Cowboys News: Key starters to play, Aldon dominant, more touches for Pollard?

Tyron Smith, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Trevon Diggs are all expected to play Sunday. Aldon Smith currently leads the NFL in sacks.

The 2020 NFL season has been an injury-filled one for the Dallas Cowboys. However, per team owner Jerry Jones, starters Tyron Smith, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Trevon Diggs are all expected to play this Sunday vs the Cleveland Browns despite limited practice time this week. After five years away from the league, former All-Pro defensive end Aldon Smith is currently leading the NFL in sacks and looks like he hasn’t missed a beat.

If the Cowboys can establish a lead against the Browns Sunday, maybe second-year running back Tony Pollard can see more touches than the four rushing attempts he’s had in the first three games. The Cowboys defense will not only have to face Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry in the passing game but also Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt toting the rock. Predictions for Cowboys-Browns, Dak Prescott’s continued progression, and when will Mike McCarthy start showing he’s an upgrade at head coach and more are covered in the news and notes.


Final Injury Report: Jones expects several key Cowboys vs Browns :: Cowboys Wire

Tyron Smith, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Trevon Diggs are all expected to play. Browns have several out, questionable.


Cowboys D to face dual dynamic duos in duel with Browns :: Cowboys Wire

The defense will have a tall task trying to defend Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry in the receiving game as well as the Browns running back duo of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.


Catch This Fade! (Premium) S5E9: Nobody’s safe on Cowboys D, literally :: Cowboys Wire

K.D. Drummond and Patrik Walker dive into the defensive woes so far in 2020 and the state of the Cowboys offensive line.


Expert predictions for Cowboys-Browns: Nothing comes easy for Dallas, and this won’t be different :: Dallas Morning News

The SportsDay staff give their predictions for Cowboys-Browns on Sunday.


Dak Prescott Continues to Prove he’s Worth Every Penny :: Inside The Star

After a career year in 2019, Dak Prescott is off to an even better start in 2020.


Cowboys’ Jerry Jones demands ‘heavy penalties’ if Titans, anyone found in violation of COVID-19 protocol :: CBS Sports

The Tennessee Titans have had 13 players and personnel test positive for coronavirus. In light of this, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants stiff penalties for Titans or any other team that doesn’t follow the league’s COVID-19 restrictions.


When will Mike McCarthy start to look like a coaching upgrade for the Dallas Cowboys :: Dallas Morning News

Mike McCarthy came into Dallas with a Super Bowl pedigree and assembled a very good coaching staff. After a shaky 1-2 start, will he be able to show any signs of his successful coaching background during his time Green Bay soon?


Five things to watch when the Cowboys host the Browns :: Blogging The Boys

Stopping the run, winning the turnover battle, and a big game from Amari Cooper and more are what fans should keep an eye on when the Cowboys battle the Browns this Sunday.


Cowboys Comeback: Aldon Smith has been terrific for Dallas :: The Landry Hat

After five years away from the gridiron, Aldon Smith currently leads the NFL in sacks.


Mailbag: Finding Snaps For Pollard? :: Dallas Cowboys

Tony Pollard has only gained 16 yards on four rushing attempts in the first three games with just 24 total snaps played. Will Sunday be the game he’s finally unleashed in the Cowboys offense?

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Cowboys Mike McCarthy speaks to presnap motion, DBs Diggs, Lewis

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy met with the media on Thursday to discuss his team and the lack of pre-snap motion in Week 1.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy met with the members of the media on Thursday ahead of the Week 2 match-up with the Atlanta Falcons.

The biggest question the coach faced was regarding his former quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ comments that McCarthy wasn’t a big fan of pre-snap motion. The answer was diplomatic, refusing to throw the Green Bay Packers signal caller under the bus.

“You got to remember we played a lot of football together. As your offense changes you have to evolve, and really a lot of the credit goes to Aaron who can recognize defenses at the line of scrimmage. That’s really the chess game you play as a coordinator. When it’s over a 10-year period you evolve because you never stay the same.”

Unfortunately, in 2020, pre-snap motion is part of the offensive evolution and if McCarthy and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore aren’t going to hop on the bandwagon, they may be left in the dust. Correlation is often confused with causation and of course this is a small sample size, but ESPN’s Seth Walder released the use of pre-snap motion league wide.

The top 16 teams went 13-3. The bottom 16 teams went 3-13. McCarthy went on to say that “you can’t tilt too far to one and not the other.”

It seems clear that for at least one week, the Cowboys went too far one way, the vanilla way. When he was asked about the lack of motion against the Los Angeles Rams, he offered up that the “defense was on the field for a very long time.”

