Tag: Tyron Smith

‘We’re clicking:’ Cowboys RBs look to carry momentum into Philadelphia

Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard combined for a monster game versus the Rams and hope their two-headed beast keeps rolling against Philly.

e Dallas Cowboys enjoyed their best game of the season on Sunday, thoroughly thumping the defending NFC champions from Los Angeles as they fought for their playoff lives. While highlights like Jason Witten making a one-handed grab and Tavon Austin finding himself all alone on a long touchdown pass made for fun television, it was largely a ground-based attack that propelled the team to a 44-21 win and a renewed sense of hope regarding a second straight division title.

The Cowboys ran for 263 yards against the Rams, their best effort of 2019 and highest single-game rushing total since 2017. Ezekiel Elliott logged 117 yards on 24 carries and found the end zone twice, while rookie Tony Pollard had his most productive day as a pro, racking up 131 yards on just 12 carries. The notion of the pair being a lethal double-headed backfield beast has tantalized fans ever since the club drafted the speedy Pollard out of Memphis and then cemented Elliott’s place on the team with a lucrative contract extension. Sunday felt like the first real unleashing of that monster, and it makes this Cowboys squad perhaps the scariest 7-7 team in memory as they ratchet up their ground game for a late December surge toward the postseason.

“We know how good our offensive line is,” Elliott said after Sunday’s win. “When we go out there and handle our business, when we go out there and execute, we’re hard to stop.”

“How many rushing yards did we have today? Like, 300? Close to it?” Elliott asked after the Week 15 win. “We ran the ball really well today. The O-line, I don’t know what they ate for breakfast, but they did a hell of a job and made it easy on us backs.”

Three-fifths of that offensive line- center Travis Frederick, guard Zack Martin, and tackle Tyron Smith- were just named to the 2020 Pro Bowl, along with Elliott.

“It starts up front,” quarterback Dak Prescott said in his postgame remarks Sunday. “Communicating. Those guys coming off the ball was beautiful. And then you look at the runners, the way they did. Broke tackles, made people miss. Both of those guys. That was so impressive.”

But Elliott may actually want to investigate what his line ate for breakfast last week and order it in bulk for Sunday. Up next for the group is a Philadelphia Eagles front that ranks third in the league in run defense, allowing an average of just 90.4 yards per game. They’ve given up over 100 rushing yards just four times all year. One of those instances, however, came against Dallas in their Week 7 meeting, when the Cowboys as a team rolled for 189 yards on the ground.

Now the Cowboys’ rushing attack will look to build off last Sunday’s 263-yard outing in the Philadelphia rematch that would award Dallas the NFC East crown with a victory.

“It’s great to know that a single win gets us in there, but that’s not our goal,” Elliott said. “Our goal isn’t just to make the playoffs. We want to keep this thing rolling, we want to ride this momentum.”

“Momentum is a dangerous thing,” Prescott echoed. “And it’s about getting it on our side.”

The acquisition and development of Pollard cannot be understated when reflecting on the 2019 season. The 22-year-old was selected in the fourth round of April’s draft. The speedster’s skills at returning kicks was documented, but it was hoped that he could be a potent change of pace to Elliott in the Dallas backfield, too.

Pollard’s usage has been up and down this season, but maybe he’s suddenly getting some of that momentum his quarterback mentioned. Against the Rams, Pollard logged double-digit carries for the first time since Week 3. That game saw the team rush for 235 yards as a whole, their previous top performance before this past Sunday. Granted, it’s a small sample size, but good things seem to happen when both Elliott and Pollard are heavily involved.

Prescott has definitely noticed the electrifying jolt his first-year weapon brings to the offense. He marveled of Pollard, “He’s just something else. Arm tackles and all that stuff, he’s just getting through it. He continues to make plays anytime the ball’s in his hands, and he’s a special player. Thankful we have him.”

“Seeing him just become a better player is kind of crazy,” Elliott said of Pollard. “I remember his first OTA, he was kind of a little timid and not really running as hard. We didn’t have on pads. But just to see him from there to now, it’s awesome. He’s a smart player, but also very skilled. He has a very bright future.”

For his part, the rookie has embraced the mentorship that the two-time league rushing champ has offered.

