Tag: postgame quotes

Cowboys’ Rico Dowdle: ‘Definitely can get’ 1,000 yards after 3rd straight triple-digit outing

From @ToddBrock24f7: The undrafted RB didn’t get a starter’s workload until recently, but he’s suddenly within reach of his first 1,000-yard season.

Rico Dowdle had to think for a moment when asked if there’s been a time in his football life when he’s has had better stretch of games than the one he’s currently on.

“Probably not, honestly,” the Cowboys running back said with a smile after compiling a career-high 149 rushing yards in the team’s 30-14 win over the Panthers. “Maybe high school.”

But nothing the 26-year-old ever did at Asheville’s A.C. Reynolds was on the kind of stage he’s on now.

Dowdle is currently sitting on 880 yards rushing yards for the season, 15th-best in the NFL and ahead of some marquee names. His 5.0 yards-per-carry average has him in the top 10. And his success rate- a metric that tracks how often he gains a certain percentage of yards needed to convert, depending on the down- has him ranked second among all running backs leaguewide: better than David Montgomery, better than Bijan Robinson, better than Derrick Henry, better than Saquon Barkley.

So, yeah, you could say Rico’s on a roll.

“This is definitely a great time right now,” told reporters after Sunday’s win. “These past three weeks, those guys have opened it up. It’s been three good weeks in a row.”

Dowdle logged the first 100-yard performance of his five-year career in Week 13’s win over the Giants, ending with 112. He followed that up with 131 last Monday night versus Cincinnati. His 149 versus Carolina- just two hours east of where he played those high school games he talked about- gave him the best three-week string of games by a Cowboys rusher in six years.

That Dowdle wasn’t publicly referred to by his head coach as the team’s definitive starter until Week 11 will forever be one of the great mysteries of the 2024 season. Had the coaching staff not been forcing carries to Ezekiel Elliott for the first two months of the campaign, one can only wonder where his numbers- and the team- would be now.

It certainly crosses Dowdle’s mind.

“It’s all about the rhythm. I’ve been firm on that since the beginning, about the rhythm, getting the attempts,” Dowdle said. “I think we always could have done it, but… it’s working right now for us, so I’m not worried about [what happened] early in the season.”

Mike McCarthy acknowledged that it took some time to get the Cowboys’ ground attack into gear.

“Like any good run game, you need the attempts,” he said from the podium in his postgame press conference Sunday.

“He’s doing a really good job,” he said of Dowdle. “Breaks tackles, he has a violent run style, but his courses and his decision-making has been excellent.”

Even with the late start, Dowdle is within striking distance of his first 1,000-yard season. And his teammates- especially the big linemen blocking up front for him- are locked in to helping Dowdle achieve that goal.

“Rico’s my dog,” guard/center Brock Hoffman said Sunday. “I think he’s a hell of a running back, and I’m just happy that he’s gotten three games in a row over 100 yards. Let’s just keep stacking.”

When informed that Dowdle is just 120 yards away from 1K, Hoffman called his shot.

“That’ll be easy. We’ll get that next game.”

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have something to say about that. The NFC South leaders are giving up just 109 rushing yards per game to opposing teams on the season, but no team has hit triple digits against them since Week 9. In fact, the Bucs have allowed just 70.4 yards on the ground over their last five outings.

Dowdle may have to be patient to hit 1,000 yards.

But then again, he’s had to be patient just to get his opportunity as the Cowboys starter.

“Closing in,” he explained. “Definitely feels good. Definitely want to hit that milestone, with my first year being a starter. Looking for it, definitely can get it.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[lawrence-newsletter]

Jayden Daniels’ hilarious response to Saints’ failed 2-point conversion attempt

Daniels shares his reaction to the Saints’ two-point play at the end of the game.

The Washington Commanders led the New Orleans Saints 14-0 at halftime of Sunday’s game from the Caesars Superdome. Much of Washington’s offensive success was due to the right arm and legs of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.

The Commanders were in cruise control but struggled in the second half. They held on for a 20-19 victory, improving to 9-5 in the process. It almost didn’t happen.

Washington led 20-13 with under two minutes remaining when the Saints drove down the field to either tie or win the game. Unfortunately for the Commanders, the officials didn’t stop the clock with under 10 seconds remaining, allowing New Orleans one more chance at a game-tying touchdown.