One would think playing more effectively on offense and scoring points would accomplish two things simultaneously: keeping the defense off the field while relieving pressure for them while on it.

Outside of the presnap motion conversations, Dallas’ secondary ruled the day.

Jourdan Lewis is looking to increase his practice reps today and looks “comfortable” while it’s clear that Darian Thompson will lose some of his playing time to Brandon Carr.

McCarthy won’t reveal any strategy for how to contain Julio Jones come Sunday, but there was praise for Trevon Diggs, whith his coach saying, “I don’t have any hesitations on playing the young man. He’s earned the starting position.”

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Numbers Don’t Lie: McCarthy 4th-down gamble was right play

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy had the stomach when the fans didn’t to go for it on fourth down in an uncomfortable situation.

Head coach Mike McCarthy made the right call going for it on fourth-and-3 from the 11-yard line. The numbers back that up.  For a decade, fans of the Dallas Cowboys clamored for someone that would be aggressive, especially on fourth downs. Turns out, they might not have the stomach for it after all. A quick Twitter search of “McCarthy field goal” has people telling on themselves left and right.

What the math says is easy enough to understand. From Michael Gehlken’s piece at the Dallas Morning News:

The Cowboys had a 46% chance of victory entering fourth down at the Rams’ 11-yard line with about 12 minutes remaining in regulation, he said. If they converted the fourth down, their win probability would’ve increased to 56%. If they kicked a field goal, it actually would have decreased to 45%.

Jason Garrett would have kicked the field goal. In fact, he might have won the game on Sunday night, and in the process confirmed all of his terrible previous biases that settling for field goals deep in the opponent’s territory is a good thing.

Going for it on fourth down carries an inherent risk that Garrett didn’t have the stomach for. Not once during his entire career in Dallas did Garrett go for it in that similar situation. In fact, most coaches don’t. They will try it once the game state gets to a point so desperate that the outcome of the play no longer matters. In the last decade, coaches in similar situations only went for it 54 times, yet it converted at a rate of 68.5%.

When Mike McCarthy made the rounds late in the 2019 season he was adamant that he would be incorporating analytics into his decision making process. He showed in Week 1 he was willing to do exactly that. Here’s hoping that one bump in the road doesn’t shake his confidence.

And not for nothing, because decisions should be judged on intent, but not execution, but the play likely would have worked if Blake Jarwin was in the game instead of the rarely used Dalton Schultz. Schultz collapsed the route window of receiver CeeDee Lamb, keeping him from having the space to carry his route past the yard marker.

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Cowboys defend ‘aggressiveness’ of 4th-down call; rookie Lamb: ‘It’s on me’

Dallas coaches and players spoke about not kicking the easy field goal to tie Sunday’s game, and how that may set a tone for future games.

A ship in harbor is safe, the old saying goes, but that is not what ships are built for. Well, there’s a new captain manning the helm of the Dallas Cowboys. And he knows exactly what his ship was built for.

After nine-plus seasons of wishing the coaching staff were more aggressive and less predictable in turning-point game situations, Cowboys fans got what they said they wanted Sunday night. On 4th-and-3 from the Los Angeles 11-yard-line in the fourth quarter of a three-point game, Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy kept Greg Zuerlein on the sideline.

Even Al Michaels wondered aloud if Dak Prescott would really take the snap. Surely the play-it-safe option in that situation is the field goal. If trying to lure the defense offsides for the cheap first down doesn’t work, you call the timeout and trot out your kicker, tie things up, and let the final ten minutes decide the game.

“[Offensive coordinator] Kellen [Moore], I thought he made a good call. We just didn’t execute it as good as we could,” McCarthy told reporters via conference call after the Week 1 loss.

“There’s obviously things that go into those types of situations you’re always looking at, particularly coming off a second down, going into a third down. Based on your field position; obviously, we were clearly in field goal range. It was a three-point game. All those things you factor in, The conservative play there is to kick the field goal. But I just felt really good about how we were moving the football. It was a mesh-pattern-type concept with criss-crossers. You’ve got to give them credit- the safety made a hell of a play on the throw-and-catch, and we were short.”

Prescott’s pass to a crossing CeeDee Lamb wasn’t out in front of the rookie wide receiver; the pocket had collapsed- again- around the quarterback, and Prescott was forced to hurry the throw. Lamb made the grab, but was short of the first-down marker when he did. Rams safety Jordan Fuller navigated traffic to reach Lamb and brought him down short of the line to make.

It was a disappointing end to a promising drive that had covered 56 yards in nine plays, the Cowboys’ most productive possession since the first half. And while coming away with no points was deflating, Prescott believes going for it on fourth down was the right decision.

