After three weeks of the 2025 season, the NFC East has a little bit of everything. Every record possible, outside of ties, between its four teams. And while there’s plenty of season left for the order to change, many would suggest that the current standings will still hold true after Week 18. The Eagles maintained […] After three weeks of the 2025 season, the NFC East has a little bit of everything. Every record possible, outside of ties, between its four teams. And while there’s plenty of season left for the order to change, many would suggest that the current standings will still hold true after Week 18. The Eagles maintained their perfect perch in a tough win over the Rams. Their first loss seemed imminent when, only up by one, they allowed Los Angeles down to the 26-yard line for a field goal attempt. But DT Jordan Davis blocked the attempt and even returned it for a touchdown as the clock expired, sealing Philly’s third win in spectacular fashion. In Washington, the Commanders overcame the absence of QB Jayden Daniels and still smoked the Raiders. With a total of 201 rushing yards from multiple players, including 40 from veteran QB Marcus Mariota, Washington got back above .500 and picked up an important home win despite such a key injury. The Giants suffered a different kind of problem at quarterback, with Russell Wilson returning to earth after his stellar Week 2 performance against Dallas. The Chiefs limped into New York but came out with their first win of the year, prompting a big personnel decision from the G-Men. Here are the NFC East standings after Week 3: Philadelphia Eagles 3-0 (1-0 in division, 2-0 vs NFC) Washington Commanders 2-1 (1-0, 1-1) Dallas Cowboys 1-2 (1-1, 1-2) New York Giants 0-3 (0-2, 0-2) Before the Cowboys’ unenviable task of hosting the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, the Giants will face the Chargers with a new starter in rookie Jaxson Dart. A move that might have happened last week if not for Dallas’ awful pass defense, Dart takes over while the season is still salvageable on paper. Rookie QBs have a pretty good track record in the NFC East, so we’ll see if this sparks something in New York or just helps Dart prepare for future campaigns. The Eagles head to Tampa Bay for a battle of unbeaten teams. Philly’s 3-0 record isn’t as surprising as the Bucs’, although the Falcons, Texans, and Jets aren’t exactly a murderers’ row of opponents. The Eagles are by far the toughest test that Tampa’s faced so far this season, but you could argue the same going the other direction. The Commanders will likely be without Daniels again when they go to Atlanta in Week 4, but that may not be much of a problem. The Falcons just went down 30-0 to the Carolina Panthers, and Mariota is probably the better QB right now over Michael Penix Jr. Before the Cowboys and Packers kick off, we’ll know how the rest of the NFC East fared in their games. If things go as projected, Dallas will be facing an even deeper hole in the division going into October. 0 CommentsSee More: General

One of the standouts from the Cowboys’ training camp, cornerback Zion Childress, has been signed off the practice squad by the Texans and will now be on Houston’s 53-man roster. Childress got a lot of looks this summer with so many injuries in Dallas’ secondary. The former Kentucky Wildcat especially shined as a slot corner, […] One of the standouts from the Cowboys’ training camp, cornerback Zion Childress, has been signed off the practice squad by the Texans and will now be on Houston’s 53-man roster. Childress got a lot of looks this summer with so many injuries in Dallas’ secondary. The former Kentucky Wildcat especially shined as a slot corner, and some thought he could make the initial 53 while Caelen Carson, Shavon Revel Jr., and Josh Butler remain out. But the Cowboys made a late signing in Reddy Steward, who played for Matt Eberflus in Chicago, and left Childress on the practice squad. Childress was born in Houston and played high school ball nearby. He joins the Texans a day after they released safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, so it will be interesting to see where they plan to use him in their secondary. While he was getting more corner work in Dallas, Childress played multiple positions at Kentucky. For the Cowboys, with so many defensive backs close to returning from injury, the loss is somewhat mitigated. But given their current defensive issues, Dallas may have been tempted to give Childress some run later in the year. 0 CommentsSee More: Dallas Cowboys Roster

