Tag: Dallas Cowboys vs Las Vegas Raiders

How to watch, wager, live stream, listen to Cowboys-Raiders in Week 12

Here’s what you need to know going into the Cowboys-Raiders matchup. A game preview, Ref assignment, TV coverage and streaming info. | From @CDPiglet

The Dallas Cowboys faceoff against the Kansas City Chiefs was the most anticlimactic game of the season. Instead of a redo of the 2018 Chiefs at Los Angeles Rams 51-54 match up, the fans got a stinker. The score ended up 19-9 in favor of Kansas City, but the game wasn’t even that competitive.

Scoting only three field goals, the Cowboys offense was made to punt six times, five of them being on 3-and-out drives. They also turned the ball over three times: two interceptions and a lost fumble.

The abysmal performance by the Cowboys offense wasted a great game from the Dallas defense. They held the Chiefs to under 20 points in Arrowhead, even with them having 13 drives to try and score. After 16 points in the first three possessions, Kansas City managed only three more in its final 10 drives.

Dallas will need to bounce back like they did after their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to start the season, and the blowout loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 9. They will be without Amari Cooper for the second straight contest, but hope to have left tackle Tyron Smith and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb back in the lineup.

The Raiders defense should be no match for a pissed off, mostly complete Dallas offense. They just gave up 23 to the woeful New York Giants, then 41 to a struggling Kansas City offense, and 32 to a Cincinnati Bengals team coming in on a two-game losing streak. If healthy this could be a “40 burger” game, but even without Tyron Smith or CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys should put up enough points.

The Raiders offense started quickly under interim coach Rich Bisaccia, putting up over 30 points the first two games, but have struggled out of the bye week. They haven’t scored more than 16 points in the last three weeks.

There is a unique situation of Raiders defensive coordinator Gus Bradley being the former mentor to Dan Quinn from their time on the Seattle Seahawks. Quinn has switched his game up so much since then, the advantage may go to Dallas’ offense if Quinn is sharing secret tendencies of Bradley’s scheme instead.

He showed against the Chiefs he hasn’t veered from his tried and true formula, failing to alter from his Cover 3 mandate.

This stretch of 3 games in 12 days is the toughest for the Cowboys, and after a bad start, the team needs to step up and show the league who they are by bouncing back and winning a home game versus a 5-5 Las Vegas team.

Here is how to watch, listen, and bet on the Thanksgiving Day traditional Dallas Cowboys game.

 

Stephen Jones: Cowboys ‘feel really good’ about getting Tyron Smith back vs Raiders

The left tackle was a Sunday scratch versus Kansas City, with the Cowboys planning to bring him back Thanksgiving Day against the Raiders. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The news looked promising for Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith to suit up and start against Kansas City on Sunday… right up until it didn’t. After being limited in practice during the week and participating in the team’s Friday mock game, head coach Mike McCarthy was “hopeful” that the seven-time Pro Bowler would have a solid practice session on Saturday and be declared fit for play Sunday.

But in the early-morning hours on gameday, reports surfaced that Smith would be inactive for a third straight game thanks to a bone spur issue in his ankle.

Start the news cycle over again. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones announced Monday on Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan that, “we feel really good about him playing this week.”

Although the team did not practice Monday, the Cowboys issued an injury report, estimating players’ statuses as if they had. Smith was listed as “limited.”

Of the late decision to sit Smith in Week 11, Jones said, “It’s just, you know, the full body of work there. [Cowboys associate athletic trainer/director of rehabilitation] Britt Brown, who I think is one of the best in the business at getting these guys ready to play, and Tyron, and working through it with him, we just didn’t feel like he was quite ready to go yet and didn’t want to have one of those things where we got him out there and he had to start over again.”

Jones also acknowledged that the Cowboys’ short week before hosting Las Vegas on Thursday played into the decision to not push Smith’s ankle too far, with the club then heading into a span of three games in 12 days. Four divisional games and a tilt against Arizona that could have postseason-bye implications follow that to close out the regular schedule.

“I think it’s the full body of work,” Jones reiterated. “You put everything into the equation and you make the decision. But I think the bigger decision right there was how he felt leading up to the game. We really felt like we needed to get him some practice in. He got a little bit in, but not a lot. He was still feeling it to some degree, and you have to take note of that. Certainly, we’ve got to do everything we think is in our best interest for the entirety of the season, and I don’t think this is anything that we’re going to have to manage, not unlike Dak [Prescott]. Same as Dak, we just feel like once he’s ready to roll, he’ll be ready to go. We feel like he’s ready, and barring some unforeseen setback this week, he should be ready to play this Thursday.”

Terence Steele subbed in again for Smith on Sunday; Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was sacked by the Chiefs five times. The team all but abandoned the run game, with rushers Ezekiel Elliot and Tony Pollard combining for just 82 yards on 16 carries.

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‘Just got to step up:’ Cowboys WRs under pressure with Cooper out, Lamb unlikely for Thursday

With Amari Cooper already out and CeeDee Lamb in concussion protocol on short turnaround, Michael Gallup & Co. know the pressure is on them. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys went into Week 11’s meeting with the defending AFC champion Chiefs knowing they’d be without wide receiver Amari Cooper, who tested positive on Friday for COVID-19. Given Cooper’s unvaccinated status and the team’s short turnaround before their Week 12 game, they also already know they’ll be without the four-time Pro Bowler on Thursday.

