Tag: Dallas Cowboys vs Cincinnati Bengals

Cowboys safety fined for Week 14 hip-drop tackle vs Bengals

From @ToddBrock24f7: Donovan Wilson used the illegal technique during the 4th-quarter of Monday’s game. The tackle did not draw a penalty at the time.

The NFL has been seeking to take the so-called “hip-drop tackle” out of the sport. Now they’re taking a big chunk of change out of Donovan Wilson’s pocket for deploying it last week.

The league has fined the Cowboys safety $16,883 for his fourth-quarter tackle of Bengals tight end Tanner Hudson during the 27-20 loss Monday night.

The play did not incur a penalty during the game, but league officials have determined that Wilson’s actions met the requirements to be classified as a hip-drop tackle. The move falls under the category of unnecessary roughness and is therefore subject to a fine, even without being flagged on the field.

According to a rule change for the 2024 season, a hip-drop tackle can be called if a player grabs or wraps the runner with both hands or arms and also “unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and trapping the runner’s leg(s) at or below the knee.”

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The move has caused severe injury to several high-profile players in recent years, including running back Tony Pollard while playing for the Cowboys during the 2022 postseason. San Francisco safety Jimmie Ward used the hip-drop technique to bring Pollard to the ground; Pollard suffered a high ankle sprain and fractured fibula.

Fourteen months after that injury, NFL owners unanimously voted to make it illegal, following a film review of 20,000 tackles that calculated the hip-drop technique resulting in an injury rate “20 times the others.”

Though the hip-drop is punishable on the field with a 15-yard walkoff and an automatic first down, it’s resulted in more monetary fines after the fact than penalties on the field during its first year of enforcement.

Wilson is the first Cowboys player to be fined for a hip-drop tackle. He was previously docked $11,255 for a Week 5 late hit in the team’s win over Pittsburgh.

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Twitter reactions from Cowboys’ special teams blunder costing them Bengals game

Social media went into hysteria as a lost Cowboys season somehow got worse with a historic bad beat.

There isn’t much that could be said about the Dallas Cowboys’ 2024 season that hasn’t been said. The most truthful recap is that everything that can go wrong, will. On Monday night, full of 11 days worth of rest, the injury-riddled and overmatched Cowboys came to play.

Their defense held the vaunted Cincinnati offense and QB Joe Burrow to just 20 points. Their offense, down to just one reserve offensive lineman, was running the ball with reckless abandon and they had the game right where they wanted it. Forcing the Bengals to punt at the two-minute warning, Dallas was in a state of euphoria when Nick Vigil crashed in and got his hands on the kick.

Only for things to turn into heartbreak when cornerback Amani Oruwariye tried to catch the bouncing ball, giving the Bengals a fresh set of downs. Burrow soonafter found Ja’Marr Chase for the winning score and NFL fans took to Twitter to share their disbelief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Infuriating, unbelievably dumb mistake costs Cowboys late in 27-20 loss to Bengals

The Cowboys suffered their first gut-punch loss of 2024, which is amazing considering how bad 2024 has been.

In front of Troy Aikman, no less. The Dallas Cowboys had one of those once-in-a-lifetime bad decisions haunt them in a winnable game. Harkening back to nightmarish memories from Leon Lett in Thanksgiving snow in 1993, a beautiful special teams play turned into a disastrous losing moment.

Late in the fourth quarter of a game tied at 20, Dallas’ defense pushed Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati offense way back to a 4th and 27 from their own side of the field. The punt, at the two-minute warning, would give the Cowboys a chance for a third win in a row and near them to .500. A block! But they touched it. Unbelievable. Bengals ball. Madness.

In a wildly disappointing 2024 season, this is the first gut punch loss for the Cowboys. Every other loss had been a blowout, even the ones they made look close. And despite all of that, Dallas didn’t give up on the season. But this loss? This one might have broken everyone’s spirit.

Cornerback Amani Oruwariye, just activated from IR before kickoff, attempted to corral a bouncing ball after linebacker Nick Vigil blocked the punt, but instead saw the ball bounce off his arm and past him. The Bengals recovered and a dejected Cowboys defense that had held the dynamic Cincy offense to just 20 points, came back out on the field.

Well, their bodies came back out, but their souls didn’t. A few plays later, Burrow found Ja’Marr Chase on the right sideline, and he spun away from an over-pursuing DaRon Bland and raced 40 yards for the score.

Bengals win, 27-20.

Dallas drops to 5-8.

Is Jake Ferguson playing today? Injury news update for Cowboys tight end

Here’s the latest status for the Cowboys’ Jake Ferguson for Week 14 against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Dallas Cowboys have been suffering from the injury bug all season, and there hasn’t been a position group that has been safe. Just when the passing offense was finally getting WR2 Brandin Cooks back, they lost a different key member of the receiving corps.