“He’s been like a big brother since I got here,” Pollard said of Elliott. “Taking me under his wing. Showing me, teaching me things that I didn’t know at first. He’s done a great job of that.”

And when both of them are ripping off hundred-yard days, it’s good to be a Cowboy: offense, defense, or otherwise.

“It’s just fun,” Pollard said of the team’s dominance on the ground on Sunday. “It just keeps the sideline excited, me and him talking… it’s just a good feeling: both guys clicking, the O-line’s clicking, the defense is rolling, special teams.”

“That’s what we’re built for. We’re built to be a balanced team,” Tyron Smith said of the Week 15 win, the first time since October 2018 that the Dallas ground game has outrushed Prescott’s passing totals. “I think the identity has always been there. It’s just, for us, doing it as a team, knowing what we’ve got to get done.”

Now they’ll have to get it done against the Eagles, a team they’ve beaten in each of their last four meetings. And they’ll have to get it done in Philly’s own house, a trip that coach Jason Garrett’s squads typically do well with.

“It’s a playoff game,” Prescott said of Sunday’s showdown. “Obviously, simple as that: it’s a playoff game. It’s a rival, it’s a team in the division, it’s a must-win game. We have to approach it as a playoff game, and that’s the way we will.”

The Cowboys’ prolific rushing attack was a revelation against the Rams in Week 15. Week 16 should prove to be more challenging, with an even tougher opponent versus the run and a divisional crown on the line.

Elliott knows what he and Pollard did last week obviously won’t count at Lincoln Financial Field, but it just might have helped give the team a good running start.

“I think we did set up some momentum. But we’ve still got a lot of work to do, got lot of work to do this season. And we’re just getting started.”

[vertical-gallery id=636718][vertical-gallery id=636536][lawrence-newsletter]

Dak Prescott’s shoulder, Tyron Smith’s eye are issues for Cowboys ahead of Eagles match

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was highly efficient stat-wise in the team’s Week 15 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Yes, he finished with his lowest passing-yardage total of the season, 212, but he threw for two scores, had his …

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was highly efficient stat-wise in the team’s Week 15 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Yes, he finished with his lowest passing-yardage total of the season, 212, but he threw for two scores, had his second-highest Adjusted Yards per Attempt average of the year (10.96 per throw) and second-best passer rating (123.8) of the season.

And he did it all with a bad shoulder from almost the outset of the game, it seems. Prescott had an MRI on Tuesday that came back negative and is expected to suit up for the club’s de facto NFC East championship game on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. At practice on Wednesday, he participated, but did not throw.

“They did an MRI, and everything seems to be OK,” Garrett said via the Dallas News. “But he banged it up, and it’s hard for him to function right now. So we don’t anticipate him throwing much in practice today.”

In his place, backup Cooper Rush participated in the throwing drills with the Cowboys’ targets on Wednesday. Rush has primarily appeared in kneel-down duty across his three years with the team as a UDFA out of Central Michigan. He has only thrown three passes in his career, all in a single 2017 game and has just two passing yards on his resume.

The club fully expects Prescott to be able to suit up on Sunday, but it is certainly something to be monitored. The quarterback is enjoying his finest statistical season, throwing for over 4,300 yards in the team’s 14 games.

His blindside protector, Tyron Smith, is also ailing. Smith is having an issue with his left eye and his status for the game is unknown at the moment.

In addition, middle linebacker Leighton Vander Esch is already ruled out of a fifth-straight contest due to his neck injury as it appears more and more the second-year player may be done for the season.

Finally, special team’s ace CJ Goodwin underwent thumb surgery, but is expected to be ready to go by Sunday.

The Cowboys full practice report will be included when it becomes available.

[vertical-gallery id=636718][vertical-gallery id=636168][lawrence-newsletter]

Cowboys’ Elliott, trio of his blockers named to 2020 Pro Bowl

Ezekiel Elliott was named to his third Pro Bowl on Tuesday; he’ll be joined in Orlando by a trio of teammates all making a return trip.

He may not win his third rushing title this season, but Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott will showcase his skills as one of the best in the game at this year’s Pro Bowl. And he’ll have some familiar faces clearing a path for him.