“I love the aggressiveness,” Prescott told the media in postgame remarks. “I think that was a point in the game when, if we get that first down and are able to punch it in the end zone, we’re looking at a whole different ball game. I think it was a momentum chance. I love the play call; we just weren’t able to get it. The guy played over the top; made a good tackle.”

Running back Ezekiel Elliott agreed with the strategy, but knows how costly the failure was.

“Coach has a plan,” Elliott stated, “and it’s our job to go out there and follow it. I think it was a good play call. I think we had a chance of getting a first down, and I think we were rolling on offense. He felt and just wanted to keep us on the field and score a touchdown instead of getting three right there. We ended up coming up short, and that’s just one of those plays of the game where you’ve got to convert. You’ve got to convert on that. That cost us the game.”

It was the rookie Lamb who got his number called in the critical moment, a significant show of trust by the team in the 21-year-old Oklahoma product. Lamb took the loss personally as he recounted how the play unfolded.

“At first, I was at at the sticks,” Lamb explained. “And then I came back for the ball. And then I got tackled, and obviously, I didn’t get the first down and make the conversion. That’s one of the plays that I wish I had back. But now, you live and you learn. Not really ‘a rookie mistake,’ but it’s definitely a mistake from a rookie. I feel like that’s mindful play that I could have expanded on and did a lot better. Going into practice this week and on, you’re definitely going to get a better CeeDee.

“At the end of the day, it’s on me. It’s my responsibility to make that conversion, to make that play. And I didn’t. So that’s not going to sit with me well at all. It’s going to be in my head for a minute. Obviously, that was the differential in the game. We lost 17-20. If we get that first down, who knows what would have happened after that? It’s definitely a tough pill to swallow.”

The loss will also be tough pill for Cowboys fans to swallow. It’s hard to imagine Jason Garrett going for it in that situation, and it’s impossible to imagine him not getting roasted afterward for playing it too safe.

But the USS Conservative no longer docks in Dallas.

A big part of what made McCarthy such an intriguing replacement for Garrett was his reliance on math and data, the hope being that analytics would provide a nudge toward playing for the win instead of playing not to lose.

McCarthy was asked what the numbers say about the decision to go for the first down. He answered with a knowing smirk, well aware the question would be coming.

“I think analytics give you good structure to help evaluate decisions,” the 56-year-old coach explained. “Analytics would tell you to go for it there. But there’s other factors into that. I think some of those are things I’m not particularly going to talk on when you get into decision-making. I mean, you have to look at your variables and you’ve got to trust your players. I think, especially the first time going out into a game, I want our offensive guys to play wide-open. We have that capability. I’ll pull back when I feel like it’s in the best interest of the team. I clearly recognize that it was a three-point game, but we still had a lot of time left. I just felt that would have been a huge momentum play for us at that particular time. They had six big plays in the first half, and we only had one, so that mindset was trying to create some more of those opportunities for our players.”

In McCarthy’s answers, there was a discernible undertone. Something just under the surface and in between the lines.

Sure, he wanted to beat the Rams on Sunday night. He would have preferred to win the season opener, start his Dallas tenure with a victory, get an early leg up on Philadelphia in the division. But one gets the very real sense that McCarthy and Moore’s decision to go for it on that crucial fourth down was about more than Week 1. He’s setting a tone for his players and staff and setting expectations for fans about how this Cowboys team is going to approach every game, all season long. Not all of the punches will land, but they’ll keep getting thrown.

Prescott, for one, loves it.

“I think that’s one of the good things that you can take out of this game: our coach is going to put it our hands,” he told reporters. “He expects us to go make those plays, he trusts us to do that, he’s going to call the game aggressive, and you’ve got to appreciate that. I know I do as a quarterback, and I’m pretty sure the rest of the guys do as an offense. So as I said, it’s up to us to execute better right there and to make sure that play is a first down and we get the momentum going and we try to capitalize and do exactly what Coach had in mind there.”

What McCarthy had in mind is something this Cowboys team can build on, and something Cowboys fans should start getting used to. The fourth-down decision may have felt like a preseason kind of move; McCarthy took a similar sort of longview approach as he put it in perspective.

“I think it’s all part of the growth of an NFL season,” the coach said. “You have to improve throughout the season. Number one, you have to win. We needed to find a way to win that game tonight, and we didn’t get that done. And we’ve got to make sure that we walk away from this opportunity and learn from it and be better for our home opener in seven days. And that’s really the reality for where we are. The only thing that we won’t accomplish this season will be a 16-0 season; that’s the only thing that’s guaranteed. But everything else is in front of us.”

