Tag: 2022 season week 7

Report: Cowboys lose OL Matt Farniok for ‘about six weeks’ to torn hamstring

The offensive lineman was injured on the Cowboys’ first PAT attempt Sunday; he will be placed on injured reserve with a chance to return. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys came into the 2022 season with concerns about thinned-out offensive line numbers. Now even those numbers are dwindling fast.

Backup guard Matt Farniok reportedly suffered a torn hamstring in Sunday’s win over Detroit and could miss “about six weeks,” according to a Michael Gehlken tweet citing sources familiar with the situation.

The injury occurred on the Cowboys’ first extra-point attempt in their 24-6 win over the Lions at AT&T Stadium. The second-year man out of Nebraska is expected to be put on injured reserve and would be eligible to return to action once he sits out at least four games.

Farniok played extensively over the Cowboys’ first three games but was in on just three snaps (one offensive, two on special teams) Sunday before the injury. He was down on the turf for a time and had to be assisted off the field by trainers, unable to put weight on his left leg. He left the locker room on crutches and had been expected to get an MRI on Monday.

In addition to being a reserve guard and backup center, the former seventh-round pick has also acted as a lead blocker out of the fullback position in certain goal-line plays.

Rookie lineman Matt Waletzko was lost for the remainder of the season after re-injuring a shoulder last week during practice. Perennial Pro Bowler Tyron Smith has yet to play this season as he deals a hamstring injury of his own.

Veteran Jason Peters was signed in early September. A tackle by trade who has transitioned to guard, he has played sparingly in just four games so far but may find himself pressed into more frequent service while Farniok heals.

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Prescott goes 8-for-8 with Cowboys’ TEs in National Tight Ends Day win: ‘Let’s feed them all’

Peyton Hendershot got the gift of Prescott’s first TD pass of 2022 to celebrate the unofficial holiday; Dalton Schultz played through pain. | From @ToddBrock24f7

It may have sneaked up most casual fans once again, but the Cowboys certainly didn’t forget about National Tight Ends Day. And while they didn’t take part in any formal recognition of the league-celebrated unofficial holiday, Dak Prescott and Co. ended up letting their talented group share the spotlight during Week 7’s win over Detroit.

It was a grass-roots effort from George Kittle and the San Francisco 49ers that turned the fourth Sunday in October into National Tight Ends Day over the past several years. And while it was purely coincidental, the Cowboys had a whopping four of theirs in uniform for their meeting with the Lions, a team that just happens to be coached by Dan Campbell, himself a former Cowboys tight end.

While Sean McKeon didn’t see much action on offense (just two snaps), the other three Cowboys tight ends were heavily involved in the 24-6 Dallas victory, with Prescott going 8-for-8 in his passes to Dalton Schultz, Jake Ferguson, and Peyton Hendershot. The trio was responsible for 61 receiving yards and a score; Hendershot was on the other end of Prescott’s first touchdown throw of the 2022 season, in the quarterback’s highly-anticipated return to the field.

“What’s funny is actually, the flat to the right’s the first read,” Prescott explained in his postgame press conference. “And then Jake’s the second read. When I looked at him he was covered, and then I just see Peyton in the back of the end zone doing a jumping jack. And I throw it. They were giving me stuff when I get back to the sideline, like, ‘Oh, you didn’t throw it to Jake because he scored last week?'”

Now both rookies have a score on their short but promising pro resumes. According to Patrik Walker of the team website, it’s the first season in Cowboys history that two rookie tight ends have scored touchdowns.

“It had a little something sweet to it,” the undrafted Hendershot admitted of hauling in his first six-pointer on the holiday honoring his position, “but I’m just thankful regardless.”

The first Cowboy to congratulate Hendershot in the end zone after the score? Ferguson, of course.

“It’s [National] Tight End Day,” Prescott smiled, “so let’s feed them all. It’s just great for two young guys.”

Schultz didn’t find the end zone- and hasn’t yet this season- but he did log five receptions for 49 yards. He also managed to overcome another hit to his right knee.