Elliott was named to the league’s all-star game on Tuesday, along with center Travis Frederick, guard Zack Martin, and tackle Tyron Smith. They will be the Dallas representives for the NFC in Orlando on January 26, provided they don’t have a bigger game to prepare for in Miami the following week.

For Elliott, it’s his third Pro Bowl selection in four seasons as a pro. Frederick makes his fifth appearance to the Pro Bowl roster, a remarkable capping achievement to his first year back from Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Martin has been named to the Pro Bowl every single year he’s been in the league; this is his sixth selection.

Smith earns his seventh trip to the all-star affair.

As the Pro Bowl draws nearer, there is a good chance that several other Cowboys will be added to the lineup as alternates, to fill in for players who are injured or otherwise unavailable.

The worst Pro Bowl picks — and the players who should replace them

Every year, a group of undeserving players are named to the Pro Bowl. Here’s this year’s list, and the players who should replace them.

If you think the Pro Bowl is a meaningless exercise, don’t tell the fans, players, and teams when somebody on their side is snubbed in the process. Every year, there are deserving players who aren’t voted to the Pro Bowl roster, and every year, there are players who get on more through previous reputation than current performance.

Here are the most egregious omissions in the 2019 voting, with thought on which players these unfortunate snubs should replace. Because if you’re going to complain about a player who’s wrongly off the Pro Bowl roster, you should be able to find a guy who’s taking up space. That’s where things get a bit more difficult!

Quarterback (NFC)

In: Dak Prescott or Kirk Cousins
Out: Aaron Rodgers

(Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports)

Either Prescott or Cousins would be a better fit on the NFC roster than Aaron Rodgers, who had just three games with more than 300 passing yards this season, three games with less than 200 yards passing, and eight games with one or zero touchdowns. Cousins has been on fire after a rough start to the season, and Prescott ranks first in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted efficiency metrics. Not that Rodgers has had a bad season, but this seems much more like a reputation pick than anything else.

Receiver (AFC)

In: Julian Edelman
Out: Jarvis Landry

(Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports)

Landry has been one of Cleveland’s few bright spots on offense this season, but it’s kind of ridiculous to have him in over Edelman, who was part of a total snub of New England offensive players that hasn’t happened since 2003. Yes, Landry has 74 catches on 1,018 yards and five touchdowns, but Edelman has 92 catches for 1,019 yards and six touchdowns in an offense so broken, opposing defenses can bracket him on just about every play. Edelman has faced more double teams than at any other point in his career, and he’s having arguably his most productive season.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5

3 key matchups to watch in Bears vs. Cowboys

As the Bears prepare for the Cowboys, they’ll face a tall order as they look to keep their playoff hopes alive. Here are matchups to watch.

When the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys kick off at Soldier Field on Thursday evening, it will officially mark the beginning of the fourth quarter of the 2019 NFL season.

Each sitting at 6-6, the Bears and Cowboys still eye a spot in the postseason, although the Cowboys’ road to the playoffs is much smoother than the Bears’. Nonetheless, neither team can afford a loss in December and will look to inch closer towards securing a playoff berth.

With injuries sidelining impactful players on both teams, this game will come down to a few key matchups. Here are three of the biggest:

1. OLB Khalil Mack vs. LT Tyron Smith

Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

A (literal) battle of the heavyweights, Mack and Smith are perennial Pro Bowl players who will go head to head for a significant portion of the game. Statistically, Mack hasn’t reached his totals from 2018 and is in danger of missing out on double-digit sacks for the first time since his rookie season. But he has five forced fumbles and is still a game-changer when coming off the edge. He’ll line up on both ends of the line but will face a major test when lining up across from Smith.

Smith has only surrendered one sack this season, and the offensive line as a whole has given up 19 total, tied for third-best in the league, according to Football Outsiders. Getting to Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will be paramount when it comes to winning this game.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

Travis Frederick on phantom tripping call: ‘I don’t understand the rule, evidently’

The Cowboys center was as perplexed as everyone else at the two tripping penalties called against Dallas in New England in the Week 12 loss.