No one expected smooth sailing for the Cowboys’ ship as they pursue a sixth Super Bowl championship. But the California waves proved to be a bit rougher than most anticipated to start the journey. And Mike McCarthy has made it clear: he won’t be keeping his ship docked safely in harbor this season.

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Against the Spread: Picking Cowboys vs Rams

The pick against the spread between the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams for the Week 1 opener.

Much like the 2019 Dallas Cowboys, this weekly gambling article began with a bang. The picks against the spread jumped out to an 8-5 record last season before losing the final three, ending with a truly Jason Garrett inspired 8-8 record. The over/under picks fared only slightly better, hitting on nine of the 16 games.

This year will be better and it starts Sunday night when new head coach Mike McCarthy kicks off the second act of his career in the Los Angeles Rams’ brand new digs, SoFi Stadium. Even in a normal year it would be hard to predict this contest’s home field advantage given the popularity of the Cowboys in the area, but now it may be none at all. Due to the Covid pandemic, there will be no fans in attendance making home field advantage a true crap shoot perhaps the entirety of the 2020 season.

Historically, both coaches have been safe bets against the spread in the first game of the season. During his time with the Green Bay Packers, McCarthy went 8-5 on opening day and Rams head coach Sean McVay is 3-0 so far in  his young career.

Per BetMGM, Dallas enters the game as 2.5 point favorites on the road, a situation not unfamiliar in the Dak Prescott era. Since 2016, the Cowboys are 12-7 straight up and 10-8-1 against the spread in these scenarios, while the Los Angeles have lost their last seven contests, including all three with McVay and quarterback Jared Goff. They have yet to cover.

The Verdict: The Cowboys offensive weapons prove too much for Aaron Donald and the Rams to handle. Dallas covers the three-point spread and the OVER (52) comes through in a shootout.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.
Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence
on news coverage.

Cowboys 20202 Prop Bet Manifesto: Where you should let it ride

Degenerate gamblers unite. The NFL season is nigh, and with it comes a cornucopia of ways to diversify a budding portfolio with long-term investments in the player-prop market. This exact column last year had a hit rate of two out of three, a …

Degenerate gamblers unite. The NFL season is nigh, and with it comes a cornucopia of ways to diversify a budding portfolio with long-term investments in the player-prop market.

This exact column last year had a hit rate of two out of three, a percentage that Meat Loaf would say, “ain’t bad.” This year the dive is only getting deeper. Three picks is no longer enough satiate this thirst. Here’s to building on a successful campaign and making some extra money on all things Dallas Cowboys.

A quick note, all lines come from Bovada and can be found here, though they are subject to change at a moment’s notice.

Dak Prescott

There’s no place better to start than with quarterback Dak Prescott. Coming off the best statistical season of his career, the odds-makers are projecting a decline in 2020 in his gross totals.

Passing yards over/under 4319.5 (-130 over, EVEN under)

Only three times in head coach Mike McCarthy’s 13 previous years with the Green Bay Packers did his offense fall in the bottom half of the league in passing attempts. The lowest of all was in 2014, where the Packers ranked No. 20 in attempts, throwing the ball 536 times. That would be the second most attempts for Prescott in his career, trailing only the 2019 season.

It’s easy to imagine the Cowboys throwing the ball less in 2020, but given McCarthy’s history, even if that happens it it is unlikely to be a significant decrease. The bigger concern facing Prescott is simple regression. He was incredibly efficient last year, notching over 8.2 yards per attempt, so even a modest drop off can make the over a tough bet to win.

The Verdict: Over. Prescott staves off the yardage regression to become just the 12th quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least 4320 yards in consecutive seasons.

Passing touchdowns over/under 27.5 (-145 over, +110 under)

Prescott had never thrown for more than 23 touchdowns until 2019, however the bettors are heavily favoring the over for the Cowboys quarterback in 2020.

The biggest reason why is a swerve from the Jason Garret regime that was notorious for its conservative nature in the red zone. McCarthy has been historically pass happy inside the 20-yard-line. The comparison was made by The Athletic’s Bob Sturm, who noted the stark difference between the two head coaches.

The Verdict: McCarthy’s aggressive nature gets Prescott to the over.

Interceptions thrown over/under 9.5 (-115 over, -115 under)

Prescott has averaged just nine interceptions a game in his career, but part of that average is skewed by his anomaly of a rookie season in which he notched just four. The increased aggressiveness will lead to many good things on the football field, but it’s unlikely to lower his interception total.

Verdict: Over


Ezekiel Elliott

Rushing yards over/under 1275.5 (over -110, under -120)

Rushing touchdowns over/under 9.5 (over -115, under -115)

The public is off of running back Ezekiel Elliott’s bandwagon for the moment, as the under for yardage is currently seeing more action. That would make the second year in a row the Cowboys bell cow fails to hit that specific over, and it’s not hard to see why. There are three things working against Elliott here.