The officiating crew’s assist allowed the Saints to score, making it 20-19. Instead of aiming for a tie and overtime, interim coach Darren Rizzi went for the win. However, the pass fell incomplete, and Washington escaped the Big Easy with a much-needed win.

Daniels, who was phenomenal, completed 25 of 31 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns while leading the Commanders in rushing with 66 yards.

So, what was Daniels thinking when the Saints went for the two-point conversion and the win?

“S–t, I was just hoping we would win,” Daniels told reporters after the game.

Daniels was every Washington fan at that point. Going from a game that looked like a potential blowout to coming down to the wire was the type of drama the Commanders hoped was behind them.

Daniels took responsibility for the close game, believing he and the offense needed to be better with the details.

‘Trying to make a play’: Cowboys come to teammate’s defense after costly blocked punt mistake

From @ToddBrock24f7: The mishandling of a blocked punt decided the outcome of Week 14’s game, but Amani Oruwariye’s teammates don’t want it to define him.

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy put it bluntly during his postgame press conference Monday night.

“This one stings.”

But the most painful part is, this particular bug has bitten Cowboys fans before.

Amani Oruwariye’s mishandling of a blocked punt gave the ball back to the Bengals with under two minutes to play in a tie game. Instead of the offense trying to better navigate for a walk-off winning field goal, the defense ended up allowing Cincinnati to score the deciding touchdown just a few snaps later.

It was a gut-wrenching turn of events for the Cowboys, now 5-8, that left the locker room “really devastated,” according to owner Jerry Jones.

“That mistake we made at the end was very impactful, is all I can say.”

Jones hinted in his traditional tunnel Q&A session that the coaching staff had a block-attempt called on the fateful fourth-down play, but McCarthy explained otherwise.

“We actually had a return called,” McCarthy told media members. “The tackle released, the guard went down. The B-gap was exposed. Nick [Vigil, linebacker] took it, and we were able to get the block.”

It was a fortuitous moment, until the deflected ball went beyond the line of scrimmage. Left alone, it would have been whistled dead. Dallas would have taken over, already within the range of kicker Brandon Aubrey.

Instead, Oruwariye, the cornerback who had just re-joined the active roster a few hours earlier, tried to reel in the bouncing ball. When he was unable to, the ball became live again, and the Bengals recovered for a fresh set of downs without having to advance it past the original line to gain.

McCarthy said Oruwariye was simply taken by surprise when the ball ended up in front of him, and the six-year veteran didn’t hear the Cowboys sideline- all the way across the field and 50 yards away- yelling the “poison” command that signals to leave the ball alone.

“He understands the rule of crossing, once the ball crosses the line,” the coach explained after the 27-20 loss. “His response when he turned, when he heard the crowd: the ball was there, and he reacted to it.”

“That’s a play that happens not very often,” McCarthy said. “Definitely a tough learning opportunity.”

Cowboys fans, however, were able to immediately recall two other occasions where the same set of circumstances cost them dearly.

The most infamous was Leon Lett’s botched recovery of a blocked field goal versus Miami on Thanksgiving 1993. After the batted kick skittered around on the snow-covered Texas Stadium turf and past the line of scrimmage, Lett tried to pounce on it and slipped. The Dolphins regained possession and kicked a game-winning field goal on the next snap.

More recently, Nahshon Wright muffed a blocked punt after it, too, crossed the line of scrimmage, in a 2021 game against Denver. Down 16-0 at the time, Wright was trying to turn the tide of the game with a return for a touchdown. Instead, the demoralized Cowboys got further manhandled and lost by a 30-16 final.

This felt like déjà vu all over again.

But while the play ultimately decided the outcome of the Week 14 game, Oruwariye’s teammates refuse to let the moment to define him.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

Micah Parsons was visibly distraught in the aftermath of Oruwariye’s flub. Other Cowboys players struggled to explain what had happened. McCarthy and Jones were clearly disappointed. Special teams coordinator John Fassel will undoubtedly be grilled about it the next time he takes the podium.

Several of Oruwariye’s teammates came to his defense, though, even with the heartbreaking loss still raw and fresh.

Longtime Cowboys special teams ace C.J. Goodwin was there for Wright’s gaffe three years ago and even shielded the rookie from reporters afterward. He did the same thing for Oruwariye after Monday night’s loss.

