Tag: 2021 season week 13

No Cheetos: Micah Parsons remains hungry for Cowboys’ success despite stellar rookie season

In the middle of a season that could bring personal accolades, all the the rookie LB cares about is the team accomplishing its goals. | From @ToddBrock24f7

If he were still in college, linebacker Micah Parsons would have wrapped up his regular season by now. Maybe there would be a conference championship still to play for, but for the most part, he and his Penn State teammates would be waiting to hear which bowl game they’d be invited to.

But the rookie, who has become the must-watch player on the Cowboys’ suddenly-transformed defense, already grasps that an 8-4 record at this level doesn’t mean nearly the same thing.

“Right now, only half the job is done,” Parsons told reporters following the Cowboys’ 27-17 road win over the New Orleans Saints. “You’ve got to complete the whole mission.”

Parsons has been the frontrunner for Defensive Rookie of the Year for most of this season. But the team leader in sacks- by a lot- and the league co-leader in tackles for loss is suddenly in the conversation for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, too.

But the 22-year-old has his sights set higher: on what the team still wants to accomplish as a unit.

“Super Bowl. Playoffs. You’ve got five games left,” Parsons said. “There’s stuff to be done within those five games. I don’t think it’s time for me to sit on my couch smiling and eating Cheetos just yet. I’m trying to do something way bigger than what anybody else thought we could do this year. That’s what I’m focused on. I’m just doing my job in the process.”

One can almost envision the new commercials starring Parsons and Chester Cheetah kicking back on the sofa, with the player who loves to proclaim “The lion is always hungry” as the new face of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Of course, Parsons’s regular job has already included a good bit of moonlighting. In just his second game at the pro level, the linebacker played defensive end to cover for injured teammates. Much of the considerable damage he’s done this season has come when playing out of position in coordinator Dan Quinn’s fast and aggressive defense.

“You call him a linebacker,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan. “But what he really is is a disruptor. He’s very unique. He’s unique.”

His teammates agree.

“I feel like the more the season went on, you could see his speed start to come alive in games,” DeMarcus Lawrence said of Parsons after the Week 13 win, his first game back after a long absence. “He’s just a fast player. Excellent instincts. A go-getter. The lone lion.”

Parsons and Lawrence had previously taken the field together in just the season opener before a broken foot sidelined Lawrence for 10 weeks. The rookie was glad to have the two-time Pro Bowler back in the huddle, though it was only for about half of the Cowboys’ defensive snaps as Lawrence worked his way back to game speed.

“It felt good,” Parsons said of Lawrence’s return. “High-energy guy. Anytime you’re out there, you hear him on the sidelines, trying to help you throughout the game… It’s great to have him back. Glad he got his feet wet. One step forward to what he’s trying to accomplish and what were trying to accomplish.”

While Parsons has been the breakout star of the Cowboys defense in 2021, Thursday’s performance was a true team effort. Four different Dallas players logged an interception, ranging from cornerback Trevon Diggs with his league-leading ninth to defensive tackle Carlos Watkins, who recorded his first career pick and first career touchdown all on the same fourth-quarter play.

“Any time you’re backed up and you’ve got a chance to get off the field,” Parsons commented, “somebody’s got to make play. You’ve always got to think, ‘Why not me?’ Today, everybody made a play. Tre made a play, doing what he do. Carlos made a play. Everybody made a play that led to a victory today. I think that’s what’s important.”

The NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Month for November shows no sign of slowing down in December. And while rookies are often just happy to make any sort of contribution in their first year, Parsons is already exhorting his veteran teammates to play up to his level, even though he’s played just 12 games as a pro.

“Very high standards for myself and for what I told Coach Q,” Parsons explained. “I told him from the very beginning, ‘Don’t treat me like a rookie.’ I said, ‘If I’m doing something wrong, tell me I’m doing something wrong. And if I’m doing something right, let me know, and I’ll keep doing it.'”

Right now, Parsons is doing pretty much everything right. And he’s hoping to keep doing it that way for another two months before cracking open that bag of Cheetos.

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Cowboys’ Parsons, Lawrence to face Saints’ backup tackles, no Kamara either

Lawrence returns after 10 weeks out and will see Saints backups across the line Thursday; RB Alvin Kamara will miss his 4th straight game. | From @ToddBrock24f7

A Cowboys team looking to get back in the win column will have one less playmaking weapon to worry about when they square off against a suddenly-depleted Saints squad on Thursday night.