The first is his decline in production from his rookie year on. His yards per game have gone down every single season he’s been in the league.

Year Yards per game
2016 108.7
2017 98.3
2018 95.6
2019 84.8

That’s an uncomfortable truth. His 2016 performance was bolstered by an offensive line that was head and shoulders above the rest of the league. That’s no longer the case due to age and attrition. But the elephant in the room is whether or not Elliott’s 2019 is a sign of things to come or just a blip on the radar.

The second issue is backup running back Tony Pollard, who played well in his limited time on the field his rookie year. It’s likely he’ll be used more than the 18% of offensive snaps he saw in 2019, and even a small increase can eat into Elliott’s totals.

The final, and perhaps most important is Mike McCarthy. McCarthy has never had a running back rush for 1276 yards in a season. The most yardage in a season belongs to Ryan Grant and his 1253 yards back in 2009. Otherwise, some truly pedestrian numbers have led McCarthy’s teams on the ground. On two separate occasions under 500 yards did the trick.

To be fair, McCarthy has never had a back like Elliott during his time in the NFL. For those who like the over, there’s one thing that matters most in determining whether or not he delivers: winning games.

In games where Dallas jumped out to a big lead were the games in which Elliott was most effective. In the Cowboys’ seven double digit wins in 2019, he racked up 778 yards on 142 attempts and six rushing touchdowns, good for 5.47 yards-per-carry.

This is the formula the Cowboys need to follow in 2020: throw to build a lead and then lean on the running game to salt away the clock.

Verdict: Over on both. An increased focus on the passing game results in a more efficient Elliott.


Amari Cooper

Receiving yards over/under 1050.5 (over -110, under -120)

Receiving touchdowns over/under 7.5 (over -115, under -115)

Receptions over/under 74.5 (over -115, under -115)

The lines above could pass for Amari Cooper’s career averages and no one would blink an eye. Through his career his 16 game average per Pro Football Reference is 74 receptions for 1059 yards and 7 touchdowns. These are the exact kind of lines that strike fear into the hearts of gamblers everywhere.

There’s been two problems that have plagued Cooper and have kept him from entering the upper-crust of wide receiver society: injuries and consistency. It’s not exactly a state secret that Prescott’s No. 1 target battled injuries throughout 2019 and the Cowboys Wire’s KD Drummond outlined the stark contrast between his stellar performance at home and his concerning play on the road.

For Cooper to hit the over it’s going to require nearly perfect health. Unfortunately, he’s missed a considerable amount of time heading into the season and as of Wednesday before kick off wasn’t a full participant in practice and is working on the resistance cords.

Verdicts: With the tenuous nature of Cooper’s health heading into 2020, it’s best to stay away from the receptions and yards bets. Go under on 7.5 touchdowns, as he had just nine targets inside the red zone last year, and may be the fourth best receiving option near the goal line in 2020.


Michael Gallup

Receiving yards over/under 900.5 (over -120, under -110)

Michael Gallup may be the most slept on wide receiver in the NFL. He’s on the short list of receivers to top 1100 yards in one of their first two seasons. He did that in 2019 in just 14 games while getting knee surgery in the middle of the season. No big deal.

He was already in the shadow of Amari Cooper and then the Cowboys went ahead and drafted CeeDee Lamb, pushing him further from the spotlight. There’s concern from some that there won’t be enough targets to go around, but that shouldn’t be an issue. The only regret is there’s not more Gallup props to throw money at.

Verdict: Over.


CeeDee Lamb

Receiving yards over/under 750.5 (over -130, under EVEN)

Receiving touchdowns over/under 4.5 (over -170, under +130)

Again, like with Cooper and Gallup before him, it comes down to a question of targets. Fortunately for Lamb fans, there’s plenty to go around. First, it’s fair to assume, given McCarthy’s history, that the passing attempts won’t see a significant drop off in 2020 so the Dallas offense and quarterback Dak Prescott will be throwing the ball early and often.

Secondly, it’s not exactly a one to one equation, but the Cowboys do have targets to replace. Specifically to former tight end Jason Witten and former wide receiver Randall Cobb. Those two combined for 166 targets in 2019. Some of those will surely find their way to starting tight end Blake Jarwin, but there’s a significant amount left on the table.

Highly-touted rookie wide receivers often struggle transitioning to the NFL. There’s several reasons for it, but a lot of times it’s because they quickly are drawing attention from the opposing team’s better cornerbacks on a weekly basis. In Dallas, Lamb has the luxury of being with two wide receivers who demand attention, making this an easy pick.