“Y’all think it’s football … but there’s life outside of football,” Goodwin said, per the team website. “When I see my man going through something mentally, I’m not going to have [the media] bringing up the play over and over. We’re not going to do that.”

Cornerback Jourdan Lewis also tried to put the mishap- merely the latest in a series of bad breaks that have defined the Cowboys’ 2024 season- into a larger perspective.

“Big plays happen, and everybody sees it,” Lewis said. “We have to stay with [Oruwariye] and keep encouraging him. We don’t want that moment to define him. We have to stay behind him. That’s just football. Some things roll your way, and some things don’t. I can’t blame him trying to make a play.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[lawrence-newsletter]

‘More severe than an ACL’: Promising young Cowboys LB suffers devastating knee injury

From @ToddBrock24f7: A serious knee injury Monday night left his teammates devastated, but DeMarvion Overshown himself is already eyeing his next comeback.

One of the few bright spots in the Cowboys’ gloomy 2024 season has been snuffed out. And while the darkness may linger for some time, the player at the center of it is already igniting a new flicker of hope.

DeMarvion Overshown, the promising second-year linebacker who was playing in just his 13th game as a pro, went down with a leg injury during the fourth quarter of Monday night’s gut-wrenching 27-20 loss to Cincinnati.

This injury may be even worse than the preseason ACL tear that cost him his entire rookie campaign in 2023.

“It’s of serious nature, I’m told, that’s really all I know,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said after the game, per the team website. “It didn’t look good.”

Overshown entered the contest as the team’s second-leading tackler, with more sacks- five- than any Cowboys defender apart from Micah Parsons, with a team-best eight tackles for loss, and having recorded the only interception return for a touchdown of Dallas’s season so far.

But when his right leg was rolled up on by Bengals center Ted Karras, it was cause for immediate concern. Cowboys teammates quickly called for assistance, and Overshown was taken directly to the locker room with help from two team trainers. He was ruled out of the remainder of the contest within minutes.

Clarence Hill Jr. of AllCity DLLS reports that the team believes that Overshown “ruptured several ligaments in his knee” and that the injury is “more severe than an ACL.”

Overshown’s 2023 ACL tear was in his left knee.

Although Overshown will undergo further testing on Tuesday, the gravity of the former Longhorn’s injury was already obvious to the rest of the Cowboys locker room.

Parsons was visibly shaken while speaking with reporters about the teammate he’s taken to calling his “little bro.”

“I cried,” Parsons said. “He don’t deserve that, either. He really don’t. To just understand what he’s going to go through- physically and mentally- it’s so challenging. He’s so talented. The year he was having, I mean, I really just don’t think that’s fair.”

Veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks acknowledged that injuries are a part of the game but admitted that seeing Overshown go down was especially tough.

“I’m just feeling for him right now,” he said. “I know how hard he works, and it means a lot to him. Means a lot to me. It’s not really fair. Football is not really fair. You never know.”

“I know it definitely hit a lot of the guys,” McCarthy said.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

It hit Overshown, too. The Texas native gave an update on social media late Monday night that hinted at the severity of his latest injury.

“Wouldn’t want this for anyone else!” he posted. “One of God’s Toughest Soldiers (prayer hands emoji) Keep me in your prayers…”

By Tuesday morning, though, he was already on the comeback trail, at least mentally. An X influencer account called Attack! on Cowboys posted, “hoping DeMarvion Overshown doesn’t become one of the greatest ‘what if’ stories of all time.”

Overshown himself offered a short and sweet response.

“Guarantee I won’t.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[lawrence-newsletter]

What did Terry McLaurin say about Commanders’ Week 13 win?

McLaurin believes the adversity was good for the Commanders.

Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin is always the same after every game. Sure, he’s happier when the Commanders win, but McLaurin always meets with the media — win or lose — and answers every question.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, McLaurin understands adversity, having spent five losing seasons in Washington before the current season. He’s been around many losses, so this Commanders’ season is special. After last week’s loss to Dallas, McLaurin kept it real.

“We have to find a way to start faster and stay in the drives,” McLaurin said last week. “That’s everybody, our whole coaching staff and offensive players, going out there and figuring out ways that we can stay on the field and help the defense and vice versa, all of us.”

So, what did McLaurin say after Sunday’s 42-19 win over the Tennessee Titans to snap a three-game losing streak?

McLaurin said all the right things as usual and believed the recent adversity was good for a team that faced very little through nine weeks.

“That adversity, I feel like it’s tough, you know, but we needed that,” McLaurin said of the Commanders’ recent losing streak. “We needed to come out on the other side and show what we’re about. That’s what character, that’s what brotherhood is about, you know what I mean. It’s easy when things are going great, but when you lose a few, you know what I mean, and you have to get a win. I think we showed that today.”

He’s correct — as usual. Every team, regardless of where they are, needs adversity during a season. That’s why people always say undefeated teams need to lose during the season to experience adversity.

Washington faced adversity and emerged victorious. Now, the test is how the Commanders respond to coming off a bye in two weeks when they will be on the road against the Saints.

‘The seas parted’: Cowboys’ unlikely hero could build off key TD catch

From @ToddBrock24f7: Second-year TE Luke Schoonmaker has soared since Jake Ferguson’s concussion last week. His timely grab Sunday could lead to bigger things.

Facing 3rd-and-5 from just outside the red zone, nursing a slim 13-9 lead with five minutes and change to play, the Cowboys offense was hoping for a dagger. A field goal- no sure thing this past Sunday- would extend their margin, but it would keep Washington within a single score.

The Commanders, understandably, focused on CeeDee Lamb, far and away the primary target within the Dallas passing attack all afternoon and season. Instead, Cooper Rush went a different direction, arcing a pass down the middle of the field to a wide-open Luke Schoonmaker. He had to extend his six-foot-five-inch frame and even leave his feet just to collect the throw, but the moment proved to be massive.

Not just in the Week 12 win, but maybe within the tight end’s football life.

“Well, the seas parted, right? I just needed to catch the ball,” he explained to reporters after the Cowboys’ thrilling 34-26 win. “Gosh, I didn’t even know what to do after that moment, but it was the best feeling.”

Schoonmaker’s score- his third catch of the afternoon and the third touchdown of his career- actually marked the first touchdown reception for a Dallas tight end all season.

“Someone needed to get a touchdown this year, so it was great to have that for the room.”

The Michigan man implied he was doing it for his position mates: third-stringer Brevyn Spann-Ford, practice squadder Princeton Fant, and John Stephens Jr., who’s been on injured reserve since last month, as well as Jake Ferguson, the concussed starter he was subbing for on nearly two-thirds of the offense’s Week 12 snaps.

“That’s what’s great about the room, is the competition and the chemistry,” Schoonmaker continued. “Every day, we’re going out there. Lunda [Wells, Cowboys tight end coach] is working us hard as ever. Just credit to him for each and every one of us, just taking the practice field to the game field, and that’s certainly helped everybody rise to the occasion and not have any dropoff at all.”

But coming through in that fourth-quarter gotta-have-it moment could well prove to be a turning point in Schoonmaker’s young career trajectory.

Since Ferguson went down in the first quarter of last week’s game with a concussion, Schoonmaker has been tasked with stepping up. And he’s made the most of his newfound opportunities: in 87 offensive snaps over the past two games, the 26-year-old has caught nine of 14 targets for 111 yards (by far his most productive two-game stretch as a pro)… and Sunday’s all-important score.

“It’s one thing to make plays,” head coach Mike McCarthy said of Schoonmaker in his postgame press conference, “but when you start making big plays, critical plays in games, it’s a whole different level, a big chunk of confidence.”

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

Of course, Sunday’s fourth-quarter score ended up not being the definitive death blow that the Cowboys were looking for; there were five more insane minutes of football- and another 31 points still to be rung up- before the final gun.

“I didn’t even want to watch at some points,” Schoonmaker said of the final flurry of back-and-forth action.

The backup tight end still wasn’t thinking of his own individual growth even after the Cowboys pulled out the improbable win; he was far more excited about the team coming together- even as a mostly-ragtag bunch of injury replacements- to snap a five-game losing streak.

“That’s really what was said last night going into today, like, ‘Let’s get a win. Let’s play all together and everybody have each other’s backs, and let’s play this whole game.’ What a way to win today. Just the contribution all around was amazing.”

Schoonmaker’s timely contribution was huge, and just maybe a foundation to build on for the 2023 second-round draft pick who’s been used sparingly over just 28 regular-season games. His career numbers- 25 receptions for 232 yards- certainly don’t look like those of the game’s top tight ends. He’s already labeled a bust by a contingent of the fanbase who expects every Day Two selection to be an instant star.

But for right now, it’s one game, one day, one rep at a time for Schoonmaker, who was thankful that his one touchdown of 2024 came when it did.

“Oh my gosh. Just to win felt amazing,” he grinned. “The fact that we won just kind of takes over everything else. That felt great. Took a little breath, and now we forge forward.”

The suddenly-buoyed Cowboys… and an emerging Schoonmaker, too.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[lawrence-newsletter]

Parsons makes waves with remarks interpreted as shot at McCarthy’s Cowboys future

From @ToddBrock24f7: Parsons had some harsh words when asked about his head coach’s future with the team, but his answer was more about his veteran teammates.

Though there have been more lopsided final scores through the years, the Cowboys’ humiliating 34-6 loss on Sunday ranks as one of the most thorough and demoralizing defeats in the franchise’s history.

Emotions within Cowboys Nation are raw. The same goes for inside the locker room, too, where coaches and players can expect another difficult week of doom-and-gloom queries about the current state of the team amid a 3-6 season that shows no sign whatsoever of improving.

The more outspoken members of the organization will no doubt have things to say, and in a year when so much has not gone as planned, many of the comments and remarks to come out of Dallas over the coming days and weeks will also land in ways that no one saw coming.

Micah Parsons has already kicked off the headline-making soundbite frenzy with his reply to a question about his head coach’s future with the team.

Longtime Cowboys writer Jori Epstein of Yahoo Sports asked the edge rusher about the feeling inside the locker room regarding whether Mike McCarthy- on the final year of his contract- will return to the role in 2025.

“That’s above my pay grade about if Mike is coaching again next year,” Parsons prefaced. But what he went on to say next will stir up all kinds of chatter with the team’s media, fans, and outside observers.

“All coaching aside, Mike can leave and go wherever he wants, but guys I kind of feel bad for is guys like Zack Martin and guys who might be on their last year, on their way out, because that’s who I want to go hold the trophy for. You want to win games and do great things with those type of legends who put in more time and work than Mike McCarthy ever did. Those are the kind of guys that I have so much sympathy and hurt for.”

There are two primary ways the outspoken 25-year-old’s comments are being interpreted by a fanbase helplessly watching their season roll off the edge of a cliff in dramatic slow-motion.

Reading No. 1 focuses on the two times Parsons references his coach by name. This translation seems to almost assume that McCarthy will be somewhere else next season and that Parsons won’t lose much sleep over it, because he doesn’t feel the coach has put in the same kind of investment that Parsons and some of his his teammates have.

Reading No. 2 suggests that Parsons is really zeroing in on the team’s veteran players, like Martin. He views the wasted 2024 season as an unfortunate way to end either a long Cowboys stint or a star-studded pro career and feels like he and his younger teammates are letting down their mentors who deserve one last chance at a ring.

There’s truth to both interpretations.

The hot-take sports-talk shows will hammer home “McCarthy can leave” as a shouting point and turn Parsons’s reference to how little “time and work” the coach supposedly devoted into some sort of out-loud coded admission that McCarthy has lost the locker room.

But Parsons is correct on everything he said, even if the tone and context were unnecessarily harsh toward his head coach.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

The frustrating reality is that the window is closing for seasoned Cowboys players like Martin (or DeMarcus Lawrence or Dak Prescott or Ezekiel Elliott or Jourdan Lewis). And while there will be Pro Bowl honors and All-Pro nods and individual statistics and personal accolades to carry them into their post-gridiron lives, there may not be more than a smattering of playoff-game appearances, and no postseason success whatsoever past the divisional round.

Parsons can likely already see himself in their stories: great players sacrificing themselves daily but stuck on teams that could never get themselves collectively over the hump to true football glory.

Ten years of weight rooms and trainer’s tables; giving blood, sweat, and tears to the game. A decade of destroying their bodies in exchange for temporary hero status, and then it’s all over. Maybe the lucky select few get a radio or TV gig to give the token ex-player’s perspective.

For a coach, however, even if it ends disastrously, there’s usually a different-colored cap to put on and another clipboard to hold next season.

To a competitor like Parsons, that has to be beyond maddening. And when he’s asked about it in the moments after another embarrassing no-show by the entire roster, what’s going to come out won’t be the typical, politically-correct, boring, safe, vanilla, cliched answers to a reporter’s question.

But now, whether he meant to or not, Parsons has thrown McCarthy right out into traffic. Both will be asked about the comments this week. McCarthy will likely brush it off. Other Cowboys players will be asked about it, too. So will Jerry Jones.

Parsons has already clapped back, posting Monday on social media:

“Loll damn yeah ima just eat the fine for now on! Because the way yall twist words and flip them around for content is nasty work!”

He’ll no doubt have even more to say on the subject in this week’s episode of his podcast.

And a season already going up in flames will produce a new hotspot off to the side that will get everyone’s attention, at least until next Monday night’s meeting with Houston, when Parsons, McCarthy, and the Cowboys will get their next opportunity to alter the 2024 narrative before a nationwide primetime audience.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[lawrence-newsletter]

What everyone said after the Commanders’ loss to Steelers

A collection of quotes from Commanders, Steelers and analysts following Sunday’s game.

Though the Commanders led by ten points in the second half, they lost 28-27 to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at Northwest Stadium.

Here is a collection of post-game quotes from players, analysts, coaches and media personalities.

Jayden Daniels

“Yeah, it’s not, it’s not all on him (Newton). That’s what everybody’s gonna see, just that one big play. But it’s not all on him, and we’re all together. No matter what people outside the building are saying, are thinking, man, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what’s in the building and how we love each other, how we support each other. We have each other’s backs.”

“I mean, I don’t like losing, so I don’t want to feel like this, this feeling. I don’t want to have losses, you know, competitive. I want to win in everything I step foot in and I put my mind to so I wouldn’t say it’s any motivation. Just like, ‘man, how can I go back to work and kind of get this feeling in my system.’ When I win, I want to keep winning. When we lose, I don’t want to lose. I want to win again.”

Mitchell Tischler

“It’s ok to be frustrated by the play but the personal attacks at BSJ are uncalled for, he’s been nothing less than respectable and accountable and while wins and losses matter, how you handle it matters too.”

“Veteran QB > Rookie D-Linemen … pretty emblematic of a mistake-filled game for the Commanders.”

“Zach Ertz has been in this league for too long to not run that route to the first down line … looks super close, hope review overturns it.”

Benjamin St-Juste

“Sometimes I get caught up in trying to make the play so much that I try to guard everything. In those situations, you’ve got to pick and choose, and you’ve got to pick the right option.”

John Keim

“According to TruMedia, Pittsburgh sent five or more rushers on 19 snaps, a season high. The previous high was 11 vs. the Giants last week. Daniels was 7-16 in those situations. Three sacks.”

“An absolute dime from Wilson to Williams. Yes, Washington could have used Lattimore today.”

“Washington proved it can hang, but man they left too much out there. Some definite missed chances on O. The miss to McCaffrey was huge.”

“No magical ending. No moral victories. But this team is right there. And reinforcements soon.”

Dan Quinn

“The missed opportunities sting the most.”

“I said that this is a 24 hour rule and so we got 24 hours. By the time we get in for tomorrow afternoon, we’ve got to clear it and we’ve got to go. And so we hadn’t talked a lot about next week the previous week. They know what’s ahead and we’ll be prepared for that.”

“I said I love what they stand for, for one another. And I don’t know if I learned that, but it was confirmed again, and so I was hurting for them. That locker room’s hurting, but there’s also these lessons that we have to apply to know that we do have to learn from them and go on and this just happens to be that lesson comes back quickly, as we get into our next game.”

“I would hope that the missed opportunities are the lesson to apply because I thought it was just maybe a little uncharacteristic. I thought maybe a few drops, maybe a few plays that weren’t quite like us. I love that we are in this kind of fight. These are the kind of ones that you need to build some resilience and some resolve, but we are establishing that kind of toughness and identity that we want to be about.”

Sam Cosmi

“I have so much faith in this team…There’s nothing more that I want to do than to beat Philly,[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media] so they’re going to have a pretty pissed team on their hands.”

Craig Hoffman

“That play is why you trade for Lattimore. In a must-have man-to-man situation, they know they needed better guys in coverage. Unfortunately he’s not ready yet. Mike Williams, PIT’s addition, was.”