TE Jake Ferguson has been sidelined the last two weeks with concussion symptoms. He opened up about the severity recently, citing that his mental state was so impacted he once broke out in a crying fit over the simple inconvenience of being unable to locate his mobile phone. With that level of severity, there’s a question on whether or not he’d be ready to face the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 14.

Fortunately, the answer is yes. Ferguson practiced all week and with no setbacks, he will suit up for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. The two games he missed were on short weeks; he was injured in a Monday night game against Houston, and then missed the Washington game six days later which was followed by the Giants game just four days after that.

In his absence Dallas turned to second-year, second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker, along with 2024 UDFA Brevyn Spann-Ford. The team has also added Princeton Fant to the roster, signed from their own practice squad. It is assumed with Ferguson active again, Fant will be among the inactive on Monday.

This is currently the Cowboys offense’s best chance without Dak Prescott

The Cowboys need Cooper Rush to play within himself and that means conservative. @ReidDHanson looks at the evidence.

Cooper Rush has played in eight games in 2024, starting four while logging a total of 320 snaps. In that time, he’s passed the ball 185 times, completing 112, for a total of 1,008 passing yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. His 48.0 grade at Pro Football Focus ranks him last in the NFL by a rather significant margin and his -0.027 EPA+CPOE composite score backs up such a claim (also last in the NFL).

It’s safe to say at this point the Cowboys know what they have in Rush. Despite banging out two consecutive wins, he’s not a quarterback that elevates a team. And despite calls to open up the offense and take more shots downfield, Mike McCarthy appears to be doing the smart thing with his replacement QB by taking a conservative approach.

The Cowboys opponent in Week 14 begs such a conservative attack. The zone-happy Bengals defense ranks 28th in EPA/dropback, 29th in rush EPA allowed and 30th in total EPA allowed. They are vulnerable to both the run and the pass and as long as Dallas plays within themselves, they should be able to find success against the Cincinnati defense.

In situations such as this it will be tempting for the Cowboys to take shots down the field. That’s not only unnecessary, but it asks Rush to succeed in an area of personal weakness. Based on FTN Data shown by Doug Analytics, Rush has thrown catchable deep balls on less than 30 percent of his attempts this season. He’s also bottom three in attempts and catchability percentage.

PFF tracking shows Rush has attempted 16 passes of 20 or more yards and completed just four of them for a 25 percent completion rate. One of those passes qualified as a big-time throw and one pass qualified as a turnover worthy throw. It’s arguably the biggest inefficiency in his game, making the case for McCarthy to avoid deep passes with Rush at the helm.

Even in the 10–19-yard range Rush has struggled in 2024. His completion percentage sits at just 40 percent and this intermediate range grades as his poorest on the field with him throwing three times as many turnover worthy throws than big time throws.

For as much as the Cowboys running game and defense have struggled in 2024, they are areas Dallas simply has to lean on in order to win games. Combined with a dink and dunk passing attack that plays inside the numbers, the Cowboys are best positioned to win games behind Rush at QB.

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Cowboys schedule: Is Dallas playing today?

Are the Cowboys playing today? Here’s a look at the 2024 schedule; results and the games to come.

Week 14 of the NFL football schedule has arrived, with 14 games on Sunday’s slate. Will the Dallas Cowboys be playing football today?

The Cowboys have won two consecutive football games, in an last-ditch effort to turn around a disastrous season. Back-to-back wins over division rivals in Washington and at home against the New York Giants both snapped losing streaks. Dallas had lost five in a row before beating the Commanders, and had lost six-straight at AT&T Stadium before taking out the G-man. Fans won’t be able to watch them try and continue the positive vibrations on Sunday, though.

Dallas isn’t on a bye week; they simply don’t play until Monday Night Football when they will take on the Cincinnati Bengals. Here’s a look at their schedule so far this year.

TEAM 2024 schedule

Week Date Opponent Time (CT) Result
1 Sep. 8 @ Cleveland Browns 3:25 p.m. W, 33-17
2 Sep. 15 vs New Orleans Saints Noon L, 44–19
3 Sep. 22 vs Baltimore Ravens 3:25 p.m. L, 28-25
4 Sep. 26 @ New York Giants (TNF) 7:15 p.m. W, 20-15
5 Oct. 6 @ Pittsburgh Steelers (SNF) 7:20 p.m. W, 20-17
6 Oct. 13 vs Detroit Lions 3:25 p.m. L, 47-9
7 BYE WEEK
8 Oct. 27 @ San Francisco 49ers (SNF) 7:20 p.m. L, 30-24
9 Nov. 3 @ Atlanta Falcons Noon L, 27-21
10 Nov. 10 vs Philadelphia Eagles 3:25 p.m. L, 34-6
11 Nov. 18 vs Houston Texans (MNF) 7:15 p.m. L, 34-10
12 Nov. 24 @ Washington Commanders Noon W, 34-26
13 Nov. 28 vs New York Giants (Thanksgiving) 3:30 p.m. W, 27-20
14 Dec. 9 vs Cincinnati Bengals (MNF) 7:15 p.m. TBD
15 Dec. 15 @ Carolina Panthers Noon TBD
16 Dec. 22 vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers (SNF) 7:20 p.m. TBD
17 Dec. 29 @ Philadelphia Eagles 3:25 p.m. TBD
18 Jan. 5 vs Washington Commanders TBD TBD