Verdict: Over on both. Lamb turns in one of the best rookie receiving campaigns in team history.

Cowboys News: Noncommittal Jerry Jones, rookie hype at all-time high

Earl Thomas is the focal point of the news today for the Cowboys but they’re not losing sight of what the prize is in the end.

All eyes and ears were glued to phones and social media platforms awaiting Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ statement regarding free agent safety Earl Thomas. In typical Jones fashion, he left the door cracked open. Jones said that he nor any other Cowboys official has spoken to Thomas but will keep Cowboys nation guessing for just a little longer.

The hype is real about this year’s defensive line. Size, speed and strength in numbers have Cowboys media beaming about the defensive front. Have all the rookies started off hot in Cowboys camp? Cee Dee Lamb and Trevon Diggs have really turned some heads. Mike McCarthy has a firm grip on this team and has started the new culture in the right direction. Ezekiel Elliott loves being the workhorse of the Cowboys running game but is willing to let the offense have a change of pace back to compliment his hard nosed running style. Less than three weeks away from opening night in front of zero fans in Hollywood. Here is today’s Cowboys news.


Monsters, Inc.: Cowboys pass rush sounds like things nightmares made of :: The CowboysWire

Size, speed, and strength in numbers . The Cowboys have entered camp with several new looks on the defensive line. Pick your poison as the defensive front pins their ears back and are ready to hunt.


Will they or won’t they unknown, Cowboys yet to make move on Earl Thomas :: The CowboysWire

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones leaves a tiny bit of hope for any Cowboys fans that want Earl Thomas as a member of the 2020 squad. He shoots down a prominent NFL reporter and reiterates that only he has the real answers when it comes to the acquisition of Thomas.


Jones desires Cowboys stand during anthem, unclear if he’ll request or compel :: The CowboysWire

It’s on the forefront of a lot of players in the league. The Cowboys in unison kneeled prior to the anthem in prayer once upon a time. Now, just years later, owner Jerry Jones still doesn’t have a concrete plan in place for when the time comes.


Darian Thompson stepping into occupied void in Cowboys safety competition :: The CowboysWire

While Cowboys media has been focused on if or when Earl Thomas will be signed, Darian Thompson has been outworking the safety room and has himself in a position to snag a starting spot if he keeps up the effort. Ha Ha Clinton Dix will have to have a great next two weeks to make Mike McCarthy’s decision harder.



Cowboys patient approach with Earl Thomas reflects Mike McCarthy’s influence :: Blogging The Boys

The fact that Earl Thomas has not been sign sealed and delivered to the Cowboys yet might be an indicator that Mike McCarthy has heavy influence on his entire roster. There is quite the chemistry being built in Frisco lately and a new player being added to the mix might not be the best idea.


Ezekiel Elliott clearly wants to win above all else :: Blogging The Boys

It’s not about the carries this year for Ezekiel Elliott. The running back coming into his fifth year of action in the NFL says he’s willing to take a few snaps off in order for other electric players to make plays. As long as the wins pile up.



CeeDee Lamb, Trevon Diggs Living up to Early Hype in Camp :: Inside The Star

The first and second round picks for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2020 NFL Draft seem to be home runs. Lamb continues to score touch downs and Digg’s is making it difficult for wide receivers to get open.


Cowboys owner Jerry Jones looking for compromise regarding national anthem :: NFL.com

There’s no clear cut plan as to what Jerry Jones will ultimately decide about the National Anthem. Some Cowboys are already set in their ways but ultimately it will be Jones’ grace that makes the ultimate decision.


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McCarthy: Cowboys are ‘in this to win a championship’

Dallas’s new straight-shooting coach respectfully questioned a team would have any other goal for a season, even one as surreal as 2020.

Mike McCarthy is unquestionably a no-nonsense guy. Maybe it stems from his upbringing in the Rust Belt, where he grew up surrounded by honest blue-collar folk. Perhaps it was honed by his long and storied tenure in Green Bay, where smalltown sensibility reigns with an entire swath of Midwesterners who tell it like it is across the nation’s heartland.

And maybe it’s part of why Cowboys fans are so optimistic. (Of course, McCarthy’s career .618 winning percentage as a head coach, nine playoff berths in 13 seasons, and Super Bowl ring don’t hurt, either.) But coming off a head coach who went out of his way to give generic non-answers to even the most cut-and-dry questions, Dallas has arguably been without the straight-shooting type for a while.

So forgive McCarthy for being brutally blunt when he’s asked about whether the team has a Super-Bowl-or-bust mentality one week into training camp.

