Category: News and Notes

Twenty-two months after the pandemic started, COVID is wreaking more havoc with the Cowboys than ever. Two new starters have tested positive; they’ll join Micah Parsons in watching the season finale from home. Amari Cooper, who’s already missed time with the virus, could soon be missing a nice chunk of change for ignoring league rules about the virus. The COVID cases are already thinning the ranks of players available for Saturday’s game in Philadelphia; four additional key contributors are questionable with other issues.

Elsewhere, the Cowboys coordinators say they’re locked on the Eagles despite the Jaguars holding on Line 1, we’re troubleshooting Dak Prescott and what he needs to do to get back on track for the postseason, John Fassel is standing by his kicker after an up-and-down year, and whatever happened to that promise by Jerry Jones to put Jimmy Johnson in the Ring of Honor? We’re giving out final grades for the Arizona loss, remembering an unsung hero of the first great Cowboys teams, and cracking open a cold one developed by the most decorated passer in team history. Here are the News and Notes.

The Cowboys have a postseason berth sewn up… but things in Dallas feel like they’re coming apart at the seams. The outlook around the team is downright dire following a Week 17 letdown against Arizona, with plenty of blame to go around. Is it an offensive line that is now just a shell of its former self? Is it an ineffective run game? An offensive coordinator who’s in over his head? The kicker who’s having consistency issues? It just might be all of the above… at the worst possible time.

Elsewhere, Dak Prescott’s Comeback Player of the Year campaign isn’t such a sure thing anymore, Blake Jarwin is closer to a return just as Dalton Schultz is coming into his own, and the team takes a tumble in the power rankings. Jerry Jones wants to play the starters against Philadelphia, Ezekiel Elliott wants 1,000 yards, and Nate Newton achieves football immortality. All that, plus the story behind the 44-year-old photo that the Cowboys never wanted you to see. That’s all up in News and Notes.

To play or not to play the starters. That is always the question this time of year. With their playoff berth secured and their seeding largely out of their hands, the Cowboys won’t benefit much from putting their A-team on the field on Philadelphia in Week 18. But they plan to anyway. Their opponent, meanwhile, may not have very many starters to work with after the Eagles added a dozen to its COVID list on Monday. Oh, and the game will be played a day earlier than originally thought.

Meanwhile, lots to unpack from Sunday’s fall-flat performance against Arizona, including confirming the worst news for Michael Gallup, rehashing the officials’ role in the loss, finding a bright spot, and what the result means now for the Cowboys’ playoff seeding. Blake Jarwin is nearing a return, Kellen Moore will be interviewing with Jacksonville during the short week, and we now know who (almost) all the Cowboys’ opponents will be in 2022. All that, plus a few more Madden stories with Cowboys connections. That’s ahead in News and Notes.

Dak Prescott torched the Washington Football Team on Sunday, racking up passing stats good enough to earn him yet another weekly award and move him higher in the Top 10 of quarterbacks leaguewide. But it may actually be his legs that prove to be the missing piece to the offensive puzzle this season.

Elsewhere, we look at Wednesday’s practice for status updates on Tyron Smith and DeMarcus Lawrence, plus several Cowboys players get roster upgrades as the Cardinals come to town. The math calls for a close game, and the locker room leaders are calling on their teammates to play it smart and safe this time of year as the stakes get ever higher. We’re looking at the rugby technique that is helping push the Dallas run game in short-yardage situations, debating whether the special teams’ punt block-for-TD should count (and for whom) in the players’ popular bet, and examining Dan Quinn’s reported decline of the offer to interview before the end of the season in Jacksonville. All that, plus mock drafting in the Sooner State. Here’s the News and Notes.