New Orleans has declared running back Alvin Kamara out for a fourth straight game as he continues to deal with a knee injury. The four-time Pro Bowler had been limited in practice this week and was considered questionable to play. But NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Jane Slater reported Thursday morning that Kamara will sit once again.

Both of the Saints’ starting offensive tackles, also deemed questionable, have been ruled out of the Week 13 contest as well, both with knee injuries.

 

“These are huge absences,” notes John Sigler of Saints Wire. “The Saints offense hasn’t been functional without Kamara during the last month, and the line depth that New Orleans has invested in has been eroded by injuries — they’re replacing their two best blockers with veteran backups James Hurst and Jordan Mills. Even a change under center might not be enough to turn the tide considering [newly-named starting quarterback] Taysom Hill has been managing a painful foot injury.”

For the Cowboys defense, edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence is expected to return to action after a ten-week absence, and linebacker phenom Micah Parsons was just named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Month.

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Mike McCarthy confirms Dan Quinn will coach Cowboys from sideline vs Saints

Dan Quinn will be on the sideline, handling in-game decisions for the team as well as performing his DC duties in New Orleans. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Upon news breaking of Mike McCarthy’s positive COVID test Monday, speculation began immediately regarding who would step in and assume the Cowboys’ interim head coaching duties when Dallas travels to New Orleans to face the Saints on Thursday night.

Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn seemed to be the logical choice, given his recent five-plus-year stint as the head man in Atlanta and Super Bowl appearance on his resume. But longtime Packers player and staffer Rob Davis, hired by McCarthy in January 2020, has the “assistant head coach” title next to his name, seemingly designating him as the No. 2, despite no tangible coaching experience.

Both were named by various sources in Monday morning news reports as the likely candidate to fill in for McCarthy. Now McCarthy himself has spoken, confirming to USA Today Sports that Quinn will call the shots in Week 13, as per Jori Epstein.

Quinn, who normally coaches the defense from the booth, will be on the sideline Thursday night and retain his defensive coordinator role during the game.

“I think, understandably, with Dan’s experience, the challenge flag, the timeouts, the referees’ meeting, there’s just a lot of little things that go into it,” McCarthy told reporters via conference call Monday afternoon. “Number one, he’s done it before, so that’s obviously part of the thinking, part of the reason going through the change. He’s called a defense two years as the head coach. With that, I was trying to keep it as tight as I possibly can. Anytime you have one change, you don’t want to make 6 adjustments.”

Davis will handle administrative duties in McCarthy’s absence.

Before the news of his COVID test, McCarthy shared with Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan that he had already relocated temporarily as an extra precaution following the holidays; the entire league has ramped up virus protocols at all team facilities.

“Our players have done an excellent job taking the extra step,” McCarthy told Shan and RJ early Monday morning. “Personally, I’ve moved into a hotel the last couple days. Our climate here is we’re doing the things necessary to give us the best chance each and every week.”

The entire coaching staff will undergo something of a shuffle for the time being. Offensive line coach Joe Philbin and assistant offensive line coach Jeff Blasko are out with COVID; tights end coach Lunda Wells has stepped in there. Offensive quality control coach Chase Haslett takes over the tight end group. Team consultant Ben McAdoo, a former coach, will take on extra responsibilities, too.

Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and special teams coordinator John Fassel will continue leading their respective units.

McCarthy, who confirmed to USA Today that he is vaccinated, says he plans to be involved in the Cowboys’ game plan by leading virtual meetings this week, up until and including Thursday.

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Cowboys DT Neville Gallimore begins practice window, DeMarcus Lawrence could play Thursday

Gallimore started the season on IR; he could be activated any time in the next 21 days. DeMarcus Lawrence could play as early as Thursday. | From @ToddBrock24f7

It’s been a long wait for defensive tackle Neville Gallimore to make his 2021 debut. But the wait is almost over, for both the Canadian-born third-round pick of last year’s draft and the Cowboys fans who have been eager to see if he can build off a solid rookie season and stellar training camp this year.

The Cowboys announced Monday that Gallimore has started his 21-day practice window after starting the season on injured reserve.