“I think conversation like that, frankly, respectfully, is nonsense,” McCarthy said about such expectations, the kind that typically go unspoken in favor of one-game-at-a-time soundbites.

“If you’re not trying to win the Super Bowl, I don’t know what the… what you’re even doing in this business,” he continued, stopping himself from dropping an expletive in the middle of the sentence. “I think that’s what every team starts their offseason with. The ones that don’t want to talk about it, they’re just probably trying to underpromise [and] overachieve. But I’ve always been very up front about it with every team I’ve ever coached. We’re in this to win a championship. Make no bones about it.”

Go back and re-read that quote. It sounds a whole lot like something Jerry Jones, often dismissed as just a relentless hype man, would say. And has said, whether the squad was a legitimate contender or in obvious rebuilding mode.

The difference, of course, is that McCarthy is the guy charged with actually making it happen on the field. To borrow an analogy from another former Cowboys skipper, Jones has shopped for the groceries. Now it’s up to McCarthy to cook the meal.

And right now, the cook is still figuring out his ingredients. McCarthy pointed out that Friday’s practice would be just the sixth day of installing the coaching staff’s schemes.

To put it another way, everyone knows that 2020 opening day is just 20 days away. But the reality is that, due to the late start thanks to COVID-19, the preseason prep has barely begun.

“The schedule ‘is what it is.’ I’m not a big fan of that statement, but we’re all in a pandemic,” McCarthy told reporters. “Every coach is coaching in this training camp environment. The players are doing a great job with the COVID challenge.

“It’s going to be a long, long year. It’s going to be a huge challenge to get that championship. That’s the reality of it. But at the end of the day, we’re on Install Six, and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Make no bones about it.

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Mike McCarthy addresses injuries, new Cowboys after first practice

Hear what Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy had to say about his new team after Day 1 of 2020 training camp.

Despite the numerous personnel changes and the nonexistent off season programs, the most important factor of the Cowboys season will be new head coach Mike McCarthy.

As the on-field portion of training camp began Friday, it was easy to see just how excited McCarthy was to be back involved with the game he knows and loves, especially in his new home in Dallas.

McCarthy held a virtual press conference with the media on Saturday, and touched on a number of topics regarding his first days with a Star on his shirt.

New Additions

The first question, to no surprise, was about the Cowboys latest free agent splash, Everson Griffen. McCarthy had this to say about his former division foe:

“I can’t say enough about Everson Griffen, the fact that I was able to compete against him twice a year, he was always the primary focus for us offensively… he’s a relentless player. He brings it every down, has great passion for the game. [I] had an opportunity to visit with him, he’s extremely excited, a big personality, so I think he’s going to be a great fit for our football team.”

McCarthy would add that Griffen can join the team after going through the proper Covid-19 protocols, which is a four-to-five day process.

Another former All-Pro added to the Dallas defense in the off season, Aldon Smith, has potential to be a huge X-factor for the Dallas defense.

“He looks great. He’s probably about 20 pounds bigger than when he last played on the 49ers,” McCarthy said about Smith. McCarthy would go on to add, “He’s very powerful, his length is extraordinary. He made in the team period, on a screen, that you don’t see everyday, that’s for sure. He’s hit the target in every phase that we’ve gone through, particularly the strength and conditioning.”

Rookie wide-receiver CeeDee Lamb has made headlines all off season, and the Cowboys 2020 first-round selection is already showing why the hype is real in just his first few days of training camp.

“He’s picked it up seamlessly. he’s done a great job in the classroom environment… he’s definitely shown the ability to play all three spots… we’ll see what goes on with punt return…” via K.D. Drummond.

Another high-profile rookie, cornerback Trevon Diggs, received plenty of first-team reps.

“Very smooth, he looks like he’s transitioning very well,” McCarthy said about the Alabama product. “We’ve only had one practice but the thing that jumps out to you on the practice field is particularly his ball skills. He’s a natural, and I think he’ll adjust very well to the NFL game.”

McCarthy would reiterate his willingness to play rookies often and early during his tenure in Green Bay. With the Cowboys need for turnover-creating defenders, Diggs should have a significant role from day one in Dallas.

 

Training Camp Details

McCarthy is bringing his coaching methods that he worked to establish in Green Bay to Dallas, but you can’t do everything quite the same. For example the team is beginning practice at 8:30 A.M. in order to try to beat the scorching Texas heat. He added that the current schedule involves meetings and walk-throughs in the evening, and that this camp schedule has the opportunity for flexibility.

The shortened camp is a new component that no coach has ever dealt with. McCarthy had this to say about how much each practice meant,

“This has been a different training camp… frankly the biggest thing that we talked about.. was the importance. How important each practice is, I’m not really worried about the physical talent of this team, I think we all agree its high in nature.” via K.D. Drummond.