*prime-time game

For a look at how the rest of the season could play out for Dallas, check out this list of predictions.

Cowboys vs Bengals final Week 14 injury report: Diggs 50/50, Lamb, Ferguson updates

A look at who was able to participate in practice on Saturday and their game designations. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Could this finally be the week Cowboys fans have been hoping for, for the last 15 months? There’s a 50-50 chance that the Dallas secondary, the cornerback room to be exact, full of All-Pros will actually see the field together for the first time in their starring roles. 50-50 is the best it’s been in several months and the last time it was reachable things went sideways at the last minute.

2021 interceptions leader and All-Pro Trevon Diggs missed all of 2023 where interceptions leader DaRon Bland emerged as one of the best in the league. Diggs’ feat was the first time in 30 years someone in the NFL reached 11 picks in a year. Bland set the all-time league record with five interception-return touchdowns. But injuries have kept them from lining up opposite each other, ever.

Week 6 was a false alarm, with Bland re-injuring his foot, but Week 14 appears to be the game as they face Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.

When the two played together in 2022, Bland was an injury sub for first Jourdan Lewis and then in the playoffs he kicked outside for two games. Now, Lewis is working on the interior and Bland and Diggs will man the outside, provided Diggs knee works out in pregame warmups.

That of course, isn’t the sole injury concern for Dallas, nor the only bit of good news. WR CeeDee Lamb and TE Jake Ferguson don’t appear on the injury report, so for the first time since Week 4, Dallas will have their three top weapons together as Brandin Cooks has played the last two weeks.

Not everything is great, as Dallas learned this week they’ll be without nine-time All-Pro Zack Martin for the remainder of the year, and he’ll sit beside MVP runner-up QB Dak Prescott who’s also done for the season.

The Bengals have their own injury concerns, with star linebacker Logan Wilson, OT Orlando Brown and DT Sheldon Rankins all out.

Here’s a look at the complete list for both teams.

Dallas Cowboys

OUT

RG Zack Martin, Ankle
Safety Juanyeh Thomas, Knee

QUESTIONABLE

OT Tyler Guyton, Ankle/Knee
LB Nick Vigil, Knee
CB Trevon Diggs, Knee

NO DESIGNATION

WR CeeDee Lamb, Shoulder
TE Jake Ferguson, Concussion
DE Marshawn Kneeland, Knee
DT Osa Odighizuwa, Shoulder
LB DeMarvion Overshown, Hamstring
QB Cooper Rush, Knee
OG Tyler Smith, Ankle

Wednesday (Thursday) Rest Day

WR Brandin Cooks
LB Eric Kendricks
Safety Malik Hooker
CB Jourdan Lewis

Cincinnati Bengals

OUT

OT Orlando Brown, Fibula
DT Sheldon Rankins, DT
LB Logan Wilson, Knee

QUESTIONABLE

WR Charlie Jones, Groin

NO DESIGNATION

QB Joe Burrow, Right Wright
WR Ja’Marr Chase, Ankle
OG Cody Ford, Back
OT Amarius Mims, Ankle
CB Josh Newton, Ankle
DE Joseph Ossai, Thumb
TE Drew Sample, Ankle

Wednesday (Thursday) Rest Day

WR Tee Higgins

Cowboys fans may have been too quick to bury this coach in 2024

Mike Zimmer started slow as the new coordinator in Dallas, but his defense is rounding into form as his players return from injury. | From @cdpiglet

Mike Zimmer had his work cut out for him in his first season back as the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator. He lost Dorance Armstrong, the defensive lineman with the second-most sacks over the last two seasons, to the Washington Commanders, as well as Dante Fowler, Jr., who had 10 sacks across his two years in Dallas. Also gone are starting DT Jonathan Hankins, rotational DT Neville Gallimore and starting middle linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, who sustained a career-ending injury.

Implementing a new defensive scheme, the team only added Eric Kendricks in free agency before training camp. He got a few defensive line additions late in camp, but getting his new ideas to his new players would take time. Tom compound things, the injuries hit. He lost edge rusher Sam Williams for the season and All-Pro corner DaRon Bland for 11 games due to injury. Bad defensive performances against the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens were the precursor as in-season injuries began to mount.

Both Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence went out against the Ravens, and Marshawn Kneeland went down the following week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That left Zimmer without his top-four edge rushers after just five weeks.

The coach is trying to get the team better against the run, which is the biggest issue for the Cowboys in the Dak Prescott era, but he has their pass rush eliminated, his biggest weapon. His defensive back luck wasn’t any better.

The team hasn’t had Bland, Trevon Diggs, and Jourdan Lewis together for a single game all season.

The second cornerback spot has been a rotating door. They lost rookie Caelen Carson to injury, called up Amani Oruwariye and Josh Butler from the practice squad, but lost both to injury as well. Markquese Bell and Juanyeh Thomas, rotational defensive backs, are the latest to suffer major ailments.

With all those disadvantages, the Dallas defense has continued to improve. Starting in Week 8, the defense was good in the first half of nearly every game before wearing down in the second half. The San Francisco 49ers scored six points, and the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles scored 14, but each scored off of Dallas turnovers. So did the Houston Texans, who got to 17 at halftime. The Commanders scored only three points, and the New York Giants got to 10, but DeMarvion Overshown scored a touchdown for the defense against the Giants.

Between Week 2 and Week 6, Dallas allowed 19 points on average in the first half, but since it’s down to nine.

Zimmer has Parsons and Bland back, and it has helped flip from one of the worst turnover ratios, to having five takeaways to one turnover in the last two games. The defense is getting sacks now, too, from 20 in the first 10 games to 10 in the last two.

The Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas’ Week 14 opponent, are averaging 35 points per contest over their last four games. Zimmer is going to get tested by his old team, but if his defense can keep a below-average Cowboys offense in the game, then Zimmer might officially put to rest a lot of sentiments from earlier in the season.

You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or YouTube on the Across the Cowboys Podcast.

 

Dallas Cowboys vs Cincinnati Bengals Prediction, Game Preview

Dallas Cowboys vs Cincinnati Bengals prediction, game preview, and fantasy player to watch.

Dallas Cowboys vs Cincinnati Bengals prediction, game preview, and fantasy player to watch.

Dallas Cowboys vs Cincinnati Bengals Broadcast

Date: Sunday, December 13
Game Time: 1:00 ET
Venue: Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, OH
Network: FOX

[jwplayer yLIG3IOD]

– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions

Dallas Cowboys (3-8) vs Cincinnati Bengals (2-9-1) Game Preview

For latest lines and to bet on the NFL, go to BetMGM

Why Dallas Cowboys Will Win

The Cincinnati offense has stopped.

It’s not like the Bengals were all that great throughout the first half of the season, but at least Joe Burrow got the passing game going. After the bye week, Cincinnati has scored ten points or fewer three times and 17 in the other game.

It lost all four games.

This is where the running game is supposed to kick in, and it’s not picking up the slack. On the flip side, Dallas is at least generating a little offense with well over 350 yards in three of the last four games. They can do a better job in the war of attrition.

Why Cincinnati Bengals Will Win

The Dallas defense continues to be awful.

Baltimore ran for close to 300 yards, Washington threw for well over 300, and the Bengals have to keep on trying to do something, anything with the ground game.

Joe Mixon is still out, and the rotation of backs aren’t that strong, but this is the game to try it out. Just don’t turn the ball over – giveaways have been a major problem over the last four games – take advantage of any Cowboy mistakes, and hope the Dallas running game still doesn’t work.

Fantasy Football Player To Watch

RB Giovani Bernard, Cincinnati
The Bengals aren’t generating any ground game without Joe Mixon, but against the league’s worst run defense, this is the game to give it a go. It starts with Bernard needing to get more of a role running the ball, and that’s not his game. He’s not a workhorse, he’s more of a do-it-all back, but there’s no reason to have him on your roster if you’re not playing him this week.

What’s Going To Happen

Both of these teams are playing like they’re ready for the season to be over. The weather will be bad, there won’t be much of a passing game, and Ezekiel Elliott is hurting.

This is the game for the Bengals to find just enough defensively against the middling Cowboy attack to keep the score low – they’ve allowed 20 points or fewer over the last three games – and the offense will have a decent second half spurt to finally get a third win.

Dallas Cowboys vs Cincinnati Bengals Prediction, Line

Cincinnati 20, Dalas 17
Bet on Dallas Cowboys vs Cincinnati Bengals with BetMGM
Dallas -3, o/u: 43
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2

Must See Rating: 2

5: Wonder Woman 1984
1: A Holly Dolly Christmas

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