Tag: 2023 Week 6

55-man roster, Week 6 elevations reveals 6 different Cowboys moves

A look at the Cowboys’ roster they’ll choose from for the Week 6 battle against the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Dallas Cowboys made an acquisition this week, moved a player to IR and yet somehow they didn’t do much of what was expected. It appeared, in their embarrassing loss to the San Francisco 49ers, they lost three key players to injury for a lengthy period of time. Yet when looking at the injury report and transactions for the week, things didn’t unfold as expected. Until gameday.

Leighton Vander Esch and CJ Goodwin were ruled out of this game on Saturday, yet they stayed on the 53-man roster until moving to IR on Monday. The IR move of the early week went to TE Peyton Hendershot, who missed last week’s game after a mid-week ankle injury. His spot on the roster was taken by veteran Sean McKeon. WR Kavontae Turpin was though to be seriously injured, but he was a full participant by the end of the week and carries no game designation.

The club added a linebacker to the practice squad during the week, but Rashaan Evans isn’t ready to suit up and wasn’t one of the game-day elevations on Monday to face off against the Los Angeles Chargers. Instead, the club elevated a running back and a different linebacker, bringing up Malik Davis and Malik Jefferson.

After finally moving Vander Esch and Goodwin to IR, the club promoted UDFA rookie edge Tyrus Wheat and activated cornerback Nahshon Wright from IR. Here’s a full accounting of the club’s 55-man roster before inactives are announced.

Quarterbacks (3)
Running Backs (5)
Wideouts (6)
Tight Ends (3)
Offensive Tackles (3)
Offensive Guards (4)
Centers (2)

Defensive Ends (5)
Defensive Tackles (5)
Linebacker (4)
Cornerbacks (6)
Safeties (6)

Special Teams (3)

3 things Cowboys must remember to avoid disaster against Chargers

If the Cowboys want to avoid disaster in Week 6 against the Chargers, they need to keep these three things in mind. | From @ReidDHanson

After losing in spectacular fashion to the 49ers last Sunday night, the Cowboys find themselves in a critical situation on Monday Night Football. As their last game before the bye week, it’s a chance for Dallas to set a positive tone for the next 14 days.

The schedule gets markedly more difficult going forward and the Cowboys can  ill-afford to go into Game 7 with a 3-3 record. If they want to tale advantage of Philadelphia’s loss and close the NFC East gap and keep an inside track on a wild-card berth, they need to maintain a winning record. Facing a Chargers team fresh off a bye, they will have their work cut out for them.

Los Angeles is equally as desperate to notch a win and correct course. Their head coach is playing for his job and their offensive coordinator has a bone to pick with the Cowboys. For an interconference matchup, this has the potential to be an extremely hard-fought event between two heavily motivated teams.

By most accounts, the Cowboys are the better team. Yet Dallas has lost against far lesser teams so there’s little confidence heading into the Monday Night Football affair. With that being said, the Cowboys should be able to walk away in victory if they can remember these three important things.

Here’s what the numbers say is the difference between Cowboys, Chargers

If the Cowboys can’t get big plays in the passing offense in this game, it’s officially time to worry. Toxicity, DVOA and other advanced stat keys to the game. | From @KDDrummondNFL

It’s finally game day and the Dallas Cowboys have a chance to get themselves back on track. The club traveled west once again, and they will look to avoid going 0-3 in every game they’ve played west of AT&T Stadium. The good news is SoFi Stadium uses the same Matrix Turf as Dallas is familiar with, so they should be able to play fast, which is always to their advantage.

In this week’s notebook, it’s easily noticed how these two teams have forged their current records. Dallas’ defensive dominance has wilted, but it’s still the strongpoint of their team. Meanwhile the Chargers defense has been a wet tissue, keeping the pressure on their offense to keep scoring to keep pace. Which team holds the advantage? Here are the most important metrics to telling the Week 6 story.

Week 6 Recap: Sunday games bring NFC close as Cowboys wait

As the Cowboys sat and watched, there were seven games of NFC interest in the Week 6 schedule. Here’s how they unfolded.

The Dallas Cowboys have more than 24 hours left before they get a chance to right the shift. With a Monday night date against the Chargers, Sunday affords the club to sit back and watch the rest of the league work. The focus, in particular, is on the NFC, where the Cowboys are already in the mode of hoping other teams lose.

The Cowboys entered Week 6 a full two games behind the undefeated San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles. In addition, thanks to the Week 5 loss, Dallas is actually three games behind SF because they’d need to hold a better record or else lose the head-to-head tiebreaker. With that said, there were four early games and a couple late games of note to the early playoff and divisional field. Here are the results of each.

McCarthy vs 1st-and-10 among 3 key matchups in Cowboys-Chargers

The Cowboys need to correct course and notch a win over the Chargers before the bye and to achieve that they must win these 3 key matchups. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys can’t turn the page fast enough after Week 5’s massacre and Monday Night Football against the Chargers gives them a chance to save a little face before heading into the bye week and recalibrate their strategies.

Winning the final Week 6 contests takes them to a record of 4-2 and in great position for a playoff run. Losing evens them at 3-3 and sends them on a completely different course heading into the meat of their schedule. As always, there are key players and matchups which should influence the game more than others.

As was pointed out earlier this week, Dak Prescott has never lost back-to-back road games before, so chances are he’ll bounce back in a big way.

With Kellen Moore leading the offense in Los Angeles, it will be a battle of play-callers on Monday night. McCarthy sent Moore packing just months ago so he could do things his way in Dallas. Needless to say, things haven’t gone great for McCarthy and now Moore gets an opportunity to show Cowboys fans the grass isn’t always greener.

Dan Quinn also factors big into the equation since he’ll be leading the Cowboys defense against Moore. Quinn didn’t fare well against his former coordinator when Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers embarrassed him last week. Like Shanahan, Moore also has intimate knowledge of Quinn’s defense.

An argument can be made the key matchups in Week 6 will be between coaches, but what fun is that? Instead let’s look at some of the matchups on the field and see what could determine the game.

Avoiding another star-studded no show among 4 keys for Cowboys vs Chargers

Stars and leaders must shine and set examples, and if Dallas’ don’t then there’s no chance in LA. This and other key points from @cdpiglet.

The Dallas Cowboys are hoping for better luck in southern California than they had in northern Cali a week prior. The San Francisco 49ers humiliated and frustrated the club, and the repercussions echoed for the entire week.

The defense was ineffective, the offense looked overmatched, and a team that seemed a top contender appeared to not really belong in the same sport as their opponents. Everyone, from quarterback Dak Prescott to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to star defender Micah Parsons, has to play better against the Los Angeles Chargers or sport a .500 record going into their bye week.

The team is looking to bounce back against their former offense coordinator, but what should the Cowboys look to do to get back to their winning ways, and what can they attempt in order to avoid starting a losing streak in Los Angeles?

Cowboys-Chargers Injury Update: Vander Esch, Goodwin out, Bosa questionable and Ekeler ready

Things have calmed down a bit on Dallas’ side but an interesting IR note brings up some questions for the near future. Meanwhile the Bolts have their own concerns. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The final injury reports for the Week 6 matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Chargers have been released. After having a whopping 17 players included on the initial report, things are looking a lot more positive for the Cowboys. Dallas will be without three key players, but only one has been moved to injured reserve, which opens up some questions for the status of the other two.

Earlier in the week, Dallas moved TE Peyton Hendershot to IR with his ankle injury suffered in practice before the loss to the 49ers. However two players who sustained serious injuries in that loss, LB Leighton Vander Esch and ST CJ Goodwin, have been ruled out but remain on the 53-man roster. The takeaway here is that the club may be hopeful they can return in less than the four weeks mandatory absence dictated by going on injured reserve.

An alternative view is Dallas just simply doesn’t need the roster space and both players are going to be out so long that waiting to put them on IR is irrelevant.

Dallas also has given injury designations to two other players, but the remainder of the players on the list are cleared and ready to go. Meanwhile the Chargers are set to welcome back RB Austin Ekeler who has been out since Week 1. Their top defender is questionable though, as edge rusher Joey Bosa returned to practice on a limited basis on Saturday.

Los Angeles hasn’t ruled out anyone but have two players who are doubtful and three more (including Bosa) who are questionable. Here’s a look at the full list.

Why Leighton Vander Esch’s injury is extra difficult for Cowboys to overcome

When Leighton Vander Esch went down to injury, the Cowboys lost more than a star player, they lost a key leader of the defense says @ReidDHanson.

Injuries are a painful inevitability of the NFL. The game is physical and unrelenting, and no team escapes unscathed. How teams deal with said injuries often decides which teams find postseason fortune and which teams do not.