Each week we dive into each team’s rookie class and compare how they stack up against each other. (Grades for each player are the overall offensive or defensive grade handed out by PFF.com) Dallas Cowboys Tyler Booker (OG) First RoundIf you were building a rookie guard in a lab, you’d wind up with a lot of Tyler […] Each week we dive into each team’s rookie class and compare how they stack up against each other. (Grades for each player are the overall offensive or defensive grade handed out by PFF.com) Dallas Cowboys Tyler Booker (OG) First Round If you were building a rookie guard in a lab, you’d wind up with a lot of Tyler Booker. He’s been nasty on double-teams, light on mistakes, and very much a blue collar right guard. Through three games, PFF’s dashboard paints him exactly that way being strong in the run game (75.9 run-block grade, sixth-best of 93 guards) and a solid overall profile (65.0, 25th) for a first-year starter finding his NFL sea legs this is a great start. The gut punch here is Booker has been diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain that will sideline him for four-to-six weeks, per multiple reports, with IR under consideration. The timeline is lousy for Dallas and the add-on sting is that he got hurt after grinding through the Chicago Bears game where he played effectively, but the team disappointed in an embarrassing loss. Grade: 65.0 Donovan Ezeiraku (DE) Second Round Donovan Ezeiruaku looks spring-loaded at the snap with a twitchy first step, hula-hoop bend, and a motor without an off switch. Three games in, the tape keeps winking with some splash flashes, rotational snaps, and clear trust from the staff, while the box score hustles to catch up. He’s been part of the main edge cast since Week 1, logging grown-man snaps and forcing protections to circle his number. On the grading ledger, Ezeiruaku is sitting at 62.0 as a pass rusher and 55.4 versus the run, which tracks perfectly for a rookie built to hunt quarterbacks first and tidy the run fits in time. The box score is shy so far with zero sacks, mostly because quarterbacks have been getting it out quick and Dallas hasn’t finished the rush plan as a unit. That’s not a knock on the Ezeiruaku, it’s a reminder that sacks are usually a group project with one lucky recipient. In short, he’s showing to be a classic high-tools rookie and that this stage the traits are slowly showing up, the splash plays will soon follow. Grade: 59.9 Shavon Revel Jr. (CB) Third Round Currently on Non-Football injury list (NFI) Jaydon Blue (RB) Fifth Round Still waiting patiently to get his name called and he remains inactive. According to coaches he’s still working on the playbook and working toward to playing with more consistency before getting his chance to play. Grade: N/A Shemar James (LB) Fifth Round Another inactive player with potential, waiting for the call. Grade: N/A Ajani Cornelius (OT) Sixth Round Inactive Grade: N/A Jay Toia (DT) Seventh Round Toia was inactive last week and there’s a chance that happens again this week as he works on his block-shedding technique and being more refined as a two-gap defender. Watch for the inactive list on Sunday. Grade: 30.2 Phil Mafah (RB) Seventh Round Inactive Grade: N/A Green Bay Packers Matthew Golden (WR) First Round Matthew Golden looks like he was built perfectly for Jordan Love’s quick rhythm game. He plays with good separation, slick feet, and YAC pop that’s extremely dangerous if cornerbacks give him chance. The rookie’s eased in with six grabs for 68 yards (11.3 per reception) through three games, flashing short-area burst on slants and outs, even if the occasional press jam and contested ball still remind you he’s undersized for the position. Now comes his ideal launchpad, a Cowboys secondary patched together with duct tape and hope, surrendering a 73.9% completion rate (which ranks fourth-most), 9.8 yards per attempt (worst in the league), and a 125.3 passer rating (second-worst in the league). Expect Green Bay to feed Golden on quick hitters, glance RPOs, and the occasional double-move. All routes tailor-made to turn Dallas’s coverage voids into wide-open acreage. Grade: 59.1 Anthony Belton (OT) Second Round Packers starting right tackle, Zach Tom, had an oblique issue he’d been working through since Week 1. He suited up last week, took one snap, and tapped out so the Packers slid the keys to Anthony Belton, and the rookie didn’t stall. In Week 2, Belton posted 51 snaps with zero pressures and zero sacks on 28 pass-blocks, the lone blemish a flag that erased a touchdown. When Tom’s brief Week 3 appearance fizzled, Belton jumped straight back in as Green Bay played musical chairs up front. Against a tough Cleveland Browns defense, he didn’t fare as well. What Belton brings is brute elegance with his size and is a road-grader combining heavy hands and enough foot quickness to keep Jordan Love’s timing clean. Week 2 was a positive, but in Week 3 against the Browns he had a PFF grade of 41.6 as the entire line struggled. Grade: 51.0 Savion