The Cowboys are dealing with several injuries ahead of Week 12, especially on the offensive line.
It’s been a difficult season for the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas has lost five consecutive games entering their Week 12 matchup against the Washington Commanders, and the injuries have started to pile up.
In addition to losing quarterback Dak Prescott for the season after eight games, the Cowboys have gone without top pass-rushers Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence for a combined 10 games this season.
During Monday’s loss to the Houston Texans, the Cowboys lost five more starters throughout the game, including future Hall of Fame guard Zack Martin.
Martin (ankle), tight end Jake Ferguson (concussion), left tackle Tyler Guyton (shoulder), guard Tyler Smith (ankle) and safety Markquese Bell (shoulder) all left Monday’s game and did not return. With a short week, it will be interesting to see how many Cowboys can play against the Commanders.
With a backup quarterback and three ailing starters on the offensive line, the Cowboys could be in trouble against a Washington defense that has played well lately.
Dallas will reveal its first injury report for Week 12 on Wednesday.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy names his starting QB vs. Commanders.
After a 3-2 start to the season, the Dallas Cowboys lost their fifth straight game on Monday night, falling 34-10 to the Houston Texans at home. Dallas is 0-5 at home, with opponents averaging over 37 points per game.
The Cowboys’ former defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, is now the head coach of the 7-4 Washington Commanders. On Sunday, Quinn’s Commanders host the reeling Cowboys.
With quarterback Dak Prescott out for the season, Cooper Rush has started for the Cowboys under center for the last two weeks. Even though Dallas has scored only 16 combined points in Rush’s two starts, he’ll get the call again this weekend at Washington.
While Rush will start, the Cowboys will have specific packages for quarterback Trey Lance.
Corrected: #Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy remains committed to Cooper Rush as the starting quarterback. He says there will be a package of plays for Trey Lance.
McCarthy expressed regret Monday night that he didn’t get Lance in game when so many other young players got time. pic.twitter.com/bgGEilnmVL
Rush has appeared in four career games vs. Washington, including last season. He has one start against the Commanders, completing 15 of 27 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns in a 25-10 Dallas win in 2022.
Lance is a former No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft. The Cowboys traded a fourth-round draft pick to the 49ers for Lance ahead of last season. Lance has appeared in one game this season for Dallas.
Mixon, who’s averaged 101.3 yards per game over his last five outings, finished with 109 rushing yards and 53 total yards while helping Houston break its nine-quarter drought without a touchdown in the second half.
“Joe, when he’s on, he’s a force for us,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “The run game starts with our offensive line. I challenged them to play fast, play aggressive. I thought they did a really nice job. I really like the way we just kept churning it in the run game, and proud of the guys for stepping up to the challenge.”
Mixon tied a Texans single-game record for rushing touchdowns, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to accomplish the feat. He also secured his 10 rushing touchdown of the season, which marks the highest number of rushing scores by a Texans player since Arian Foster in 2012.
The 24-point victory margin was the Texans’ largest win since a 31-point swing over the Cleveland Browns during last year’s postseason run. It was also Houston’s most lop-sided victory over the Cowboys in seven meetings dating back to its inaugural season.
To emphasize how Houston looked, the Texans’ defense scored as many points as Dallas’ offense in one drive compared to 60 minutes. Defensive end Derek Barnett strip-sacked Cooper Rush in the fourth quarter, but the ball was recovered by Cowboys offensive tackle Tyler Guyton.
The rookie left tackle was then stripped by safety Jalen Pitre, landing in Barnett’s hands en route to the end zone for a 28-yard scoop-and-score.
“They flipped the momentum and got everybody juiced up on the sideline. It was just a huge play,” Ryans said.
Here’s the snap count from Monday night’s success:
Offensive snaps: 64 Defensive snaps: 83 Special teams snaps: 18
Nico Collins, who returned for the first time since Week 5 and finished with four catches for 54 yards, played only 32 snaps. John Metchie III, who caught three passes for 33 yards, finished second among receivers with 39 snaps while Tank Dell was credited with 41.
Mixon, who now ranks eighth overall in rushing yards despite missing three games, saw action on 81% of reps and finished with 153 total yards. Tight end Dalton Schultz was credited with 48 snaps while Cade Stover saw action on 45% of plays.
Defensively, Calen Bullock totaled his fourth straight game with 100% of reps. Derek Stingley Jr, who intercepted Rush and broke up a pair of passes intended for CeeDee Lamb and Jalen Tolbert, played 74 snaps along with linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.
The Texans return home next week to face off against the Tennessee Titans in an AFC South showdown. They could have back defensive end Will Anderson Jr., who’s missed the previous two games while dealing with an ankle injury.
Kickoff from AT&T Stadium is scheduled for noon CT.
Listen, folks. I hate to say it, but McCarthy is not making it beyond this season in Dallas. You know it. I know it. It seems that even the Cowboys players know it if you listen to Micah Parsons.
