Starting as the Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback Monday against the Dallas Cowboys, Jacoby Brissett has a clear perspective on the upcoming game.
ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals are set to play in front of millions under the bright lights of Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 9. Typically, primetime is a game many players look forward to and embrace. For Jacoby Brissett – it’s just another game.
“It’s the NFL. Every game is a big stage. You grow up as a kid dreaming of playing. I don’t care if it’s Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Friday – so this is obviously another game and I’m thankful for this opportunity. Going out there and trying my best and make the most of it,” Brissett told reporters at his locker on Saturday. “I could care less who’s watching, I just want to go win.”
Jacoby Brissett Prepares for Third Cardinals Start
Brissett will be plugged into Arizona’s starting position for a third time with Kyler Murray still not healthy enough to play with a mid-foot sprain. Brissett was signed to a two-year contract this past offseason to provide a veteran presence if Murray were to miss time. He’s done exactly that for the Cardinals, though the unknown of what each individual week will bring as either a starter or backup does admittedly weigh a bit on Brissett.
“Oh, for sure. I mean, that’s part of it. You kind of know that going into the situation that you’re in based on the start of the year. But, I try not to let that really affect me too much. But definitely it gets it’s a little redundant,” he admitted to reporters. Under Brissett’s guidance, the Cardinals’ offense has reached new heights both in terms of statistics and the eye-test.
However, Brissett isn’t putting any stock into their past performances considering he’s 0-2 as a starter in Arizona. The Cardinals are hoping to snap a five-game losing streak in Dallas. “That’s the past, and obviously we’ve been close on a lot of these but just finding ways to, like coach [Jonathan Gannon] said, close those margins and get over the hump. We’re right there,” said Brissett.“But when you look at the film and you see plays in critical situations where we know that we can close the gap, I think that’s one of the things that we’re looking forward to doing this week.”
It’s never too early to plan for the future.
The Dallas faithful should be prepared for a major overhaul of their defense this offseason. We will likely see new faces at every level of the unit, but especially in the Cowboys’ secondary. It’s arguably been the defense’s weakest unit this year, as the group’s two cornerstones, DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs, have either struggled to stay healthy or failed to make their expected high-level impact when on the field.
At cornerback, when you look past those two big names and injured rookie Shavon Revel, it is a wide-ranging collection of little-known, borderline NFL players. The Dallas faithful should be prepared for a major overhaul of their defense this offseason. We will likely see new faces at every level of the unit, but especially in the Cowboys’ secondary.
It’s arguably been the defense’s weakest unit this year, as the group’s two cornerstones, DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs, have either struggled to stay healthy or failed to make their expected high-level impact when on the field. At cornerback, when you look past those two big names and injured rookie Shavon Revel, it is a wide-ranging collection of little-known, borderline NFL players. The picture at safety isn’t much brighter. Despite their experience, veterans Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson, who will be 30 and 31 by the start of 2026, represent two positions that need a full-scale reset. It will be the end of the road in Dallas for a number of these guys, so let’s look over who should stay and who should go in the Cowboys’ secondary this offseason.
Cornerback Shakeup: Former All-Pro, Low-Cost Depth Pieces Out Of Town
Who Stays: Caelen Carson, DaRon Bland, Shavon Revel.
Who Leaves: Josh Butler, Trevon Diggs, Trikweze Bridges, Kaiir Elam, Reddy Stewart.
The group that should stay in Dallas is minimal, and for good reason. Of course, the recently-extended Bland will be back in 2026 as the clear-cut CB1; his new $90M+ price tag cements that. He is joined by two young corners in 2024 draftee Caelen Carson and Revel. Carson, a star at Wake Forest, has yet to show the same skills in the NFL, though you could argue that has had more to do with injuries. Either way, Dallas won’t move on from him so quickly with their massive weakness at the position.
Revel is just as obvious as Bland in the keep department: he is young, carries sky-high potential, and was a big investment with the 76th pick. On the leave list, we have an extensive group, headlined by Diggs. The former DPOY candidate is all but done in Dallas; his injuries, performance, and issues with the organization have made that fact very clear. It will also save money to cut him this offseason.