The team did not, however, plan on losing fellow wideout CeeDee Lamb at halftime of the 19-9 loss. Lamb suffered a head injury on an end-zone jump ball and was diagnosed with a concussion. With the Cowboys’ annual Thanksgiving Day game less than four days away, it appears unlikely that Lamb will clear the league’s concussion protocol in time to play.

That means quarterback Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense will be looking to Michael Gallup and a host of depth receivers to carry the load against the Raiders… and hoping they do a better job than they did Sunday in Kansas City.

Prescott was not sharp versus the Chiefs, going 28-of-43 for 216 yards and a pair of interceptions. But his receiving corps did him no favors, either. The Cowboys pass-catchers unofficially tallied four drops on the day as they tried to make up for the absence of Cooper and the in-game loss of Lamb.

“I talked to him. He said he was fine, said he’ll be okay,” Prescott said of the team’s leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. “You’ve got to continue to move on, trust the guys we’ve got out there, and that’s what I did. He’ll be fine, so we’ll be okay.”

But with just a couple days before the Thanksgiving matchup, Lamb may not be fine in time for Thursday’s kickoff.

As NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday morning, “There’s been nothing firm and final, but four days is incredibly quick for someone to get through the concussion protocol. It sure seems right now” that Dallas will be without Lamb for Week 12.

“Folks have just got to step up,” said Gallup, who caught just five of his 10 targets versus the Chiefs. “That’s all on us. We’ve got to make those plays when they come to us. We just didn’t make the plays today. That’s on us. We’ll take that.”

“Whatever the coaches call,” Cedrick Wilson said after catching four of seven. “I’m ready whenever those guys can’t go. Sad to see CeeDee go down like that, and then obviously, the shock with Coop, but I’ve got to get in there for my team. Whatever they roll, I’m going in there, and I’ve got to execute.”

Wilson dropped a reverse, saying afterward he thought the play call was to be a handoff instead of a toss.

“I’ve got all the confidence in the world in them,” Gallup said of depth-chart receivers Wilson, Noah Brown, and Malik Turner. “I’ve been saying it since Day One. Those are my boys. If they need to step in, they have [done that] the whole season. That’s what we need to go do, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

The Cowboys had precious little time to tweak their game plan for Kansas City after the announcement late Friday that Cooper had tested positive for COVID. But head coach Mike McCarthy thought the offense would be able to adapt.

Cooper will also miss the Week 12 game since his decision to go unvaccinated mandates a 10-day quarantine.

But his teammates and coaches refuse to treat Cooper’s vaccination status as an issue, despite how the team played without him… and now will have to again.

“It’s unfortunate not having him,” Prescott admitted. “To say ‘the decision he made,’ I mean, being vaccinated, I could get it and be out two games. Let’s try not to knock the guy or put the guy down for a personal decision.”

“Frankly, those decisions are all part of this quest that we’re under,” McCarthy added in his postgame remarks. “Those things are dealt with on an individual basis.”

Missing a top threat because he turned an ankle or pulled a hamstring is one thing. Having him sit at home because he opted not to get a vaccine that nearly two-thirds of Americans have received as a matter of course does rub many, though, as being very different.

It may be a “personal decision,” but being without their top two receivers on Thanksgiving as they head into the home stretch of the regular season and try to earn the NFC’s top playoff seed is something the Cowboys will now have to deal with collectively.

“That’s my teammate, that’s my brother, we’re going to support him. That’s his decision,” Prescott said of Cooper. “Unfortunate we’re not having him, but I know he’ll come back and be beneficial for us in the late part of the season.”

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Cowboys WR Amari Cooper’s vaccination status rules him out vs Chiefs, Raiders

Reports indicate that Cowboys WR Amari Cooper tested positive for the virus; as unvaccinated, he will now miss the team’s next two games. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys placed wide receiver Amari Cooper on the Reserve/COVID list on Friday. While his exact status for the long-term was not immediately made public, the timing of the move made him ineligible to play this Sunday versus Kansas City.

Within hours, the news got worse. Multiple outlets, including ESPN and the Dallas Morning News, cited sources in reports that Cooper is not fully vaccinated and tested positive for the virus himself. That combination of factors triggers a mandatory quarantine of ten days, ruling him out of not only Week 11’s game, but Thursday’s contest against the Las Vegas Raiders as well.

The Cowboys held their walkthrough as scheduled and will practice on Saturday before flying to Kansas City. The team has reportedly had no COVID issues with other players or staffers stemming from Cooper’s test.

The news comes as a blow to the Cowboys offense as they go into a highly-anticipated meeting of two Super Bowl contenders. Dallas had been without fellow wide receiver Michael Gallup for seven games with a calf injury; he just returned to action last week against Atlanta and will need to help shoulder the load in the passing game, along with second-year phenom CeeDee Lamb.

Cedrick Wilson should get the Week 11 start, with Noah Brown and Malik Turner also figuring to be more involved off the bench with Cooper out.

The Cowboys’ traditional Thanksgiving Day tilt against the Raiders was to be Cooper’s first time facing his former squad since being traded during the 2018 season. The four-time Pro Bowler could return in time to participate in the Week 13 game versus the Saints in New Orleans on Dec. 2 if he has no further COVID complications.

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