An injury update for the Cowboys and Browns, including the status of Tyron Smith, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Trevon Diggs.
The Dallas Cowboys have been tormented by injuries through the first three games of the 2020 season. Fortunately two crucial, injured linemen in Tyron Smith and DeMarcus Lawrence are progressing this week.
Lawrence didn’t practice for the second straight day as he has dealing with a knee injury that he suffered in the Week 2 win against Atlanta, but the team is expecting the defensive end will be suiting up for Sunday’s matchup with the Browns. Meanwhile Smith was upgraded from a DNP to Limited in Thursday’s work. Meanwhile, Cleveland is nursing a pretty extensive injury report for the day and that includes wideout Odell Beckhman, Jr. being limited with a back injury.
Head coach Mike McCarthy had this to say about Lawrence’s availability during a virtual press conference on Thursday: “He’ll take very little (reps) if any today. But I don’t think he’s in jeopardy. I anticipate him to kind of go through the week like he did last week. So we’ll see what today brings.”
Lawrence has played just 39 percent of the Cowboys’ defensive snaps since the season opener, way down from the roughly 65 percent of defensive snaps that he played in 2018 and 2019.
Despite not missing a game this season, the injury has clearly impacted the former Pro-Bowler’s abilities to stay, and produce, on the field. Lawrence’s one quarterback pressure through three weeks pale in comparison to the seven that the end accumulated through the same timespan just a season ago.
The Dallas defense doesn’t just need Lawrence to play, they need him to return to his dominant form that he’s played at in the past, if they want to have any chance of consistently slowing down the better offenses in the league.
On the other side of the trenches, Smith seems in line to line up for the first time since Week 1.
Smith was able to participate in individual drills during Wednesday’s practice, the most he had down in a Cowboys uniform since September 17 and seemed to duplicate the effort on Thursday.
It remains to be seen if Smith can give it a go this upcoming Sunday, but there is more optimism surrounding the topic than in the two previous weeks.
Smith’s return would be monumental for a Cowboys offensive line that has been unstable, to say the least. Fellow star tackle, La’el Collins, is yet to play this season and his return date, if there is a return, is yet to be determined.
According to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys have already used a staggering five different offensive line combinations, none of which have played up the standard of Dallas O-Lines of recent history.
If Smith is active Sunday, the Cowboys will decide between Brandon Knight and Terrence Steele for the right tackle spot. Based on their performances in each players short career it seems likely that Knight would get the nod over Steele. However, if Smith needs more time before he can play, Knight would once again man the left side, while Steele would slot back into the right tackle role.
Guard Zack Martin spent some second half of Dallas Week 3 loss to Seattle at right tackle, after Steele exited with an illness, and Martin did extremely well, as expected. Martin made it clear that he’s back to playing guard, but the future Hall of Famer is ready for anything necessary.
Rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs popped up on the injury report as well, but it feels similar to last week, when the Cowboys took it easy on Diggs during the week and he played a full workload of snaps on Sunday.
The Cleveland Browns are dealing with their fair share of important ailments ahead of their trip to Dallas this weekend.
Beckham Jr appeared on his first injury report of the week with a back injury. Assuming he is able to play, he star wideout is set to match up with the Cowboys for the first time since leaving the Giants in 2018.
One of the better guards in the league, Joel Bitonio, was limited for the Browns on Thursday (back) but was an upgrade from his DNP on Wednesday.
Similarly to Bitonio, cornerback Denzel Ward (groin) was limited Thursday following a no show in practice the day before.
Running back Kareem Hunt (groin), safety Ronnie Harrison (illness), defensive end Adrian Clayborn (hip) were among the notable absences from Thursday’s practice in Cleveland.
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