With a road trip to Atlanta on the schedule for this weekend, the Cowboys shouldn’t expect much in the way of Southern hospitality from Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins.
His loaded offense currently ranks in the top 10 leaguewide in points scored, total yards, yards-per-play, first downs, and passing yards. With DeMarcus Lawrence, Micah Parsons, and DaRon Bland all set to sit out once again, this is not the week for the Dallas defense to have any more of its superstar players pop up on the questionable list.
But that’s exactly where top cornerback Trevon Diggs is, with word coming from the top of the organization about the new injury that kept him out of practice earlier in the week and jeopardizes his status for Week 9.
Diggs made news after the team’s loss to the 49ers by getting into a heated exchange with WFAA reporter Mike Leslie outside the visitors locker room. While the two did publicly make up, it put extra eyes on the two-time Pro Bowler this week. Those eyebrows were then raised when Diggs later appeared on the practice report as a non-participant Wednesday and Thursday with some sort of calf issue.
“What none of us knew when that was going on was that he had a tear in his calf, and [it] was going to maybe limit him,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan.
Diggs had told the media that he believed he was dealing merely with tightness in the muscle, stemming from “one of the plays I got hit or something” in Santa Clara last Sunday night.
Jones wasn’t ready to say Diggs will join his other high-profile rehabbing teammates as an onlooker at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I’m not so sure he’s out [for Sunday], but… that’s why he wasn’t at practice the other day.”
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy offered some optimism for Diggs’s status, calling him a gametime decision.
“There’s specific drills we’ll need him to do tomorrow,” the coach said Friday per ESPN’s Todd Archer, “but he was much better today than we could have anticipated. He’s doing everything he can to try to get ready for Sunday.”
[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]
On the bright side for Dallas, it looks as if rookie cornerback Caelen Carson will return to action. He practiced in full all week and carries no official designation for the Atlanta tilt after a shoulder injury that kept him shelved for four games.
Amani Oruwariye was moved to IR earlier in the week with a back injury, leaving nickel starter Jourdan Lewis, special-teams ace C.J. Goodwin, the much-maligned Andrew Booth, and practice-squadder Josh Butler as the only other cornerbacks in the building.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
[mm-video type=video id=01jbhmcye8f8gn365ng6 playlist_id=01eqbwens7sctqdrqg player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01jbhmcye8f8gn365ng6/01jbhmcye8f8gn365ng6-cff46fe44eaaf3858ccd4f8bcc4710f7.jpg]
[lawrence-newsletter]