If Micah Parsons starts missing games for the Dallas Cowboys, this season will begin on a sour note.
Speaking on Tuesday to reporters, owner and general manager Jerry Jones did not have confidence that Parsons would suit up for the Cowboys for their week-one matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
“No, absolutely not,” Jones said if he had confidence. “A big part of that is his decision. How would I know that? But I’m urgent.”
Through 11 training camp practices in Southern California, Parsons has not participated on the field in any capacity. He has been seen wearing his No. 11 jersey on the sideline while talking to players and maneuvering around the field. He has also remained in meetings and walkthrough practices.
If Parsons were to hold out from the week-one game, he would be the first Cowboy to not play in a game due to contractual issues since Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith in 1993. Seeking an extension, Smith held out of the first two games of the season before receiving a four-year, $13.6 million deal. He would go on to lead the NFL in rushing yards (1,486) that season on his way to an MVP win and a Super Bowl victory.
With this season quickly approaching, Jones said that he is feeling the urgency of the situation.
“I stay urgent,” Jones said. “We’ll work through it, or we won’t work through it.”
Brian Schottenheimer had his first live opportunity to run the Cowboys offense on Tuesday.
“Yeah, that was fun,” said Schottenheimer. “It’s always fun. You know, you get a chance to do this and you’ve done it for a long time, but you get just kind of lost in the moment like, ‘OK, hey, what down distance is it? OK, what’s the situation? OK, who’s in the game?’
“But, look, at the end of the day, it’s something that you think about. When you get the job and you think about doing it, but when you’re out there doing it, the instincts take over and you just call the game.”
It was expectedly a mixed bag of big plays and a couple key misses, but the glaring concern was on the ground, where the Cowboys struggled mightily over the course of the 2024 season before declaring, under Schottenheimer, that there will be a renewed focus on making sure the offense could be physical and “shove the ball up the opponent’s ass” at any given point.
The Rams, however, begged to differ, routinely stuffing the run at the line of scrimmage or behind it, and Schottenheimer went so far as to draw a circle around that portion of his otherwise successful offensive outing that saw All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott and the passing attack have its way time and again.
“At the end today, I wanted to see if we could get physical late, and I thought we did that in some of the red zone stuff, but the film will come to life and tell me more when I get a chance to watch it,” he said. ”… Part of the reason why you [scrimmage] is because of the scheme looks that you get. We need different looks. We needed the 3-4 looks, and we needed some of the things that [the Rams] present and, quite honestly, they gave us some fits, so we had some communication errors and the run game wasn’t great on offense.
“Some of the run-through linebackers, we’ve got to do a better job against that. But we got a bunch of work and a bunch of different looks and so, like anything, we’ll go watch the film here in a little bit, and usually it’s not as bad or as good.”
What we learned from Cowboys-Rams joint practice: Good thing they weren’t keeping score – Joseph Hoyt, Dallas Morning News
The Cowboys joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams had its ups and downs.
No score was counted, but if it were, the Rams would’ve likely won comfortably. The offense didn’t have Mathew Stafford, but that proved to be no problem. Backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo diced up the Cowboys’ secondary by finding Davante Adams, Puka Nacua and Jordan Whittington often. Rams running back Kyren Williams, fresh off a new contract extension, looked good, too. He went untouched on a long touchdown run and even drove blitzing linebacker Damone Clark to the ground in a redzone period.
The Cowboys’ offense started slow against the Rams’ defense, especially in the running game. Schottenheimer has talked often about being a team that will run the ball, even when opponents know it’s coming. That didn’t work well against the Rams’ stout defensive line and quick-reading linebackers. There was one notable run: a sweep from Javonte Williams that resulted in a big gain.
There were some other positives. CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott have both talked about the impact a full off-season together would have heading into this season. They missed it last year when Lamb missed training camp while he held out for a new contract extension. That chemistry has looked good throughout camp. It looked good on Tuesday against the Rams, too.
All of those elements are fodder for Schottenheimer and the Cowboys’ coaching staff to evaluate. Tuesday marked the first chance for an experiment. The constant was how the Cowboys would handle it. Schottenheimer indicated that a lack of exotic play-calling would probably be the standard up until the Cowboys open up against the Eagles in a month.
“I’m going to say it again: We’re playing pretty vanilla,” Schottenheimer said. “We’re just focusing on execution. Can we run block? Can we get open? Can we pass block? And that’s the way the preseason is going to go.”
Former first-round pick Mazi Smith can’t afford to lose any time due to injury.
Mazi Smith’s flimsy grasp on a prominent role with the Dallas Cowboys may have just further weakened.
Smith, the underwhelming 2023 first-round draft pick, left training camp practice Monday afternoon with what appeared to be a lower leg injury. He favored his right leg as he left a drill to walk to the sideline. He was examined in the trainer’s tent for several minutes, before leaving the field under his own power.
Tuesday afternoon we learned the extent of the injury, as the Dallas Morning News reports Smith “underwent an MRI yesterday and has knee soreness.” Smith suffered from tendinitis in his knee and underwent a precautionary MRI during his rookie training camp two summers ago.
It’s unclear if the defensive tackle will participate in this afternoon’s joint practice session with the Los Angeles Rams.
Though listed as a starter alongside Osa Odighizuwa on the Cowboys’ initial depth chart of camp, Smith can’t afford many missteps or missed time. Veteran free-agent signing Solomon Thomas is waiting in the wings, and Smith has recently began sharing some of his first-team snaps with rookie seventh-round draft pick Jay Toia.
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