Williams (WR) Third Round Savion Williams is Green Bay’s jumbo Swiss-army wideout. At 6’4”, 222 lbs and with catcher-mitt hands, he can happily body-check corners at the stem and go. His rookie stats are weird yet useful as he’s registered a 16-yard jet sweep, 23 rushing yards total, and 147 kickoff return yards, while the pass game slow-drips with only one catch for one yard. Translation for this week, some quick motion, glance routes, and goal-line boxing matches to stress leverage. The college tape screams a short-area assassin so expect “easy” chain-movers that turn into bruising YAC plays and set up Jordan Love’s deep shots elsewhere on the field. Give him cushion and he’ll bully the sticks, press him and you’ve booked a ringside seat to a catch-point wrestling match. Grade: 59.5 Nazir Stackhouse (DT) UDFA Nazir Stackhouse has been

When it rains, it pours. After the Dallas Cowboys suffered an embarrassing loss on the road versus the Chicago Bears, the hits keep coming. Adding injury to insult, the Cowboys lost multiple players for an extended time in the aftermath of the loss last Sunday. Here’s what we know regarding the injury situation after Wednesday’s […] When it rains, it pours. After the Dallas Cowboys suffered an embarrassing loss on the road versus the Chicago Bears, the hits keep coming. Adding injury to insult, the Cowboys lost multiple players for an extended time in the aftermath of the loss last Sunday. Here’s what we know regarding the injury situation after Wednesday’s practice. CeeDee Lamb left last week’s game with a high-ankle sprain and will miss a few games. Dallas has not placed him on injured reserve, but we can expect that Lamb will not participate in team activities for a while. Tyler Booker suffered the same injury versus the Bears and also did not practice today. He is also expected to miss some time. Trevon Diggs (knee) was listed as a DNP on Wednesday while cornerback DaRon Bland (foot) returned to practice and was limited. As for the Packers, they have injury questions along their offensive line. Guard Aaron Banks (groin) was out today, and starting right tackle Zach Tom (oblique) did not practice and reportedly won’t play against the Cowboys. Safety Javon Bullard (concussion) also did not practice for Green Bay. Finally defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (knee) was limited today and Micah Parsons (back) and Josh Jacobs (ankle) were also limited. 0 CommentsSee More: Dallas Cowboys Injuries

Micah Parsons downplays his return to Dallas, says sacking his mentor Dak Prescott will be ‘painful’ – Rob Maaddi, AP News The former All-Pro pass rusher wants to keep the narrative about Sunday’s game and not his return to Dallas. Parsons and the Green Bay Packers (2-1) face off against Prescott and the Cowboys (1-2) […] Micah Parsons downplays his return to Dallas, says sacking his mentor Dak Prescott will be ‘painful’ – Rob Maaddi, AP News The former All-Pro pass rusher wants to keep the narrative about Sunday’s game and not his return to Dallas. Parsons and the Green Bay Packers (2-1) face off against Prescott and the Cowboys (1-2) in front of a national television audience on Sunday night. “It’s going to be painful,” Parsons told the AP about getting a chance to sack Prescott. “That’s my guy. He was always like a good mentor for me. But you know how it is, he always told me if I ever faced him that it’ll be a great matchup, so I’m excited to see what Sunday brings itself.” Parsons plans to treat it like an ordinary game, though it’ll be his first time inside AT&T Stadium as a visitor. “I accepted my fate weeks ago when the trade happened,” Parsons said. “So for me, it’s just all about playing another game and just doing what I do best, and that’s just be a disruptive football player. I think the media and the fans are trying to blow it up to be such a big thing. But I just look at it as just another game at AT&T.” Just a game that was circled on everyone’s calendar after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones traded Parsons to the Packers one week before the NFL’s season opener, ending a lengthy contract dispute. Why Cowboys’ Jerry Jones likes talking contracts with players – Todd Archer, ESPN A deep dive into Jerry Jones and the Cowboys negotiating tactics. Micah Parsons isn’t the first player whom Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has talked to directly about a contract extension. He won’t be the last. It has been a common practice for Jones and executive vice president Stephen Jones over the years to engage with their star players in hopes of convincing them to sign a new deal, and then finalizing the details with the player’s agent. There is nothing in the collective bargaining agreement that explicitly prevents the discussions, although several agents said it is not a good look to circumvent them and go to the player who might not know all the details — details that could end up costing the player money. While the agents work for the players, they are also protecting their own interests by making sure they are involved in all parts of the negotiation. “We have — not exaggerating — probably 30 categories we use to evaluate a deal, whether it’s new money, old money, guarantee structure, whatever,” one agent, who has experience doing deals with the Cowboys, said. “That’s too many moving parts, and it takes more than a handshake.” Jerry Jones on Cowboys’ defensive struggles, Micah Parsons’ return to Dallas – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones says the team has to make adjustments. Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones shared similar sentiments. In the team’s Monday meeting to go over the game, Jones was looking for answers after a second straight week of defensive struggles. “What you want is what we’re going to do about it,” Jones said on 105.3 the Fan. “There’s not much argument as to what we didn’t do well that resulted in the loss. There’s not a lot of conversation about that other than how can we, this coming week and the three days of practice, how can we basically address it personnel wise, scheme wise.” It all boiled down to a lack of complimentary football on Dallas’ end. The Cowboys were able to prevent the Bears from running the football well, but struggled once again in their pass rush and it led to a second straight week of explosive plays against the secondary. “The play on the front didn’t match what we were doing in the back,” Jones said. “A zone defense is a safe defense, it should allow, when played right, shorter gains but not big plays. If you do a zone defense and you limit your rush by number then that’s the perfect storm against you. You got to be able to stop explosive plays. When you don’t have it, you have to make adjustments.” In terms of what those adjustments look like, the Cowboys are hoping that the addition of Jadeveon Clowney this week and “good possibility” of DaRon Bland returning Sunday can help in that department. Brian Schottenheimer also said yesterday that the Cowboys will be making both scheme and personnel changes on the defensive side of the ball going forward. Matt Eberflus returning to Dallas gave the Cowboys their third defensive coordinator in as many years. In 2024, the defense under Mike Zimmer faced similar early season struggles with big offensive showings from the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens in weeks two and three. Upon Further Review: Cowboys plagued by ‘incompetence,’ defensive incompatibility – J.J. Bailey, The Athletic It’s still early in the season, but fans can only hope this defense doesn’t look like the one under Mike Nolan in 2020. In this week’s Upon Further Review, Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen of “The Athletic Football Show” peek under the hood in Dallas to see just how bad things have gotten after a Cowboys fan reached out in the “Monday Mourning” segment. It’s not (or at least it wasn’t) all bad “When this group was fully healthy over the first few weeks, it was everything I had ever really wanted out of a Dallas Cowboys offense,” Mays said. “I don’t think Brian Schottenheimer is Kyle Shanahan, but I think they were doing what is necessary to get to a place where you

Every week, we gather to discuss the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have myself, David Howman, Tom Ryle, RJ Ochoa, and Sean Martin What went worse for the Cowboys against the Bears, the secondary, offensive line, or the lack of pressure? Mike: […] Every week, we gather to discuss the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have myself, David Howman, Tom Ryle, RJ Ochoa, and Sean Martin What went worse for the Cowboys against the Bears, the secondary, offensive line, or the lack of pressure? Mike: The biggest culprit in Cowboys-Bears was the pass rush, or more precisely, the lack of one. Caleb Williams wasn’t sacked, Dallas mustered very little pressure, and once the pocket turned into a lounge, Chicago feasted. The lack of pressure resulted in damaging explosive plays like a 35-yard strike to Rome Odunze and a 65-yard flea-flicker to Luther Burden III. That avalanche made the secondary look worse than it truly was and the coverage busts showed up, but they were symptoms of a quarterback getting to read the paper back there. By comparison, the offensive line was the least of Dallas’s problems but still struggled at times with two sacks and seven hits allowed, which isn’t ideal. Rank it this way, lack of pressure comes first, the secondary ranks closely behind , and offensive line comes in third. If blame is a pie, the pass