Considering that, you might as well make the move now if you’re Dallas. You’d think losing six games in a row in historic fashion would be enough of a catalyst to make a coaching change — even if it’s not something you’d typically do. The Cowboys typically aren’t this bad!
But Jerry Jones seems to be cool with the status quo.
After Dallas’ 34-10 loss to the Texans in Dallas, Jones insisted that McCarthy hadn’t lost the locker room. He called the question “nonsense.” He also refuses even to consider letting go of McCarthy too early, no matter how often this team makes him make this face.
“I have made a change early on a coach with Chan Gailey, and I’ve always regretted that, and I’ve made a change during the season [on Wade Phillips] and regretted that, and that’s the music I’m listening to,” Jones said after the game.
And, well, I guess that’s fair. Past experience is always the best teacher. The Cowboys season is lost, anyway. What’s a few weeks of a head start on a coaching search going to do for this team? Probably nothing.
But, man. We all know what’s coming. I can’t help but feel like it’d be better just to get it over with.
This is it, folks. This could be the last we’ll see of this living legend on the court. It’s been a long time coming. He absolutely changed the game on his way to becoming one of the greatest players ever to pick up a racket.
One of his rivals — and friends! — Roger Federer wrote a sweet tribute about exactly that. Charles Curtis has more here.
“We were both at the start of our journey and it’s one we ended up taking together,” he wrote. “Twenty years later, Rafa, I have to say: What an incredible run you’ve had. Including 14 French Opens—historic! You made Spain proud… you made the whole tennis world proud.”
Hits you right in the feels, man. Happy trials, Rafa. Thanks for all the memories.
What started as a run-of-the-mill scuffle between Ben Wallace and Ron Artest snowballed into one of the most unforgettable moments in league history.
This is simply one of those moments you remember where you were when you heard about it. Unfortuantely (or maybe fortunately?), I didn’t see it live. I only saw the replay on the news. But, looking back on it, this happened on national television with some of the biggest names in the NBA.
Ron Artest. Stephen Jackson. Ben Wallace. Reggie Miller (who didn’t even play!). Dudes were in the stands fighting fans. It was so bad that Rasheed Wallace, of all people, seemed to try and play peacemaker. I still can’t believe it happened and it’s been 20 years since it did.
After this, the NBA banned hand-checking. It also enacted a dress code that very blatantly targeted hip-hop culture. It was extremely problematic, to say the least. But players adhered to it and, eventually, flipped it on its head. And, because of the hand-checking ban, we got the freedom of movement we have in the game today.
I won’t call the Malice in the Palace the defining moment of this current iteration of the NBA. The stigma still hasn’t left the league in a lot of ways. But it certainly did shape the NBA as we know it today, for better and for worse.
Quick hits: Shedeur Sanders to New York … Seattle Storm chaos … and more
Jones has left McCarthy out to dry, so it’s no wonder the sole Week 11 “DNP-Coaches Decision” went the way it did. | From @KDDrummondNFL
The Dallas Cowboys are not a good football team. Their 2024 season is over, and has been for several weeks. Entering Week 11, they had less than a three percent chance of making the playoffs, and after losing to the Houston Texans, 34-10, that now sits at less than one percent. With no healthy pass rushers the majority of the season, one healthy corner the majority of the season, an offensive line in disarray and now no franchise quarterback, the season is a wash.
The problem is, the coaching staff isn’t going to be around next year, so they have no real vested interest in making decisions that benefit the franchise in the long run. That was evident in the fact that head coach Mike McCarthy had Cooper Rush throwing the ball 55 times last night, while Trey Lance sat on the bench getting zero snaps.
The Cowboys’ offense was on the field for 83 snaps. Lance was literally the only active Cowboys player not to see the field on Monday night. 47 of 48 players all saw at least three snaps and 46 of them at least seven.
After the game, McCarthy paid lip service to the “mistake”, saying that’s the one thing he’d second guess himself on.
“I think the one thing I should have done at the end, and I just didn’t do, was put Trey in there. I could’ve gotten him a series. That’s one thing that I would second-guess myself on,” McCarthy said. “I didn’t want to get into putting him in for a play or two, because he’s more than a gadget player in my opinion. We had him prepared to take a series, and frankly there at the end I should’ve gave him that series, and I regret not doing that.” – via ProFootballTalk
Really?
McCarthy wants fans to believe he simply couldn’t figure out how to send Lance onto the field on any of the Cowboys’ final five drives? No. This was a message to owner and GM Jerry Jones that he gets what he asked for in the way the front office approached this season.
The Texans took a 17-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Dallas offense took 38 snaps from that point forward, and a lifelong coach simply couldn’t figure out that Lance should see the field?
Sorry, not buying it. There’s not much McCarthy can do to show defiance against the machine that will put him out to pasture come January, if not sooner.