Mike Tomlin

“Man, be real slow comparing people to Lamar Jackson. That’s a multi-time MVP. That’s Mr. Jackson. We’ll see Mr. Jackson in a few days.”

‘Something I’ve never felt’: Cowboys’ Prescott details Week 9 hamstring injury

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Cowboys QB missed the 4th quarter with a hamstring injury, but he also took a blow to his throwing hand in the 27-21 loss to Atlanta.

When the Cowboys lost Dak Prescott at the end of the third quarter of Sunday’s game versus Atlanta, a hamstring injury was the official reason given.

But it may not be the only costly hit the quarterback took in the 27-21 loss.

TV viewers saw the team’s training staff tending to Prescott’s throwing hand on the sideline as the fourth quarter got underway, with blood visible around the knuckle where the right pinkie meets the hand bones. Within minutes, Prescott was announced out of the game… but with a hamstring issue.

Prescott himself told reporters about a sensation he felt while trying to evade a sack by Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss on the final drive of the third quarter.

“I felt it when I was getting it up from the run,” Prescott said in his postgame press conference. “I can’t even say that I felt it running. Maybe the tackle, maybe something on the tackle, I don’t know. But standing up from that, I felt something, but actually, I didn’t think it was much.”

Prescott seemed to realize otherwise, however, on the very next play. As he stepped through a throw to the far sideline- a 10-yard completion to Jalen Brooks- he pulled up noticeably. Replays show Prescott’s face contorted in pain.

“I felt a pull, felt something I’ve never felt,” he explained.

He dumped out of a pass on the next snap, a third-down play, and looked rather gimpy doing it.

“Tough to walk on it at that point,” Prescott would say later. “Saw the medical team and asked, ‘Could I make it worse?’ At that point, they said I wouldn’t be able to protect myself, and they made the call to hold me out.”

The quarterback had been under fire for weeks for not using his rushing and scrambling skills more often. Prior to the injury on Sunday, he was credited with three runs for 30 yards, his highest ground total since Week 6 of last season.

Prescott was scheduled for an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the leg injury, but the apparent harm done to his throwing hand is worth following up on as well.

Prescott was not asked about his hand during his Sunday afternoon presser, nor did he bring it up. But the few images broadcast from the sideline seemed to show a very swollen right hand. The passer missed five games in 2022 after breaking the thumb on that same hand in a Week 1 game versus Tampa Bay.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

The bigger worry is that hamstring. Owner Jerry Jones told reporters, “I am concerned about that. It concerned me when I saw the play, or saw him have a reaction to any weakness there.”

Backup Cooper Rush came on in relief and went 13-for-25 passing, compiling 115 yards and a touchdown in a comeback effort that fell short and sent the Cowboys to 3-5.

Rush has a 5-1 career record as the Cowboys starter. His only loss came in his most recent start, 2022’s Week 6 visit to Philadelphia, the last game that Prescott’s thumb injury caused him to miss.

The Cowboys are set to host the Eagles next Sunday. No matter what Monday’s tests reveal about Prescott hamstring and hand, Rush will almost certainly be taking extra snaps as a precaution.

Prescott, for his part, hopes to be able to suit up without missing any time at all.

“I would say that I’ll be out there next week. I’ve got to see. Luckily, I can say I’ve healed fast, I’ve progressed fast on injuries and things, so I’m thankful for that,” Prescott said.

“It’ll take a lot for me not to be out there, I’ll tell you personally.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[lawrence-newsletter]

Cowboys’ Prescott takes blame for interceptions in loss: ‘I’ve got to clean that up’

From @ToddBrock24f7: Dak tossed 2 more picks in Week 8. One was a bad throw caused by pressure; one was a bad decision that both the QB and head coach owned.

On a night when so many things went wrong for the Cowboys, it’s easy (maybe even “lazy,” to recycle a recent buzzword from around these parts) to pin the team’s 30-24 loss in San Francisco on the two interceptions thrown by quarterback Dak Prescott.

The league’s highest-paid player now has eight picks through seven games, a figure currently topped by only three passers. That’s one less than Prescott threw all of last season, and it puts him ahead of his career-worst 2022 pace, when he had seven picks in his first seven games en route to a league-leading 15 total.

Perhaps most troubling, though: Week 8 marked the third straight game in which Prescott has tossed multiple picks, the first time in his career he’s had a stretch that long.