The Cowboys quarterbacks were in red jerseys for the first time ever, and McCarthy uses this common tactic as a way to identify and to better protect the quarterbacks during practice.

The Cowboys special teams units have been poor in recent years, but the new staff in Dallas is making the third phase of the game a priority, under new leader John Fassel.

“We just, we’ve dedicated more time to special teams than I have in the past, and frankly I always felt we were pretty high as far as time spent on special teams as far as compared to other NFL teams,” McCarthy said. He would add, “We’re just investing a little bit more time with the specialists particularly just getting them as much work as possible.” via RJ Ochoa.

Injury Concerns

A handful of Cowboys missed the first day of training camp, most notable being La’el Collins and Dontari Poe.

McCarthy isn’t concerned about Collins health though, as he stated “I’m not going to get into the specifics of that, but it’s not something of high concern.”

Collins emerged as a star a right tackle last season for the Cowboys and will be crucial to the offenses continued success.

When asked how close Poe was to returning to the field from a quad injury McCarthy said,

“He’s doing well, looks good. Just watching him work out there it’s unbelievable. I’m always amazed by his footwork and his ability to get in and out of situations, so he’s making progress.”

Offensive lineman Cam Erving was also absent on day one, but he is another player who McCarthy said should be back sooner rather than later.

McCarthy and his staff have their work cut out for them, as every team does, with only 19 practices until the games begin. The full press conference can be found at this link.

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Mercs For Hire: Cowboys loading up on one-year rentals in 2020

The 2020 offseason acquisitions may signal a new era of player acquisition for the Dallas Cowboys.

There are only three mechanisms to improve an NFL roster: via trade, via the draft or through free agency. For the vast majority of the interminable Jason Garrett era, the Dallas Cowboys were content to sit two of the three out. Once in a blue moon the team would dip their toes into free agency, but nearly never dabbled in the mercenary business.

The one-year rental can be a boon to an NFL team. Adding veteran talent far below their pay grade offers up the kind of low-risk avenue every contender should be fighting for. Worst case scenario, the player under-performs and the team loses a minimal amount of cap space for one season before moving on. Best case scenario, the player out-performs their single season prove-it deal, cashes in the following offseason and the team gets a compensatory pick, or even better, signs back and becomes an integral part of the team for years to come.

Every year, mercenaries are available deep into the summer due to age, contract demands, or a willingness to wait for the right suitor.

And every year, the Dallas brain trust was content to sit it out, with Garrett often saying, “We like the guys we have here.” The players the Cowboys would sign for a single season in years past were more likely to be cut or retire than suit up for the team. Here’s a list of one-year signings who played meaningful snaps over the last decade:

Year Player
2020 Everson Griffen
Andy Dalton
Aldon Smith
HaHa Clinton-Dix
2019 Randall Cobb
Kerry Hyder
Christian Covington
2018 Cameron Fleming
2017 Byron Bell
Kellen Moore
Jonathan Cooper
2016 Justin Durant
Mark Sanchez
2015 Greg Hardy
2014 Jack Crawford
2013 Jon Kitna
2012 None
2011 Abram Elam
2010 None

Prior to this year, among one-year free agent signings, there’s two hits on the list (forget about the players who did absolutely nothing for the team) in guard Jonathan Cooper and wide receiver Randall Cobb, though pass rusher Greg Hardy did provide the team something else entirely. And, to be fair and give credit where it’s due, the front office did make two trades last year that paid huge dividends for defensive ends Robert Quinn and Michael Bennett.

Still, the upside of the 2020 mercenary group is higher than the entirety of the previous decade, and it doesn’t even include defensive tackles Gerald McCoy or Dontari Poe who have little or no guaranteed money on their contracts past this season.

If nothing else, the hiring of Mike McCarthy has shown a willingness to change and a philosophy shift to join the current era of player acquisition. Wednesday’s signing of defensive end Everson Griffen is the kind of move fans and pundits alike have been clamoring for since before Dak Prescott could vote. It’s also the kind of move that can push a team over the edge.

The 2020 hired gun may end up being an anomaly. With McCarthy in his first year and the team having an unprecedented amount of free agents this past offseason, maybe the club will revert to their old ways. He may have just been looking for gap fillers as he became familiar with his roster; the front office hesitant to commit long-term dollars. The uncertainty of future caps thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic that hit at the beginning of the league year could also have influenced the team’s thinking.

Either way, for now the Cowboys have committed to invested in not just stop-gaps, but certifiable talent which should help in their quest to earn a sixth Lombardi.

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