. I also should specify. Our depth at DE is abysmal. I think we actually are pretty solid at DT. Didn't mean to insinuate the entire DL is crappy.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I suppose you're right about D Law's return in 4 weeks. I also should specify. Our depth at DE is abysmal. I think we actually are pretty solid at DT. Didn't mean to insinuate the entire DL is crappy.
Yeah I like our 4 man depth chart at DT.

The DE spot looks rough right now but it should at least look better as the season goes on. It's not like we haven't drafted DE's. The problem is that Tapper is just now getting healthy, D-law is suspended and Gregory is suspended. By the end of the season all 3 guys could be major contributors at DE.
 

Hawkeye19

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Yeah I like our 4 man depth chart at DT.

The DE spot looks rough right now but it should at least look better as the season goes on. It's not like we haven't drafted DE's. The problem is that Tapper is just now getting healthy, D-law is suspended and Gregory is suspended. By the end of the season all 3 guys could be major contributors at DE.
I like how D-Law was playing towards the end of last season. Guy looks like he may actually turn the corner and be a double digit sack DE. Gregory is dead to me until he does something positive on the field. If Tapper contributes anything this year I'd be shocked. His injury is weird, and rookie pass rushers historically are non-factors. Hopefully he matures and becomes a solid rotational guy down the line.
 

ravidubey

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I have never seen a player get as much mileage and pub from a few games of production as Dunbar has. I just don't get it.
It's truly bizarre.

Here there's talk of dumping McFadden instead of Dunbar when there's no comparison in the level of performance.

Dunbar's a total luxury because he's so brittle.
 
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