’Stronger together’: Cowboys aren’t moving on, but moving forward after emotional week – Joseph Hoyt, Dallas Morning News
Dallas looks to remain focused after tragic loss of Marshawn Kneeland.
FRISCO — Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott stood in a locker room Nov. 6 that wasn’t his own, speaking with a heavy heart and something on his mind.
Prescott was at his alma mater, Haughton High School in Louisiana, for the dedication of Dak Prescott Field. The Bucs had a game against St. Louis Catholic the following night — a game they’d ultimately win.
The relationships built in a locker room are special, he said as he pointed to several of his Haughton teammates who were in attendance. His mind then drifted to a player he’s shared a locker room with the past two seasons: Marshawn Kneeland.
“Hug your teammates,” he told the Haughton Bucs, “and tell your teammates you love them. If you’re going through something, don’t be afraid to share it. You and your teammates, whatever you’re going through, you can get through.”
Thursday will mark a week since Kneeland died by suicide. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer, speaking for the first time publicly since Kneeland’s death, said he received a phone call that alerted him of reason to be concerned about the Cowboys defensive end. Plano police even did a welfare check on Kneeland before midnight Wednesday. Soon after, at 1:31 a.m. on Thursday, Frisco police found Kneeland dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Schottenheimer spoke somberly on Wednesday as he recounted the week that’s been. He said they won’t move on after the loss of Kneeland — a teammate who had a smile that could drop them to their knees, Schottenheimer said — but they will move forward, together.
“When one guy is hurting, someone else has to pick them up. If the head coach is hurting, someone’s got to pick me up,” he said. “And I’m hurting. I’m hurting. And these guys have picked me up, and I’ve picked them up. That’s what we’re going to continue to do because we love one another.”
Grieving together didn’t happen initially. The Cowboys were on a bye week this past week. Their last meetings had concluded well before the news of Kneeland’s passing started to spread. Schottenheimer, like a doctor making rounds virtually, said he started making as many calls as he could to players and other staff members as they all — together, but separated — tried to make sense of what happened. They had a video call on Thursday that included Dr. Heather Twedell, the team’s mental health and wellness consultant. Still, there was physical distance.
“[But] you’re not together,” Schottenheimer said. “We’re always going to be stronger together. We are stronger together.”
Dallas Cowboys announce special fund for family of Marshawn Kneeland – Lawrence Dow, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Cowboys are honoring the memory of Marshawn Kneeland in a special way.
The Dallas Cowboys will set up a fund for the family of Marshawn Kneeland to make sure they are set for life, head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Wednesday.
Kneeland’s girlfriend Catalina, is pregnant with their child and Schottenheimer talked about the team showing up for her.
The Cowboys held a candlelight vigil for Kneeland on Tuesday night at the teams practice facility at the Star in Frisco.
Tape Talk: How Qunnien Williams and Logan Wilson can help the Cowboys’ defense – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys newest additions on defense should provide immediate dividends.
How Quinnen Williams can help the Cowboys stop the run
Ever since trading Micah Parsons before the season, it’s clear that the precedent Dallas wants to set defensively going forward is being able to stop the run. Adding Kenny Clark in the Parsons trade and Solomon Thomas in free agency has helped with that, but now the Cowboys have one of the best run stoppers in the league joining their ranks.
Quinnen Williams, who stands at 6’3, 303, is a big and wide player that can line up in various spots along the defensive line as a one-tech, 2i, three-tech, really whatever you want him to be. Regardless of where he lines up, you can usually count on opposing offenses to send two bodies his way, like the Buccaneers do on this play here.
The issue is Tampa Bay’s left guard only briefly helps the tackle before climbing to take the linebacker, which leaves Williams one-on-one. That usually doesn’t end well for opposing linemen. Williams is firmly planted, has both of his hands firmly engaged with the tackle, and is so strong he can shed his block with essentially one arm, flinging the tackle to the ground. Then, he’s one-on-one with the running back Bucky Irving and holds on for the tackle as he tries to spin away.
Quinnen Williams’ ability to disrupt the QB in the pocket
Now that we’ve looked at Williams’ ability to help in the run game, let’s look at how he helps in the pass rush too. He hasn’t been getting to the quarterback as much this season as he did in 2022 when he had 12 sacks, but once again his ability to draw double teams and relentless pursuit of the play help make things difficult for opposing offenses.
At the start of this play you’ll see a similar blocking plan from Pittsburgh’s offense as you did in the first clip: The guard briefly helps the tackle before going to double the Jets’ other defensive tackle. From the way that Williams is displaced, it looks like the left tackle has done his job of taking him out of the equation and giving Aaron Rodgers a clean pocket.
That is until Rodgers feels pressure or the internal time clock goes off, and he has to dance around. Initially, it looks like he’ll step up and scramble right up the middle, and Williams takes a step to account for that. Then, Rodgers sees that lane get cut off and goes right, where Williams is waiting for him and lays a big hit as Rodgers throws it away. He may not put up the numbers sacks wise, but he will certainly affect the pocket, which means the rest of the Cowboys rushers need to win their one-on-ones.
Should the Cowboys pursue safety Quandre Diggs?
The Dallas Cowboys got some positive injury news on Tuesday when they activated LB DeMarvion Overshown and CB Shavon Revel Jr. from the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) and NFI (Non-Football Injury) Reserves respectively.
Unfortunately, the corresponding move to open a roster spot was safety Juanyeh Thomas being added to Reserve/NFI himself. The move means Thomas will be forced to miss a minimum four games starting in Week 11 against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Thomas missed back-to-back games with migraines before returning to the field in Week 9. After one game of action, Thomas is dealing with migraines still. According to multiple reports, the migraines were affecting his vision. He battled them in training camp, too.
How the tie with the Packers could end up helping the Cowboys draft position – Dan Rogers, Blogging The Boys
The Packers tie could be interesting at the end of the year.
The moment the Green Bay Packers made the trade with the Dallas Cowboys for star edge rusher Micah Parsons, many people penciled the Pack in as this year’s team to beat. And after only suffering one loss over their first seven games of the year, they seemed poised to cash in on a big season as they had the best record in the NFC after the end of October.
Oddly enough, things have changed for the Packers, and they’ve changed in a hurry. After two straight losses, not only do they not have the best record in the conference, but they have fallen all the way down to the seventh seed. What a drastic change after just two losses. How did this happen?
Well, the short answer is that the other good teams in the NFC aren’t losing. Three teams have a 7-2 record (Eagles, Seahawks, and Rams), and three teams have a 6-3 record (Lions, Bucs, and Bears). The Packers trail all of those teams as they sit with a 5-3-1 record. Weirdly, that 40-40 tie they had with the Cowboys in Week 4 has put them in a precarious situation. The current playoff picture in the NFC looks as follows:
We can see that the San Francisco 49ers are right on their tails and are just a game back from stealing that final playoff spot from the Packers. How crazy would it be for them to miss the playoffs? Suddenly, that end-of-the-round draft pick would fall all the way up to the middle of the first round. That would be a huge draft win for the Cowboys.
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