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By Jon Machota 34m ago
When the Cowboys travel to New Jersey for Sunday’s season finale against the Giants, they will be without two defensive players who started last week against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Safety Darian Thompson and defensive tackle Justin Hamilton were placed on the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list on Friday. As a result, the Cowboys held virtual meetings on Friday, instead of their usual Friday walk-through practice two days before a game. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy anticipated the team would hold their normal Saturday practice before traveling to play the New York Giants on Sunday.
Thompson started last week in place of Xavier Woods, who has been limited this week with a rib injury. Woods is listed as questionable for Sunday, but he is expected to play. Hamilton has played the most snaps of any Dallas defensive tackle during their current three-game winning streak. With Hamilton out, veteran Eli Ankou is expected to see an increase in playing time. Ankou has averaged 23.5 defensive snaps over the last six games. The Cowboys traded a seventh-round pick to the Houston Texans for Ankou in November.
Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch (ankle) and cornerback Rashard Robinson (knee) have been ruled out for Sunday’s game after not practicing this week. All other players on the active roster are expected to be available.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott was removed from the injury report this week after being on it for several weeks because of hamstring and calf injuries. He’s coming off one of his best games of the season, rushing for 105 yards on 19 carries against the Eagles. Elliott is eighth in rushing yards entering the final week of the season. He needs 63 yards to record the fourth 1,000-yard rushing season of his career.
Here are 10 other notes to get you ready for the Cowboys’ regular-season finale.
1. Is help on the way? To win the NFC East, the Cowboys need to win Sunday afternoon and then they need the Eagles to beat Washington Sunday night. Philadelphia doesn’t have anything to play for after the Cowboys ended the Eagles’ playoff hopes last week. To make things worse, Philadelphia has already ruled out nine players because of injury, including standout defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, defensive end Derek Barnett, running back Miles Sanders, tight end Dallas Goedert and wide receiver DeSean Jackson.
“We have a division opponent that’s going to try to celebrate on our field,” Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. “We got to have a no-hat rule this week. We can’t let opponents put division (championship) hats on at The Linc (Lincoln Financial Field).”
Washington is expected to have starting quarterback Alex Smith back after he missed last week’s game with a calf injury. Smith is listed as questionable, but he was able to at least be a limited participant in practice. Terry McLaurin, Washington’s No. 1 wide receiver, did not practice this week after missing last Sunday’s game because of an ankle injury. He is also listed as questionable.
2. Kellen Moore to Boise State? Earlier this week, Moore was asked about his interest in the head coaching position at his alma mater. The 32-year-old Cowboys offensive coordinator said his goal is to eventually become a head coach.
“Obviously, Boise is a unique one for me,” Moore said. “It’s special to me. I love that place. Obviously just going through the process right now and I’m just focused on this game. We’ll kind of let all of this stuff play itself out and we’ll see where it’s at.”
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones had an interesting response to the possibility of Moore becoming the next Boise State coach. While Jones spoke highly of the team’s second-year OC, he also added a quick story that made it seem like he would understand if Moore took the head coaching opportunity.
“Remember the two buzzards sitting on the limb,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, “and one’s got his neck turned around looking at the other and says, ‘Patience my ass. I’m going to kill something.’
“The bottom line is that when it’s there, take it. And when it’s not there sometimes we’ll rustle it up.”
3. More spectators. Ezekiel Elliott has noticed something different at recent Cowboys practices. Although the sessions are closed to fans, some are allowed to watch practices if they are a member of the Cowboys Club. The private social club has areas where members can watch practices inside the Ford Center or on the two outdoor fields at The Star. When the Cowboys weren’t playing well, Elliott noticed not many members were watching practice. But that has since changed during the team’s three-game winning streak.
“I would say probably for the last month, there’s been no one watching our practice from the Cowboys Club,” Elliott said Wednesday. “Today, we have a chance at making the playoffs, and the Cowboys Club had plenty of viewers up there. It’s definitely a lot easier to go to practice on a win streak.
“It’s hard to stay in it when things aren’t going good. It’s easy when things are going well. We’ve been through a lot this season. We had to grind when things weren’t going well and now we’re reaping the benefits.”
4. Ball security. Elliott knocked on the table a few times when asked this week about not fumbling in his last three games. The Cowboys running back fumbled five times in the team’s first six games. He has fumbled once since.
“Just kind of the focus,” Elliott said. “Just locking in on having good ball security. I think it’s a lot of a mental thing. I think it’s something I have to make sure that I’m on top of day in and day out. If I handle it that way, then I’ll be good. But just locking in, focusing, practicing, just repetition of good ball security.”
Why was he knocking on the table?
“I think you guys are trying to fucking jinx it,” a laughing Elliott joked. “That was me. I didn’t want you guys to jinx me.”
5. What happened on the DeSean Jackson TD? If the Cowboys had lost last Sunday, the 81-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts to Jackson would’ve been a bigger deal. Jackson was being defended by Chidobe Awuzie in man coverage in the first quarter when Jackson blew past him with no safety help over the top. The replay appeared to show safety Donovan Wilson picking up the tight end on a crossing route instead of playing Jackson deep.
Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Nolan declined to say who was at fault.
“Obviously I’m not going to say who, what,” Nolan said, “but I will say that it was a combination, to be honest with you, of the fact that Jackson is extremely fast and combined with we lost leverage on the receivers. But it’s something that we needed to address anyway, and going forward I think we’ll play it much better as this week goes.”
The Cowboys bounced back impressively and outscored the Eagles 34-3 the rest of the way.
6. Randy Gregory. How will he respond after his best game of the season? The Cowboys edge rusher was outstanding against the Eagles, recording three forced fumbles, one and a half sacks, six tackles, a pass deflection and two quarterback hits on only 35 defensive snaps.
Gregory has been playing behind starter Aldon Smith on the right edge, but the team’s owner would like to see Gregory get more opportunities.
“We need to have him in there every time that we get a chance,” Jerry Jones said this week on The Fan. “I thought when we drafted him he was the best pass rusher in the draft. I thought he was, and that’s why I took the risk on him that I took. But it was a risk at the time. We paid for that risk. Randy will be the first to tell you, and it’s paying off for us. I’m just excited. I have visions of a future for Randy here with the Cowboys that can meet the promise we really were looking at when we drafted him in the second round.”
7. Speaking of defense. Two players have separated themselves as Dallas’ best defenders this season. It’s no coincidence that DeMarcus Lawrence and Trevon Diggs also lead the defense in the most important stat categories. Lawrence is tops on the team in sacks (5.5), QB pressures (35), tackles for loss (7) and forced fumbles (4). Diggs leads the group in interceptions (3) and passes defensed (12).
The Dallas defense still needs a lot of help this offseason. The majority of the draft is expected to focus on that side of the ball. But Lawrence and Diggs at least give them a solid foundation to build on in the front and back end. Both have three years remaining on their current contracts.
“I feel like when things go south and all of it goes downhill, that’s when real men show up,” Lawrence said. “I can just say we got some real men and some real characters that love playing this game. That’s what this is really all about. The camaraderie and the love for the game, that brings that bond and that shared commitment of dominating, that’s what the boys have been doing these last couple of weeks.”
8. Graham on McCarthy. Giants assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham spent the 2018 season on Mike McCarthy’s Green Bay staff. At the time, Graham was the Packers’ linebackers coach. Graham was asked this week about their brief time together.
“The big thing for me is how he sees the run game in terms of the necessities of the run game, the necessity of a certain amount of carries,” Graham said. “Seeing the correlation between the run game and success. You think about, all those years from afar, Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy, you’re thinking pass game, pass game. You can go back to 2016 when we lost in the playoff game. It was because the run game when they got in 20 personnel, it was the third quarter. They hit a couple runs, they were backed up. It’s the run game where I really think he stands out.
“Not to discredit what he knows about the passing game, that’s obvious. I think you see the influence there. Dallas has always been able to run the ball. The timing of it, that’s what stands out to me.”
9. Gerald McCoy back next season? Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones mentioned McCoy’s name on Thursday while breaking down some of the key pieces Dallas didn’t have this season because of injury but could get back next season.
“We’re going to have a salary cap situation that is unknown right now, and one of the great things about evaluating these young guys is to see if these guys can be players,” Jones said on The Fan. “And one of the biggest things young players look for, especially late-round picks, college free agents, is opportunity. And certainly, our guys have gotten that this year.
“Hopefully we’ll help our cap situation next year where we don’t have as many holes to fill in terms of the back end of the roster because guys have stepped up this year and done a better job. We obviously got a good group of guys on IR that we expect to make full recoveries next year that should make us a lot better football team. You talk about our two tackles, La’el [Collins] and Tyron [Smith]. You talk about our quarterback. You talk about two of our better defensive tackles in Trysten [Hill] and [Gerald] McCoy.
“There’s some opportunities out there that are going to return to us that should be a big help to us.”
McCoy, 32, signed a three-year deal with the Cowboys last March but was released before the season started after suffering a season-ending quad injury in training camp.
10. Jason Garrett on COVID, Cowboys and coaching. Here are a few highlights from Garrett’s time with New York reporters this week.
On testing positive for COVID-19, which forced him to miss their Week 15 game:
“Like most of us, we’re pretty much reclusive all during the season, so I haven’t really seen anybody,” Garrett said. “I don’t know how it happened. The people that are close to me have not tested positive. For whatever reason, it popped positive so I had to deal with that the last week and a half or so. But I’m feeling fine, ready to go.”
On if he expects to be back as the Giants offensive coordinator next season:
“I’m just excited about the opportunity we have this week,” Garrett said. “Really, I’ve just tried to stay in the moment in any position I’ve had as a player or coach in the NFL. That’s typically when you play your best and coach your best. That’s really what I’m focused on.”
On facing his former team with a chance to win the division and go to the playoffs:
“We play them twice a year, and obviously, they’re a division opponent. Certainly, it’s interesting. The circumstances are what they are, but we’re just excited to have this opportunity to be playing for potentially the division on Sunday. It’s been a funny year in the NFL, in the NFC East, all of that. You just keep trying to bang away and take advantage of your opportunities, and we certainly have a good one on Sunday.”
