The Dallas Cowboys have a chance to do something they have not accomplished yet with Dak Prescott at quarterback; make the playoffs after losing the Thanksgiving game. This will be Mike McCarthy’s first try, as he didn’t have his star QB available due to a season-ending injury in Week 5 of 2020.
This Thanksgiving Dallas fell to the Las Vegas Raiders, 36-33 in overtime. The team has been unlucky with player losses at a time when they have three games in 12 days. The increased snap counts due to a lack of depth makes it difficult on Dallas to recover in such short time.
The Cowboys offense is almost back to full strength getting all of their starters back for Thursday’s game. CeeDee Lamb is back after missing a game due to a concussion, and the offensive line should have Tyron Smith, La’el Collins, and Zack Martin all starting for the first time since 2019. Amari Cooper has yet to be activated off the Reserve/COVID list, but it’s unclear if that’s gamesmanship or if he’s still working back. Backup tight end Blake Jarwin and receiver Cedrick Wilson will be out, and with a New Orleans defense stacked with good players across the field, Dallas will need as many options as possible to pull this win off.
The Saints offense might be the only unit that has had worse injury luck than Dallas. They have been without either offensive tackle, Terron Armstead, or Ryan Ramczyk. Michael Thomas has been out all season. Last week both running backs, Alvin Kamara, and Mark Ingram missed the game. Not only have they been without Jameis Winston, but backup Taysom Hill has missed a couple weeks as well.
Hill and Ingram are returning this week, Ramczyk and Kamara have been limited participants in practice as well. With both teams starting to get healthy, this could be a must-see matchup of two teams who have combined for one win in the last four weeks and here is where you can watch, listen, and bet on the game.