Prescott was quick to take personal responsibility for the miscues.

“I don’t have to be perfect,” he said in his postgame press conference, “but I damn sure can’t be having the turnovers.”

Winning the turnover battle was a “huge, blinking light” for head coach Mike McCarthy during the team’s bye week; Dallas came into Sunday night’s contest with a minus-six differential in the category. After Prescott’s two giveaways in Santa Clara, the Cowboys are minus-eight; only the Raiders and Titans (three combined wins this season) are worse.

Good teams simply aren’t bad in that stat.

“[We] put ourselves behind in the turnover battle, and that’s on me,” Prescott said. “Can’t have that if we plan to win games, and I’ve got to clean that up, period.”

But McCarthy pointed out that the breakdown was bigger than just his passer, especially on the first-quarter deep ball attempt.

“When you look at interceptions, you can grade them, put them in buckets and categories,” McCarthy told reporters Sunday night. “The first one, he had pressure in the B-gap, hits his feet, which took him late, the safety got a jump on the ball, so he wasn’t able to get it to the back pylon.”

Prescott also hinted that the pressure from 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa forced a bad throw in what might have otherwise been an ideal matchup downfield between speedy wideout KaVontae Turpin and San Francisco rookie cornerback Renardo Green.

“He was singled up. Obviously, the safety just got over there because I got hit as I was throwing the ball and left the ball hanging from the hit,” Prescott explained.

“That’s a potential of a big play right there. It just swings completely the other way… Thought I was going to be able to get it off with full strength on the throw. I wasn’t.”

McCarthy told media members that the Cowboys’ challenges with pass protection factored into his offensive plan as the game went on, citing “a little bit of my angst in play-calling because of [the 49ers’] ability to get pass rush with four rushers.”

San Francisco’s defense logged two sacks and two QB hits, plus numerous pressures on the night.

“A lot of conversation,” McCarthy said, “as far as our pass game was protection.”

Prescott has been sacked 18 times already this season and is under pressure on nearly one out of every four dropbacks, currently the highest rate since his rookie season.

With sketchy offensive line play and a mostly ensemble cast of third-tier receivers, Prescott was pressed once again to try to do too much as things started to slip away in the second half. That led to No. 4 forcing the ball to his only dependable target as he looked to provide a spark.

The result? A terrible decision that instead poured gasoline on a third-quarter fire that saw the 49ers go on a 21-point run.

“The second one was as boneheaded an interception as I feel like I’ve had,” Prescott claimed. “Trying to make a play. Too much confidence in myself in that moment right there. I obviously should have just thrown it away. Wish I’d have put a little more heat on it; it would have been CeeDee or out of bounds. That one hurt.”

Once again, McCarthy tried to share some of the blame for the play choice, deliberately putting his quarterback on the move to counter his O-line’s struggles.

“I called it too early,” the coach admitted. “What was it, 3rd-and-5? That’s a better 3rd-and-4-to-3rd-and-3 call. [Ed. note: It actually was 3rd-and-4.] So the leverage wasn’t there, and he’s trying to make a play. We’ve got to throw that ball away there, but I wish I had that play call back.”

Prescott similarly expressed regret over the part that his errant throws made in the team’s latest meltdown by the Bay.

“I’ve got to make throws, pressure or not. I’m capable of doing it, so I’ve got to do it,” he said.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

But he knows that it also comes down to making better decisions, even when the chips are down.

“I’ve just got to burn that ball or eat the sack and just play it play-by-play. A lot of times, big plays come from just taking something underneath, guys blocking in the secondary, and the guys going and breaking tackles. Big plays come from there, so we can’t necessarily chase them. We’ve got to stick to it, one play at a time. We’ll keep our heads up and do that.”

And so the dilemma continues for Prescott: whether to take command of the situation and play like the NFL’s first $60 million man on a squad that truly needs a hero… or just keep chipping away with the next right little decision and the next right little decision after that, trusting that something big will eventually break loose.

The reality is, the job requires both. But which moment calls for which mindset… that’s the whole key.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[mm-video type=video id=01jb8mm2pp3scpx6y4r3 playlist_id=01eqbwens7sctqdrqg player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01jb8mm2pp3scpx6y4r3/01jb8mm2pp3scpx6y4r3-7bf371a7ef54824ae683319a6069f927.jpg]

[lawrence-newsletter]