rush gets the biggest slice, the secondary gets a closely sized piece and the offensive line gets the crust. Tom: That’s a hard call to make, but just because there were so many wide open receivers, I have to go with the secondary. The lack of pressure probably contributed to that, but the lack of coverage is just egregious. Sean: I’ll preface this by saying this week is going to be a fascinating debate in the age old pass rush vs coverage, chicken or the egg problem, because both were really poor against the Bears. As far as which was worse, I’ll go with the secondary because at least there were a few pressures at times. Still, being the first defense to never get a sack against Caleb Williams is bad, but they were rushing with players that have at least gotten sacks before. The “back of their baseball card” says they can do it over time. I don’t think there’s any stats that point to Malike Hooker and Donovan Wilson being good cover players, or what the Cowboys can do about Trevon Diggs not being able to play single man coverage reliably, so that is the bigger concern coming off this loss. Howman: Secondary, without question. The pass rush wasn’t ideal but they looked worse because Caleb Williams had plenty of options to throw the ball quickly. Busted coverage assignments and just poor techniques were rampant all day long, and you just don’t win many games like that in the NFL. RJ: It has to be the secondary. They got absolutely destroyed over and over and that it happened against a team who had a moribund passing game it was particularly deflating. What positives, if there are any, do you have from last week’s game that you hope to see more this week against the Green Bay Packers? Mike: There were some positives amid the mess against the Bears. The quick-game rhythm was crisp, the protection held up well enough to keep the ball on schedule early in the game, and the motion, play-action, and screens created some easy buttons for Dak Prescott. Jake Ferguson found voids and made 13 receptions without a single dropped pass, Javonte Williams got downhill showing great vision and was effective with the ball despite the fumble, and penalties didn’t torpedo as many drives last week. Against the Packers, more of that same tempo and first-down efficiency is something to key in on. RPOs and screens will make Green Bay’s edges think instead of teeing off, play-action to hit seams behind the linebackers, and a steady diet of Javonte playing smart and physical will keep the pass rush from dictating the offense. In short, keep the ball coming out on time, force Green Bay to tackle in space, and turn the “easy yards” into drive finishers. Tom: I don’t really see any. The running game was good early, but they had to get away from it. And it isn’t going to be very useful if they are always playing from behind because the defense can’t stop a junior high school offense. Sean: The offensive line, even with Brock Hoffman in for Cooper Beebe at center, continued to get some push in the run game even though it was a limited sample size. Dak Prescott didn’t seem as phased by Lamb going out of the game as he would have been in the past, when Dallas was more handicapped at receiver. If the defense even gives a slightly better effort against the Packers, enough to make these things matter for the offense, these are the positives they’ll have to expand on with much better intensity back home for a night game. Howman: Outside of that one fluke fumble (my brain still refuses to believe that was legitimate), Javonte Williams is the real deal. Yep, that’s it, the only positive I’ve got. RJ: You can count me among those who ran out of ideas after Javonte Williams. Even then he had the fumble. We see the return of Micah Parsons this week back in AT&T Stadium. What sort of threat does he pose to the Cowboys offense and how does Dak and company find a way to win? Mike: Cowboys fans know all too well that Micah Parsons is a one-man fire drill and his return at AT&T means snap-to-snap ambiguity for protection up front. He ruins offensive timing and makes defensive coordinators call the “don’t