The franchise-tagged starter first suffered a PCL sprain in Week 2. He missed the team’s next game, returned for Week 4 but didn’t record a catch, and then re-aggravated the knee against Los Angeles in Week 5. He was a late scratch last week in Philadelphia and was back in action on Sunday, though it looked like he may not last the whole contest.

The Stanford product was dragged down awkwardly in the first quarter by Detroit linebacker Alex Anzalone and stayed on the turf for several minutes. He was able to return, vowing to play through the injury as long as he is able.

“I knew something was going to happen, and then the worst thing happened,” Schultz said Sunday, per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “I was like, ‘Ahh, that’s ball.’ You run the risk of doing that every time you go out there. …[The knee] is finally getting to the point where it’s manageable, and hopefully it just keeps getting better and better as the weeks go on.”

He’ll look to repeat his weekly ramp-up to gameday once again as Chicago comes to town next Sunday, and hopefully continue to build on the rapport that he and Prescott have developed over the tight end’s five years in Dallas.

“Schultz is a guy that just, going back to his time coming in, has always been ready to work. He’s always been communicating and just trying to get on the same page,” Prescott explained. “I’d say we took a big step this offseason. We spent a lot of time together, whether it be [working on] routes, whether it just be personal or whatever it is. And I just think it shows. I have a lot of trust in him; we see the defense the same way. He’s important to this team, he’s important to that tight end room in growing those young guys.”

Even if it means letting the kids reap all the glory on National Tight Ends Day.

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Cowboys LB Micah Parsons: ‘Father-son talk’ with Quinn inspired his ‘superpower’ on game-saving tackle

Parsons showed career-best speed in stopping a Lions TD, but he credits the game-saving play to a talk with defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons had himself another nice game, if you simply go by the official box score. A sack, a quarterback hit, a forced fumble.

But the play of the day, the one that swung the momentum and changed the course of the game in the 24-6 win by Dallas, went down in the books as just a tackle, one of five Parsons logged versus Detroit.

It was anything but just a tackle.

The second-year phenom was at the 26-yard-line when Lions quarterback Jared Goff let loose a screen pass to tight end Brock Wright. Wright caught the ball at the 21 and raced for the end zone. Parsons stopped on a dime and gave pursuit.

Despite giving up a five-yard head start in a extremely short footrace, the lion caught up to his prey, reaching 20.41 miles per hour at one point. According to Next Gen Stats, it was the fastest speed Parsons has ever hit in a game; he forced Wright out of bounds just inches before the pylon.

The Cowboys would recover a goal-line fumble on the very next play; they went on to retake the lead and eventually ice the game. But without a nearly inhuman effort from Parsons on that second-down play, it’s quite possibly not a Victory Monday at The Star.

“At first, I thought he scored. I thought he rolled in; I didn’t think I made it,” Parsons said at his locker after the game.

And without defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s one-on-one talk with the 23-year-old late last week, that play might not have happened at all.

“Sitting down with Q this past week, and he was talking to me about plays that I can make if I just use my speed and chase down, just knowing that’s my superpower,” Parsons shared. “We kind of had that father-son talk this week. He challenged me, and I told him, ‘If you challenge me, I’ll never let you down.'”

Quinn called it “the one play that probably nobody is talking about.”

Except for all of Parsons’s teammates, that is, who recognized the moment for exactly what it was.

Guard Zack Martin felt “compelled… to track down Micah Parsons in the postgame locker room and tell the linebacker he made the ‘play of the game,'” as per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “If he doesn’t make that play, they go up 13-10, and it’s an entirely different ballgame.”

Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence dislodged the ball from Lions rusher Jamaal Williams on the next snap. Dallas recovered, just moments after it looked like Detroit was about to take a sure lead.

“That type of energy goes a long way,” Lawrence said of Parsons’s touchdown-saving tackle. “It is contagious throughout the whole room.”

“It just shows that we’re going to fight,” safety Jayron Kearse told Gehlken. “You’ve got to scratch and crawl for every blade of grass.”

“Ridiculous,” tight end Dalton Schultz called it. “Obviously, he’s a hell of a player.”