Dallas can activate the Oklahoma product at any time, though it would be an usually quick turnaround if he were made eligible to play Thursday night in New Orleans. The team’s Week 14 game, Dec. 12 at Washington, is a more likely target date.

Edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence also returned to practice Monday; he could suit up Thursday night, which would be his first game action since Week 1’s loss to Tampa. He broke a bone in his foot in practice prior to Week 2.

Gallimore suffered a dislocated elbow in the Cowboys’ second preseason game versus Arizona in mid-August. At the time, a four-to-six week recovery window was given. The injury resulted in minimal structural damage, with nothing torn.

Dallas put Gallimore on short-term injured reserve to start the season, but it took him significantly longer than the required three weeks to be ready to return.

In nine starts as a rookie last season, Gallimore recorded 26 tackles (four for loss), was credited with one-half of a sack, and logged 12 quarterback pressures across 14 games.

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Report: Rob Davis to handle Cowboys’ HC role; McCarthy to be virtually involved all week

Dan Quinn, John Fassel, and Ben McAdoo have all been head coaches at the NFL level; but Rob Davis will oversee things in Week 13.| From @ToddBrock24f7

Head coach Mike McCarthy has entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol. And while his positive test will keep him off the sidelines when the Cowboys take the field in New Orleans on Thursday night, the coach still plans to be involved with preparations leading up to the Week 13 game, including day-of meetings to be conducted virtually.

While the team has not officially announced a plan on who will do what with McCarthy out, there’s previous head coaching experience already in the building.

Although that should give the team some options as they move through the week, USA Today’s Jori Epstein reports that assistant coach Rob Davis “will assume head-coaching responsibilities in person, two people with knowledge of the Cowboys’ plan confirmed.”

Davis spent 11 seasons with Green Bay as a long snapper and then another ten as the Packers’ director of player development during McCarthy’s tenure. He was plucked from the private sector by McCarthy in January 2020 to assume the title of Cowboys’ assistant head coach.

Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was a head coach as recently as last season and led the Falcons to a Super Bowl berth; WFAA’s Mike Leslie reported earlier that it was Quinn who was expected to assume head coaching responsibilities in McCarthy’s absence.

 

Offensive line coach Joe Philbin was the head man in Miami from 2012 until a month into the 2015 season; he acted as interim head coach in Green Bay when McCarthy was fired there in 2018. But Philbin was placed in COVID protocol just before the Thanksgiving Day game and had already been ruled out of the Saints trip, even before McCarthy’s positive test.

Special teams coordinator John Fassel served as the Rams’ interim head coach for a few games at the end of the 2016 season after the firing of Jeff Fisher.

Ben McAdoo, a consultant with the team who has been doing advance scouting of opponents and had been tapped to help fill in coaching the offensive line this week, was the Giants’ head coach in 2016 and for most of 2017.

Of course, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore interviewed for head coaching jobs in Philadelphia and at the college level at Boise State prior to the 2021 season. He is viewed as a top head coaching prospect and is expected to draw significant interest again this coming offseason.

It’s safe to say that the Cowboys will rely on every staffer listed here to do more than just the job they’re paid for as the team goes into triage mode entering the final six games of the regular season.

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COVID-19 to have ripple effect on multiple Cowboys coaches for Week 13

The Cowboys will have several assistants pitch in with the offensive line this week after multiple coaches have tested positive for COVID. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys’ roster has been harangued by COVID-19 all season long, with the virus affecting more players in Dallas than any other locker room in the league.

Now it’s working its way though the coaching staff, too, causing a ripple effect of gameday duties.

The Cowboys have announced that offensive line coach Joe Philbin, assistant offensive line coach Joe Blasko, and coaching assistant Scott Tolzien have entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol and will miss Thursday night’s game against the Saints.

Their absences will put several other Cowboys staffers in new roles on a fill-in basis.

“We have some different scenarios of exactly how we’re going to work the week,” head coach Mike McCarthy said Sunday in a conference call with media members.

Those scenarios include tight end coach Lunda Wells, quality control coach Chase Haslett, and Ben McAdoo, who has been serving the team in a consultant role, scouting future opponents.

Wells’s first coaching job was as an offensive line assistant at LSU for two seasons; he did the same job again with the New York Giants from 2013 to 2017.

Haslett is the son of former NFL coach Jim Haslett. He was hired by Dallas in 2020 after gaining offensive coaching experience at Nebraska, Mississippi State, and Mercer.

McAdoo’s name is most familiar as the head coach of the Giants in 2016 and most of 2017. Most of his body of work as a coach comes on the offensive side of the ball, working with the offensive line, tight ends, or quarterbacks.

Now all three will pitch in on getting the Cowboys’ line- without Terence Steele, who has also tested positive for COVID– ready for New Orleans.

As for whether McCarthy himself will get personally more involved with that unit for the Week 13 game, the coach had this to say:

“I think the biggest thing is just to make sure that the job description and responsibility is always tight. We feel really good about our game plan process. How we’ll do the group meetings, we’ll spend a little more time together as a group. This is something that I think that this an opportunity for young coaches to take advantage of. Definitely, I’ll be where I need to be this week.”

Philbin tested positive for the virus last week and missed the Thanksgiving Day game versus Las Vegas, as did assistant strength and conditioning coaches Kendall Smith and Cedric Smith.

Blasko handled O-line coaching responsibilities on Thursday; he and Tolzien turned in positive COVID tests since then.

Following the clash with the Saints, the Cowboys will have nine full days off before beginning their final five-game stretch of the regular season, in which they’ll play four divisional games and one against the NFC’s top seed Arizona Cardinals.

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McCarthy: CeeDee Lamb set to practice Sunday, Amari Cooper should return Monday

Lamb is on track to play Thursday after his Week 11 concussion; Cooper will have his conditioning tested after missing two games with COVID. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Dak Prescott has had his top trio of receivers for exactly two outings out of 11 so far this season. Now as the team tries to turn around a disappointing two-game losing streak for the regular season’s all-important home stretch, the Cowboys look to have their three-headed pass-catching monster back in action.

Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was set to participate fully in Sunday’s rare practice, head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters in a conference call earlier in the day. With the Cowboys on a Thursday-to-Thursday game schedule following their annual Thanksgiving Day tilt, the Sunday session is the equivalent of a normal Wednesday.

McCarthy said that the day would be “abbreviated,” calling it a “light practice” due to the team having already played two games within the last seven days.

“I see CeeDee Lamb going through the whole work day today,” McCarthy said.

Lamb suffered a concussion at the end of last Sunday’s loss in Kansas City and spent all week going through the steps to return in time for the Thursday game against Las Vegas. The team believed he was ready to play, but Lamb was not cleared by an independent neurologist and subsequently ruled out of Week 12. Prescott said he learned of Lamb’s status Wednesday evening.

Veteran wideout Amari Cooper has missed the past two games while in the COVID-19 protocol. He tested positive for the virus the day before the Cowboys’ Week 11 game at Arrowhead Stadium; his unvaccinated status mandated a 10-day quarantine that scratched him from the lineup for both the Chiefs and Raiders meetings.

Michael Gallup missed Weeks 2 through 9 with a calf injury. The three played together in the season opener and again in Week 10. In Thursday’s loss, Gallup was the only one of the three in uniform.

Cooper will “be back in tomorrow,” McCarthy said, referring to Monday, “and we’ll work him back in to see where he is with his conditioning and so forth.”

McCarthy admitted that there is concern as to how game-ready Cooper will be after battling the virus in at least some capacity over the past week and a half.

“I talked to [head athletic trainer] Jim Maurer this morning about Amari particularly,” McCarthy shared, “and he just felt the conditioning was going to be something that we’re going to have to get a hold of tomorrow, obviously, for any player coming off of a 10-day stretch. So we’ll know more tomorrow with a chance to work.”

As much as the Cowboys would have liked to make this Thursday-to-Thursday stretch a completely normal week, the league implemented new COVID protocols following the Thanksgiving holiday, knowing most players, coaches, and staffers would be in close contact with family and friends.

Extra testing and masks around the facility were already required by the league. The Cowboys moved to a new format that included virtual participation for Sunday and Monday’s sessions.