Not playing Lance in Week 11 was absolutely one of them.
Jones has left McCarthy out to dry, so it’s no wonder the sole Week 11 “DNP-Coaches Decision” went the way it did. | From @KDDrummondNFL
The Dallas Cowboys are not a good football team. Their 2024 season is over, and has been for several weeks. Entering Week 11, they had less than a three percent chance of making the playoffs, and after losing to the Houston Texans, 34-10, that now sits at less than one percent. With no healthy pass rushers the majority of the season, one healthy corner the majority of the season, an offensive line in disarray and now no franchise quarterback, the season is a wash.
The problem is, the coaching staff isn’t going to be around next year, so they have no real vested interest in making decisions that benefit the franchise in the long run. That was evident in the fact that head coach Mike McCarthy had Cooper Rush throwing the ball 55 times last night, while Trey Lance sat on the bench getting zero snaps.
The Cowboys’ offense was on the field for 83 snaps. Lance was literally the only active Cowboys player not to see the field on Monday night. 47 of 48 players all saw at least three snaps and 46 of them at least seven.
After the game, McCarthy paid lip service to the “mistake”, saying that’s the one thing he’d second guess himself on.
“I think the one thing I should have done at the end, and I just didn’t do, was put Trey in there. I could’ve gotten him a series. That’s one thing that I would second-guess myself on,” McCarthy said. “I didn’t want to get into putting him in for a play or two, because he’s more than a gadget player in my opinion. We had him prepared to take a series, and frankly there at the end I should’ve gave him that series, and I regret not doing that.” – via ProFootballTalk
Really?
McCarthy wants fans to believe he simply couldn’t figure out how to send Lance onto the field on any of the Cowboys’ final five drives? No. This was a message to owner and GM Jerry Jones that he gets what he asked for in the way the front office approached this season.
The Texans took a 17-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Dallas offense took 38 snaps from that point forward, and a lifelong coach simply couldn’t figure out that Lance should see the field?
Sorry, not buying it. There’s not much McCarthy can do to show defiance against the machine that will put him out to pasture come January, if not sooner.
Not playing Lance in Week 11 was absolutely one of them.
The latest update on Commanders CB Marshon Lattimore.
The Washington Commanders received a much-needed break after Thursday’s 26-18 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. It was the second game in four days for a Washington team that still hasn’t reached its bye week.
The extra time off is particularly beneficial for players dealing with injuries, such as cornerback Marshon Lattimore.
The Commanders acquired Lattimore via trade from the New Orleans Saints three weeks ago, but he has yet to suit up with Washington. Lattimore has been dealing with a hamstring injury since before the trade. So, the Commanders knew Lattimore wasn’t an immediate plug-and-play.
“We knew there was going to be some time where it wasn’t plug and play after the trade,” head coach Dan Quinn said Monday about Lattimore. “And so, what I look for from the player to see, is he working as hard as he can to do that and learning as quick as he can? And good news for us is that Marshon’s like absolutely savage worker, wants to go be as ready as you can and digging in, but we’re just not going to take the chance.”
So, what are the chances that Lattimore will practice for the first time with Washington this week?
“I’m hopeful that he’s able to see the field some; he’s trending in the right space,” Quinn said. “He’s still working really hard from the rehab spot to see where he can go. But with a soft tissue injury, we’re not going to miss one step of this, you know that. Just like no different than with the other guys, but we’re encouraged that he’s definitely pointing in the right direction. So yeah, we’re hopeful that we see him out on the practice field some towards the end of the week.”
That’s encouraging news for Washington. The pass defense has played surprisingly well despite some depth concerns at cornerback. Part of that is due to the emergence of rookie Mike Sainristil, who has been phenomenal.
The Commanders host the reeling Dallas Cowboys in Week 12. After Dallas, the Tennessee Titans come to town before Washington’s Week 14 bye.
Joe Mixon rushed for over 100 yards and scored three touchdowns on Monday night, but what else is new?
Joe Mixon was on point in Arlington.
Behind a three-touchdown night, Mixon led the Houston Texans to a 34-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on ‘Monday Night Football.’
Here are some of the best photos from the night as the Texans improve to 7-4 on the regular season entering Week 12’s divisional matchup against the Tennessee Titans.
Houston scored on its opening play, looking to get Nico Collins involved early. Collins returned from a five-game hiatus due to a hamstring injury. He took a screen pass to the end zone, but Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil was downfield, so the play was brought back.
The 45-yard touchdown run is Mixon’s longest score of the season and the second-longest run of the year. The former Pro Bowler had a 50-plus-yard run against the New England Patriots in his first game back from an ankle injury.
After the penalty brought back the touchdown, C.J. Stroud completed passes to Dalton Schultz, Robert Woods and John Metchie III.
The Texans are losing to end a two-game losing streak on primetime.