Closing gaps, finding them among things Cowboys must do to be successful vs Cardinals -Reid Hanson, Cowboys Wire
Clogging the run lanes is one thing Dallas needs to do to beat the Cardinals.
At 3-4-1, the Dallas Cowboys need a win in a very bad way. Time is running out on the 2025 season and the 2-5 Arizona Cardinals are a team they absolutely have to take of advantage while at home before the schedule gets tough later into November.
Understandably, playoff odds are unkind to Dallas at the moment, with the Cowboys residing somewhere between a 18-24 percent likelihood of making it to postseason this year. Therefore, from a playoff eligibility perspective, all wins are good wins because they’re the golden ticket. In this regard so-called “style points” matter zero. But from a legitimacy perspective, style points carry a ton of weight since the Cowboys’ weaknesses are mortal weaknesses and promise to be their eventual undoing against good teams if not properly corrected now.
The manner in which victory is secured is important because through eight weeks it looks like the Cowboys are headed in the wrong direction. Their 44-24 loss to Denver last week marked a new low for the season. The defense was playing their poorest ball of the year, and the offense was finally corralled. Dallas has to show some improvement or else another win will mean very little in the grand scheme of things.
Cowboys need coverage awareness
In last week’s loss to the Broncos, one can only assume the Cowboys strategy was to confuse Bo Nix in the pocket by leaving every pass catcher open downfield as a form of “option overload.” Sadly, the one-read Nix had no trouble eating up the Dallas secondary, devouring his various wide-open options like they were a low-quality array of pizzas at CiCi’s all-you-can-eat buffet. Stuffed to the brim already, he even packed on a few garbage points in the final minutes, making the last scoring drive his version of gluttonously snagging some extra cinna-sticks on the walk out the door.
“Bye, thank you for coming to CiCi’s!”
What the Cowboys need to prove is they can provide solid coverage throughout a play and aren’t reliant on the quarterback simply missing his targets. In Dallas’ only three wins, open targets were still everywhere. Watching the All-22 after the Jets, Giants and Commanders game was nothing short of depressing because it felt like the Cowboys didn’t really earn it.
For the Cowboys to have a legitimate chance against a playoff opponent, they have to show they know where to be and how to make windows tight. They don’t need to be ultra sticky or even good to instill hope, but they do have to look competent, which is something they haven’t looked all year.
Cowboys Injury Roundup: Safety position in dire straits, LB corps has hope – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
Injuries are always part of the game.
Offensive line
Cooper Beebe – ankle
Status: IR – Questionable vs. Cardinals
Tyler Smith – knee
Status: Active
Trevor Keegan – neck
Status: injured reserve
Keegan was moved to IR recently with a neck injury but has yet to take the field prior, and All-Pro left guard Tyler Smith returned to a full in-game workload after being held out, the added good news being that the imminent return of Cooper Beebe to the starting lineup against the Cardinals will mark the first time the Cowboys’ offensive line has been whole in more than a month — at one point being down a total of four starters.
Safety
Juanyeh Thomas – migraines
Status: Questionable vs. Cardinals
Malik Hooker – toe
Status: Injured reserve
Donovan Wilson – elbow/shoulder
Status: Out vs. Cardinals
Alijah Clark – ribs
Status: Out vs. Cardinals
Yeah, this is pretty damn bad. Hooker and Wilson are the two starting safeties and when Hooker went to IR with a toe injury, it was Thomas tasked with stepping in and up, and he did both, that was until a cluster of migraines cost him what has now amounted two games; and though he’s making progress with the different types of treatment being applied by the Cowboys, he is labeled TBD until further notice.
Unlike Thomas, who was ruled out, Thomas does have a chance to play versus the Cardinals, and that’s great news, but he’ll be a gametime decision. Clark, tasked with stepping in when Thomas couldn’t take the field, suffered an injury to his ribs and won’t be back until after the bye, at the earliest, the undrafted rookie now fighting to get back to the field ASAP for a razor thin safety depth chart. Look for potential help from defensive back Zion Childress, re-signed to the practice squad in Week 8.
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