“The plan is get the players tested. That has been going on all morning,” McCarthy explained. “[They] come in and get their breakfast to go. And make sure they have their pads, and equipment is ready to go. We will start with a noon meeting. And we will have meetings throughout the afternoon. After the meetings conclude at 3:15, the players will come to the Star. We will work on the field from 4:15 to about 5:30.”

It should be a smooth transition, thanks to the routines established in 2020.

“We have three plans,” the coach elaborated. “The standard plan is the norm we have been in up to to this point. And then we have the virtual format that we are going utilize today and tomorrow. And we have the last year plan where had everybody spread out six feet. So that is something we may look to do in the future coming back off the bye weekend. We have those three plans in place. Going through the experience last year, it’s just a matter of which plan we are going to be in.”

With four days remaining before their next game in a tough New Orleans environment, the Cowboys hope they can plan on having their top two receiving options (in yards and touchdowns) back when they get to the Big Easy.

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Report: Cowboys may hold Ezekiel Elliott out of Week 13 game over knee concern

Mike McCarthy admitted to being “concerned” about the RB’s struggles; a source tells ESPN Elliott may be sidelined to let his knee heal. | From @ToddBrock24f7

After his second straight game with just a career-low nine rushing attempts, running back Ezekiel Elliott was at a loss to explain why he didn’t get more carries against the Raiders on Thanksgiving.

The 2.8-yard average he compiled across those tries was certainly a factor. But the knee injury that he’s been fighting through is likely part of it, too. Maybe even a bigger part. It may, in fact, be much more of an issue than the Cowboys have wanted to admit over the last month of play.

It may be significant enough that the team decides to take him off the field entirely. As per an ESPN report Friday, the team is considering giving Elliott “some time off” to heal from the injury. That may include “holding him out” of next Thursday night’s game in New Orleans, a source told network insider Ed Werder.

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy acknowledged Elliott’s lack of production Sunday after the team’s 36-33 overtime loss by saying simply, “I think Zeke was struggling a bit.”

Backup/change-of-pace- back Tony Pollard didn’t exactly see a big bump in his action, logging just 36 yards on ten carries as the team once again abandoned a rushing attack that was going nowhere.

When asked after the game whether his limited use was out of concern for his knee, which did seem to be bothering him on the field, Elliott was unable to provide much insight.

“I don’t know,” Elliott told the media. “I don’t know. I feel all right, but it probably was.”

Elliott hasn’t gotten more than 17 carries in a contest since Week 5. That game against the Giants was also the last time the two-time rushing champ amassed over 70 yards on the ground.

“I am concerned,” McCarthy told reporters on Friday via conference call when asked about Elliott. “He’s a warrior. He was fighting to get back in there every time, all day yesterday. I haven’t seen him personally yet today, and our medical information hasn’t come back yet as far as the things that come out of the game, so I don’t really have an update there. But, yeah, it’s that time of year. Zeke’s running style is ferocious. He gives a pounding, and he takes some hits. We need to evaluate that, and this week we’ll see what the preparation looks like for him.”

Elliott admitted as recently as Tuesday that his knee has been bothering him, especially when he would take a hit during a game. He compared it to stubbing a toe and needing to “walk it off,” promising he’d be able to play through the soreness.

But the Cowboys may be taking that option off the table for him as the team tries to regain a once-formidable lead in the race to a division crown.

“He’s a competitor,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan. “Just like a lot of players this time of year- I think he said it- there’s a lot of players that have dings as you get later into the season. He’s a competitor. He wants to be out there playing. We were trying to spell him some yesterday. Obviously, Pollard is a hell of back, a hell of a playmaker for us. Trying to really manage [Elliott] to some degree yesterday.”

Now the Cowboys may manage him right into some forced time off, although Werder’s source claimed that putting Elliott on injured reserve was not believed to be a consideration.

The Cowboys’ final five games of the regular season include four meetings with NFC East foes and a home date against the Arizona Cardinals, currently the conference’s top seed. Holding Elliott out of the Cowboys’ Week 13 game with the Saints would give him two weeks of rest and rehab time before Dallas begins that important stretch.

“It’s obviously something that he’s battled through,” offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said Friday when asked about Elliott’s injury. “Obviously, I think that’s for Zeke and for the trainers and for everyone to continue to work through and make the decisions that are best for him and this team.”

For the first time in very long time, what’s best for the team may be having Elliott in street clothes on gameday.

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