The Cowboys have already had their fair share of injuries. Their offensive line has been a game of musical chairs, and their secondary suffered the worst loss imaginable when Trevon Diggs tore his ACL three weeks into the season.

In Sunday’s “Debacle at the Bay,” the Cowboys suffered another enormous loss to their defense when Leighton Vander Esch fell to a neck injury. The injury will land the 26-year-old on IR and stole from an already shallow Dallas LB corps.

What’s even worse is Vander Esch isn’t just the Cowboys’ top LB, but he’s also the leader of the defense and Dan Quinn’s signal caller. Marked with the green dot, Vander Esch makes the calls on the field, putting defenders in position and adjusting as necessary.

Who’s the backup defensive play-caller?

In the preseason we saw the rookie DeMarvion Overshown wear the green dot. It was a testament to his individual football intelligence and a sign there may not be an obvious replacement in the veteran ranks. But like Vander Esch, Overshown found himself on IR.

Next man up says the green dot will go to veteran safety, Jayron Kearse. Kearse is a leader on the team and one of Quinn’s smartest players. He’s in the midst of an off-year, getting called for some unforced critical penalties and falling short in making up for it with highlight plays. Maybe a bigger leadership role is what he needs to right the course.

“It’ll be tough to replace Leighton,” Kearse said. “He’s been coaching those young guys up. They look up to Leighton and Leighton has been a tremendous leader for us, helping us on the back end, helping the guys on the front.”

Vander Esch and Kearse play nearly the same number of snaps each week so it shouldn’t upset the rotations or personnel groups to push the job onto Kearse’s plate. The only question is whether he’s up to the task.

Vander Esch was Quinn’s mouthpiece on the field. Will Kearse be able to pick up right where Vander Esch left off?

There are plenty of reasons to think he will. Entering the final year of his contract, it’s important for Kearse to have a good showing this season. The Cowboys already recommitted to Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker at safety.

As discussed prior to the season, Kearse will likely be playing elsewhere in 2023. He could do a lot of good for his market value by turning his season around and being a leader on a defense that desperately needs some direction.

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Cowboys-Chargers Injury Report Update: Bosa sits again, illness hits Dallas as Turpin returns

A bug looks like it’s starting to work through Dallas’ locker room while the two teams had a combined nine players miss Friday’s practice. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Things improved on the injury front for the Dallas Cowboys on Friday, but only just a bit. Following Sunday’s game, Dallas not only was licking their emotional wounds, but they suffered a string of injuries in the defeat that threatens to derail their competitiveness in Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Thursday, the first day of practice thanks to the adjusted schedule, saw them put 17 players on the injury report.

That list was trimmed to 15 on Friday, but it included a new name as well as a change from a rest absence to a full one. Sickness appears to be making it’s way through the locker room as Dallas had two linemen miss Friday’s work due to illness. Chuma Edoga, Dallas’ backup left-side offensive lineman, and starting NT Johnathan Hankins were both out.

Meanwhile, a handful of players who were out or limited on Thursday were full participants. Most notable was WR Kavontae Turpin. It was originally feared he suffered a high-ankle sprain, the lone TD scorer from Week 5 was a full participant, as were RB Tony Pollard and DT Neville Gallimore, who were limited initially.

On the opposite sideline, the Chargers’ top defender Joey Bosa is still sitting out practice with a toe injury. Here’s a look at the full rundown of Friday’s report.

Whopping 17 Cowboys on initial injury report for Week 6 vs Chargers

Things are a bit off with the next game not happening until Monday night. With the Dallas Cowboys getting an extra day of rest and preparation, the pre-game schedule has shifted a bit for Week 6. Dallas has been licking their wounds before they take on the Los Angeles Chargers, but on Thursday returned to the practice field for the first time, and almost a third of the roster sat things out.

Only five players remained on the injury report from Week 5’s high total, but a whopping 12 were added for various reasons to bring the total to 17. Like last week, veteran rest days filled many of the slots, but only four of those six were 100% for rest reasons. 13 players have some level of ailment which means the Week 7 bye week will serve a big purpose for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys have yet to move Leighton Vander Esch and CJ Goodwin over to IR, so they appear on the list. Along with them, Juanyeh Thomas and Kavontae Turpin completely sat out for injury concerns. Three other players were limited.

Meanwhile the Chargers have 10 players on their list as well, with just one player designated as a rest day. Here’s a look at the complete list of players and what ails them as the countdown to game day begins.