“Just relentless effort,” quarterback Dak Prescott remarked. “Our motto this year is resilience. You can just see that; you turn on the film, you see that.”

Turning on the film of Parsons is showing what some thought wouldn’t be possible and what most offensive coordinators prayed couldn’t be true: that 2021’s Defensive Rookie of the Year is getting even better with every game he plays.

“I’m never going to stop,” Parsons matter-of-factly told reporters after his latest jaw-dropping display. “I practice that way, I work that way. Just being relentless, understanding that anything can happen on the field.”

That goes double when Parsons is on it.

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‘I’ll bet he jumps a guy’: Cowboys’ Prescott knew Ezekiel Elliott would provide highlight

Elliott saved his best for late in the game, leaping a defender and scoring twice to beat Detroit, all after taking a scary hit to his knee. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Nervous moments early followed by a gritty performance, late success, and ultimately, a happy ending.

That’s the story of the Cowboys’ 24-6 win over Detroit in Week 7, but it’s also the story of just another Sunday for Ezekiel Elijah Elliott.

The Cowboys running back turned in another strong showing on a day when all eyes were on the return of Dak Prescott to the Dallas passing attack. Elliott ended the afternoon with just 57 yards on 15 carries and wasn’t involved in the air game at all.

But his two one-yard scores were gigantic. The first, in the third quarter, reclaimed a lead for Dallas that they never relinquished. The second served as the kill shot, putting the Cowboys up by 11 with under three minutes to play.

It was the first time Elliott’s rushed for multiple touchdowns in a single game since Week 10 of last season, and it moved him into a tie with Jason Witten (5th place in franchise history) for the most career touchdowns from scrimmage.

But the play that most will remember from Sunday’s win is Elliott’s running leap over a defender on an 18-yard gain. It’s a move that Cowboys fans have seen numerous times, though the former high school hurdles champ hadn’t broken it out in a while.

“He actually was practicing the hurdle in practice,” Prescott told reporters from the podium after the win. “He didn’t jump over him, but he did the whole slow-feet stutter, and I’m like, ‘I’ll bet he jumps a guy this week,’ and sure enough, it just happened.”

What made the move even more impressive was that Elliott seemed lucky to still be running at all at that point in the game. Earlier, in the second quarter, he took a scary-looking hit to the knee on a 14-yard pickup just before halftime.

It looked bad, but Elliott was able to return to action and seemed no worse for the wear. His first half stats: seven carries for 28 yards. Then, eight carries for 29 yards- and the two touchdowns- after the hit to his knee.

“I think I got a contusion on it,” Elliott said afterward. “Still need to go back there and talk to the trainers.”

Elliott’s right knee was a problem for most of last season, too, after he suffered a partial PCL tear in Week 4 and played on it for the rest of the year. He came back in the offseason ready to show that he hadn’t lost a step, and his quarterback took notice early on.

“That shows his toughness,” Prescott reflected. “When he got himself better and got himself healthy, I saw it in the spring, just the bounce in his step, the way he’s moving, the cuts he’s made. Even when he got hurt, that’s a guy trying to cut back in and make a play that he knows he can make. He’s impressive, just his approach each and every day, the way he goes about it.”

The result was the latest chapter in what’s become a familiar story for the two-time rushing king: generally fewer attempts than he was getting earlier in his career, and for more modest yardage totals- he hasn’t topped 100 in over a calendar year- but now acting as a battering ram meant to wear opposing defenses down over a sixty-minute span.

“I think that’s kind of how the year’s been,” Elliott told media members. “It’s been grinding, tough games. It’s the NFL; you’re not going to have any gimmes.”

The hard hits will happen, the scary moments just a part of the game for a punishing, physical runner like Elliott. But his warrior mentality allows him to soldier on.

And sometimes, even end up being the (slightly-hobbled) hero.

“He’s relentless,” Prescott said. “When I saw the play, I thought it was a little ugly. I’m like, ‘I hope he’s fine.’ Ran over to the sideline; he said he’ll be good, and it wasn’t too long before he was jumping a guy. That’s Zeke for you.”

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