Notable headlines surrounding America’s team.
Week 11 Injury Report: 2 more Cowboys starters ruled out Monday – Shane Taylor, Inside The Star
Dallas will be shorthanded at CB on Monday night.
Out
CB DaRon Bland (Foot)
CB Jourdan Lewis (Neck)
FB Hunter Luepke (Calf)
It’s no surprise QB Dak Prescott will not be available for Monday. Prescott’s hamstring injury turned out to be more serious than any of us anticipated. The tendon partially detached itself from the bone, and Prescott had surgery this week to repair it.
CB DaRon Bland continues to struggle to return from a foot injury suffered in training camp. Cowboys Nation anxiously awaits the return of the All-Pro, but it will have to wait at least another week.
Lewis on the other hand popped up this week with an injury to his neck.
He has been one of the Cowboys’ most consistent & productive players in this 3-6 season, and will miss the Monday night game w/ a neck injury.
Everyone this team needs can’t seem to stay on the field, and it sucks to see.
Now without Lewis or Bland, the Houston Texans are welcoming Nico Collins back this week, it will get ugly in a hurry.
Questionable
T Chuma Edoga (Toe)
WR CeeDee Lamb (Back)
G Zack Martin (Shoulder)
LB Nick Vigil (foot)
The Cowboys have a season-high 19 total players that are listed on the report, you can find that below, and right above, I’ve posted it in both spots.
Gut Feeling: Staff predictions for Cowboys-Texans – Staff, DallasCowboys.com
Can Dallas finally get a win at home?
Nick: I was the little brother growing up. It’s not fun. No matter, what you do, you’re always going to be younger and less experienced. Now, you can get bigger and taller and all that and grow past your older sibling as the Texans have appeared to do this year. But if you watch how they’re playing lately, everything has been close. They’ll play up against the better teams, and play down to the teams with lesser records. Something tells me this one will be close as well. I think the Cowboys’ defense rides the wave of what they were doing last week. The offense will play better – do they have a choice? The crowd will be raucous because the Texans are coming with their best shot ever to win at AT&T Stadium. I think the Cowboys get some crazy plays on defense and special teams and figure out a way. The kid brother stays down again … give me the Cowboys 23-19.
Cowboys predicted as potential landing spot for $25 million coaching hire in 2025 – K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire
This will not be the last time Dallas fans hear this name between now and next season.
Of course the common denominator is that each coach has had to work with Jones as their GM, but seeing how that’s not going to change, what will he look for in his next coach after McCarthy’s tenure ends in January (or sooner)?
That could be a head coach with more success than every one of the others combined. Bill Belichick is starting to refloat his interest in returning to the sidelines in 2025, and Dallas is predicted to be one of the spots where he could land.
Belichick, 72, has spent this year working in the media, most notably for ESPN’s College Gameday and CW Network’s Inside the NFL. When last in the NFL with the New England Patriots, his salary was believed to be the highest among NFL head coaches, $25 million. He earned it, winning seven titles with the Patriots over a two-decade run.
Comparatively, McCarthy is believed to be making around $5 million to coach the Cowboys.
NFL Makes Huge Trey Lance Announcement Before MNF in Week 11 – Jovan Alford, SportDFW
Week 10 isn’t quite in the books it seems.
However, before we can look ahead to this pivotal primetime matchup, there was still one piece of outstanding news from Dallas’ 34-6 Week 10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
On Saturday, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported that the NFL fined Cowboys backup quarterback Trey Lance $22,511 for unnecessary roughness (use of helmet).
Lance used his helmet in the fourth quarter to push Eagles safety Reed Blankenship out of bounds after tight end Jake Ferguson fumbled. The young quarterback was not penalized for this action during the game, but the NFL highlighted it with a fine.
The former North Dakota standout got on the field in the second half as Cooper Rush and the offense struggled against the Eagles’ defense. Lance wasn’t much better than Rush (13-of-23, 45 yards), completing 4-of-6 passes for 21 yards and an interception. He also had 17 rushing yards in the blowout loss.
Nightmarish Tony Pollard stat is poetic justice for Cowboys’ Jerry Jones- Jerry Trotta, The Landry Hat
The offseason decisions continue to look worse.
Former Cowboys running back Tony Pollard is thriving with the Titans
Entering Week 9, Pollard had the most rushing yards gained after contact, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Pollard has since slipped to fourth in that department behind Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs and Chuba Hubbard, but he had just nine carries last week due to negative game script.
The Titans’ offense has been a disaster and yet Pollard has flourished.
While Pollard ranks fourth in total yards after contact, he’s first among running backs with at least 100 carries in yards after contact per attempt (3.77), per PFF. Despite being mired in arguably the worst passing attack in the NFL, Pollard is averaging 4.4 yards per carry and is tied for seventh with 19 explosive runs, which are runs of 10 yards or more.
There’s a strong argument to be made that letting Pollard leave was the sound decision. The Cowboys have a quality back on the roster in Dowdle. By not signing Pollard, they are set up to pair Dowdle with an impact rookie next year.