Listen to any interview ever done with Travis Frederick, and it’s clear he’s a pretty cerebral guy. He was a National Honor Society member in high school, even graduating early so that he could enroll in a spring football camp at Wisconsin. While in Madison, he earned a degree in engineering mechanics with an emphasis in computer engineering. For his pregame warmup, the 320-pound center runs detailed wide receiver route trees with linemate Zack Martin. Quarterback Dak Prescott has called him “a genius.” Suffice it to say, he’s a smart dude. So to suggest that Frederick doesn’t understand one of football’s fundamental rules would border on absurd.

Yet the seventh-year veteran was quick to question his own football intelligence after an unusual tripping penalty was called against him late in the fourth quarter of the Cowboys’ 13-9 loss in New England.

“I don’t understand the rule, evidently,” Frederick told reporters after the game. “I need to get a clarification on that. When I tried to get a clarification on that, the umpire was nowhere to be found.”

The flag came on a 3rd-and-1 play, negating a first-down pickup by running back Ezekiel Elliott and leaving Dallas instead in a 3rd-and-11 situation that ultimately ended with a turnover on downs.

The tripping penalty is a rarity in the NFL, generally reserved for flagrant and obvious cases of a player flailing to bring another down while being desperately out of position. This was not that.

Even a by-the-book reading of the rule doesn’t really apply. As defined by the 2019 NFL Rulebook: Rule 3, Section 40, “Tripping is the use of the leg or foot to obstruct any opponent (including a runner).” Rule 12, Section 1, Article 8 makes tripping a prohibited act.

Did Frederick lift his leg as he shifted himself around to help double-team Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower? Without question. Was he attempting to trip Hightower? That’s a tough case to make.

And yet, the officials did. What’s more shocking? They did it twice.

Earlier, six-time Pro Bowl tackle Tyron Smith drew a tripping flag, too. It turned a 2nd-and-13 into a 2nd-and-23, effectively stalling the Dallas drive and leading to a punt that was blocked to give New England a short field (and eventually a touchdown) in the first quarter.

It turns out it has happened twice against the same team in the same game before, and it happened against Dallas, too.

One of the most seldom-seen penalties? Called against Dallas twice in the same game? Several Cowboys were understandably skeptical.

“I know it was my first time hearing the call,” wide receiver Amari Cooper told the media in the visitors’ locker room. “And then to hear it twice in one game, it was kind of… it was just different. I’d never heard that call. I don’t even know what it is. I’m guessing it’s tripping somebody? Like, putting your foot out and tripping them?”

“I mean, that’s been all season long, so it’s no surprise,” Prescott said during his press conference in reference to iffy calls working against the team. “It’s nothing new. As I’ve said before and I’ll continue to say, I’m just going to play the play. That’s my job; I’ll let those guys do their job.”

“I see the definition of whether you’ve made a move, and got your toe down,” owner Jerry Jones told a crowd of reporters, “Whether it’s tripping or not, I don’t want to go to those two particular tripping calls, if you will. I don’t want to go to that.”

Coach Jason Garrett was blunt in his reaction to the tripping flags after the game: “I’ve never seen that before.”

Most who were watching the game seemed to concur.

Even ESPN’s NFL officiating analyst weighed in.

That the penalties came in a game against the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick- with their history of leveraging every possible advantage- made the whole episode even more curious.

That theory calls to mind last season’s Week 7 game versus Washington, in which long snapper L.P. Ladouceur was flagged for a “snap infraction” on a late field goal try. The call moved the Cowboys back five yards; kicker Brett Maher missed the subsequent attempt, and Dallas lost the game. Then-Redskins coach Jay Gruden had reportedly gone to officials prior to the game and warned them to watch Ladouceur’s movements, the exact same ritual the veteran has employed in his snaps for 15 NFL seasons. Ladouceur went through his mechanics. The Redskins jumped. The flag was thrown. The Cowboys were moved backward in a critical moment.

It worked for Washington in 2018. And it’s certainly plausible that Belichick used the same strategy this past weekend in Foxborough.

Even if officials were badgered by a coach into seeing trips that weren’t really there, Frederick took the high road afterward.

“I don’t know how, exactly, the calls come out. I don’t know how that works, and we’re frankly not allowed to talk about the referees and their calls. It’s a call that was made, and you’ve got to try to put yourself in a better situation so that something like that doesn’t make a tremendous impact on the game. You’ve got to able to try and take those type of things out of the game altogether.”

Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said, as a defender, he knows what tripping actually looks like.

“I get tripped up every time,” Lawrence said in postgame interviews,  “but, I mean, it’s cool. I ain’t going to sit here and cry about it. If the refs want to call [expletive], let them call the [expletive]. It’s all about what we do… Everybody knows it was no such thing, that a foot was thrown out or anybody was tripped.”

“It’s all up and down,” Lawrence concluded. “They make the rules; we just play the game.”

After one of the rarest penalties in the sport was called on Dallas twice in the same game, it sure seems like the Cowboys weren’t the only ones playing games on Sunday.

[vertical-gallery id=634743][vertical-gallery id=634702][vertical-gallery id=633628][lawrence-newsletter]

Cowboys Week 11 injury designations: LG Connor Williams ruled OUT

The Detroit Lions Week 11 opponent, the Dallas Cowboys, have released their injury designations and ruled LG Connor Williams OUT.

The Detroit Lions Week 11 opponent, the Dallas Cowboys have declared their inactives for this weekend’s game at Ford Field.

While the Cowboys are relatively healthy, they will be down 20-percent of their starting offensive line and there’s a chance they could be down as much as 40-percent come game-time.

Ruled OUT

LG Connor Williams (knee)

Williams had arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday and is expected to miss time. “In his place,” Cowboys Wire’s Cody Milligan points out, “the Cowboys will start sixth-year pro Xavier Su’a-Filo. Su’a-Filo started eight games for the Cowboys in 2018 after being signed as a free agent.”

This is a downgrade for the Cowboys, and may not be the end of their injury issues on the offensive line.

Questionable

RT La’el Collins (knee, back)
S Jeff Heath (shoulders)

Collins didn’t practice on Wednesday or Thursday and returned to a limited practice on Friday, but most people in the know are expecting him to play. With Williams already out, losing Collins would be a blow to their offensive line.

Heath, a Cowboys captain and Michigan native (he’s from Lake Orion), has been limited all week and is coming off a game that saw him with his lowest snap count of the season. Even if he is able to play this weekend, he may be limited on Sunday.

Not listed with an injury designation

WR Armani Cooper (knee, ankle)
WR Michael Gallup (knee)
LT Tyron Smith (ankle)
RG Zack Martin (back, ankle, elbow)
OT Cameron Fleming (calf)
DE DeMarcus Lawrence (neck)
DE Michael Bennett (non-injury)
DT Antwaun Woods (shoulder)
LB Sean Lee (pectoral)
CB C.J. Goodwin (knee)

There are a lot of other Cowboys banged in this section — including eight starters — but they are all in position to play on Sunday.

Injury Report: Cowboys entire offensive line hurting ahead of Week 11

The Thursday injury report for the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions leading up to their Week 11 matchup.

The Dallas Cowboys most recent loss has put their backs against the proverbial wall. With that in mind, all hands on deck will be required, not only due to the increased significance of the remainder of the games to be played, but because injuries are mounting. Here’s the latest injury report ahead of the Week 11 game against the Detroit Lions.

There’s positive movement in some aspects. WR Amari Cooper, who’s been dealing with a plethora of nagging lower body injuries this season, was upgraded to limited after not practicing Wednesday. Also limited was guard Zack Martin, and CB/core special teamer C.J. Goodwin.

The rest of the offensive line continues to be banged up. While LT Tyron Smith has participated in both practices this week despite his ankle, his bookend La’el Collins has yet to get any work with ailments to both his knee and his back. Of course, guard Connor Williams was not available due to the arthroscopic knee surgery he underwent earlier in the week, knocking him out of commission for the time being.

At this point, it’s going to largely be on the medical staff to get the players ready to go for game time. Hopefully this rest early in the week will help those who need it play at a high level on Sunday, even without much practice.

The situation is more dire for the Detroit Lions, as their QB Matthew Stafford has yet to practice after missing last week’s game. A back injury is threatening to keep him out of this upcoming contest as well. CB Darius Slay, who did not appear on the official injury report on Wednesday, was downgraded to limited due to an issue with his neck.