Every week, we gather to discuss the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have myself, David Howman, Tom Ryle, RJ Ochoa, and Sean Martin What went worse for the Cowboys against the Bears, the secondary, offensive line, or the lack of pressure? Mike: […] Every week, we gather to discuss the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have myself, David Howman, Tom Ryle, RJ Ochoa, and Sean Martin What went worse for the Cowboys against the Bears, the secondary, offensive line, or the lack of pressure? Mike: The biggest culprit in Cowboys-Bears was the pass rush, or more precisely, the lack of one. Caleb Williams wasn’t sacked, Dallas mustered very little pressure, and once the pocket turned into a lounge, Chicago feasted. The lack of pressure resulted in damaging explosive plays like a 35-yard strike to Rome Odunze and a 65-yard flea-flicker to Luther Burden III. That avalanche made the secondary look worse than it truly was and the coverage busts showed up, but they were symptoms of a quarterback getting to read the paper back there. By comparison, the offensive line was the least of Dallas’s problems but still struggled at times with two sacks and seven hits allowed, which isn’t ideal. Rank it this way, lack of pressure comes first, the secondary ranks closely behind , and offensive line comes in third. If blame is a pie, the pass rush gets the biggest slice, the secondary gets a closely sized piece and the offensive line gets the crust. Tom: That’s a hard call to make, but just because there were so many wide open receivers, I have to go with the secondary. The lack of pressure probably contributed to that, but the lack of coverage is just egregious. Sean: I’ll preface this by saying this week is going to be a fascinating debate in the age old pass rush vs coverage, chicken or the egg problem, because both were really poor against the Bears. As far as which was worse, I’ll go with the secondary because at least there were a few pressures at times. Still, being the first defense to never get a sack against Caleb Williams is bad, but they were rushing with players that have at least gotten sacks before. The “back of their baseball card” says they can do it over time. I don’t think there’s any stats that point to Malike Hooker and Donovan Wilson being good cover players, or what the Cowboys can do about Trevon Diggs not being able to play single man coverage reliably, so that is the bigger concern coming off this loss. Howman: Secondary, without question. The pass rush wasn’t ideal but they looked worse because Caleb Williams had plenty of options to throw the ball quickly. Busted coverage assignments and just poor techniques were rampant all day long, and you just don’t win many games like that in the NFL. RJ: It has to be the secondary. They got absolutely destroyed over and over and that it happened against a team who had a moribund passing game it was particularly deflating. What positives, if there are any, do you have from last week’s game that you hope to see more this week against the Green Bay Packers? Mike: There were some positives amid the mess against the Bears. The quick-game rhythm was crisp, the protection held up well enough to keep the ball on schedule early in the game, and the motion, play-action, and screens created some easy buttons for Dak Prescott. Jake Ferguson found voids and made 13 receptions without a single dropped pass, Javonte Williams got downhill showing great vision and was effective with the ball despite the fumble, and penalties didn’t torpedo as many drives last week. Against the Packers, more of that same tempo and first-down efficiency is something to key in on. RPOs and screens will make Green Bay’s edges think instead of teeing off, play-action to hit seams behind the linebackers, and a steady diet of Javonte playing smart and physical will keep the pass rush from dictating the offense. In short, keep the ball coming out on time, force Green Bay to tackle in space, and turn the “easy yards” into drive finishers. Tom: I don’t really see any. The running game was good early, but they had to get away from it. And it isn’t going to be very useful if they are always playing from behind because the defense can’t stop a junior high school offense. Sean: The offensive line, even with Brock Hoffman in for Cooper Beebe at center, continued to get some push in the run game even though it was a limited sample size. Dak Prescott didn’t seem as phased by Lamb going out of the game as he would have been in the past, when Dallas was more handicapped at receiver. If the defense even gives a slightly better effort against the Packers, enough to make these things matter for the offense, these are the positives they’ll have to expand on with much better intensity back home for a night game. Howman: Outside of that one fluke fumble (my brain still refuses to believe that was legitimate), Javonte Williams is the real deal. Yep, that’s it, the only positive I’ve got. RJ: You can count me among those who ran out of ideas after Javonte Williams. Even then he had the fumble. We see the return of Micah Parsons this week back in AT&T Stadium. What sort of threat does he pose to the Cowboys offense and how does Dak and company find a way to win? Mike: Cowboys fans know all too well that Micah Parsons is a one-man fire drill and his return at AT&T means snap-to-snap ambiguity for protection up front. He ruins offensive timing and makes defensive coordinators call the “don’t