Week two is almost here. The mothership highlights a few players to watch for in the Cowboys matchup.
Trevon Diggs – Against the Eagles, Matt Eberflus’ defense did not play a single snap of man coverage in the secondary. You don’t see that often, but for Trevon Diggs in his return, it ended up working out as he wasn’t targeted at all in 20 coverage snaps. If the Cowboys will be that heavy in one coverage again on Sunday, Diggs will need his ball hawking abilities to flash again. He has 16 career interceptions while in zone coverage and 39 passes defended on top of that, and Dallas could use a bump on either or both of those numbers to help them out defensively against New York. – Tommy Yarrish
George Pickens – In the season opener, and his debut for the Cowboys, Pickens saw only four targets but hauled in three of them at critical times. It feels like this could be a game wherein Pickens and Lamb swap roles, and it’s the latter that might be stealing coverage away to allow the former the chances to have a monster game against a Giants’ secondary that’s questionable, at times. Those wondering if Pickens will have his shot at stealing the show on any given week could very well get their questions answered on Sunday against Big Blue. – Patrik Walker
Juanyeh Thomas missed practice on Thursday.
For the most part, Dallas’ Thursday injury report remained the same aside from one new addition: Safety Juanyeh Thomas, who did not participate due to personal reasons that were non-injury related.
CB DaRon Bland (foot) once again did not practice as he’s expected to be sideline for a few weeks, and S Malik Hooker (foot) was limited for the second day in a row.
On the Giants side, a majority of their players listed as DNP on Wednesday participated in practice in a limited capacity on Thursday, including starting OL Andrew Thomas (foot) and WRs Wan’Dale Robinson (ankle) and Darius Slayton (groin). Star WR Malik Nabers (back) went from a limited participant Wednesday to a full participant Thursday.
Cowboys will be searching for young DB’s to step up in DaRon Bland’s absence.
If there was one position the Cowboys could not afford to see more injuries to this early in the season, it is their secondary. However, there’s nothing that can be done now. The Cowboys have to play the next man up mentality.
That next man could be undrafted free agent Zion Childress. Childress won over the fans during his efforts in the preseason, and now, the former University of Kentucky star may get his moment this Sunday.
Childress spent two seasons with Texas State before finishing the final three seasons of his collegiate career with the Wildcats in Lexington.
Injuries are an unfortunate part of the game. They are also something the Cowboys know all too well after last season. Injuries cannot and won’t be an excuse for this team. A moment like this is where the coaching staff will need to lean on its depth.
Childress, the ball could be in your court.
Will the Cowboys rely on players or scheme to overcome Bland’s injury?
Even though Dallas and Diggs are making sure they’re responsibly ramping up his snap count, that doesn’t mean Eberflus has Diggs playing cautiously.
Diggs said his blitz of Hurts in Week 1 that recorded the third quarterback pressure of his six-year career was his first real blitz in the NFL. That’s why he didn’t look fully natural while charging at Hurts, which allowed the Eagles quarterback to spin out of Diggs’ clutches before throwing the football away. Eberflus said “wrapping up through the waist” and going for a “punch on the football” would be technique points worth emphasizing.
“It just looked too good to be true,” Diggs said with a smile. “He wasn’t looking at me, and I was coming full speed, hard. Like ‘Alright, I’m about to kill him. I’m about to kill him.’ And then he spun out, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is kind of harder than it looks.’ … I’m going to come in with a little bit more control next time.”
What do the analytics tell us from the Cowboys week one loss?
The headline here is that the Cowboys grade out as the 14th best team in the league right now. Given all the changes in the offseason, along with the trade of Micah Parsons right before things started, most fans will take that. After one week of games, the Cowboys are buoyed by their offense and held down by their defense, which is unsurprising for several reasons.
DAVE, which combines actual DVOA results with DVOA-based preseason projections, offers a good comparison for where the team should be right now. The offense is way ahead of schedule, while the defense turned out to be a bit worse than expected. All in all, these metrics reflect that the Cowboys played better than expected last Thursday night.
Pivoting to our EPA-based team tiers, the Cowboys find themselves right around the same area as their DVOA ranking. They’re one of many teams in the bottom right quadrant – which is where teams end up when they’re good on offense and bad on defense – but not so far from the average lines that they can’t move into the ideal upper right quadrant in a couple weeks.
0 CommentsSee More:
