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Starting nickel corner, Jourdan Lewis is feared to be out for the season. Lewis was injured after notching a game sealing interception against Jared Goff in the 4th quarter. After making the play Lewis had to be carted off the field and appeared to be in obvious pain. While Dallas was hopeful the injury wasn’t severe early prognosis for Lewis however appears bleak. It is believed that Lewis has suffered a lisfranc injury.

With Lewis expected to miss the remainder of the season, rookie back Daron Bland will be relied on to fill the role of starting nickel back. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Dan Campbell plans to lean heavily on his team’s rushing attack to topple the Dallas Cowboys.

This approach makes the most sense. While the Cowboys defense has shined for most of the season and has suffocated most of the offenses that they’ve faced; their inability to stop the rushing attack of opposing teams has never truly gone away, it’s only been masked by the overall success of the team. While the Cowboys defense is still a top 10 unit in terms of passing defense and scoring defense, their rush defense is HORRIBLE. The Dallas Cowboys are currently ranked 19th against the run with 724 yards surrendered in 6 games, for an average of 120.7 rushing yards given up a contest!

This trend should be concerning as this Achilles’ heel has been the leading cause of the Cowboys’ most recent post season debacles. In 2018 the Los Angeles Rams obliterated the Cowboys on the ground during their divisional round match up, rushing the ball 48 times for a whopping 273 yards and 3 touchdowns!

Last year the run defense still proved to be the Cowboys undoing as they were again repeatedly gashed on the ground to the tune of 38 rushing attempts for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns.

In totality the Dallas Cowboys have surrendered 442 rushing yards and 5 rushing touchdowns in their last two playoff games, a trend that will continue to derail their title aspirations if left unchecked. The Eagles again exploited Big D’s biggest weakness in route to taking a strangle hold on the division. While the Cowboys defense was able to limit Jalen Hurts to 155 passing yards they were unable to contain the Eagles rushing attack, allowing 136 rushing yards on 39 carries. The Lions will attempt to take a similar approach to taking down the Cowboys.

The Lions’ biggest strength is their offensive line which is comprised of 4 former first round picks. The Lions have only allowed 7 sacks this season and have produced one of the better rushing attacks in the league. The Lions are currently 7th in rushing yards per game, 2nd in yards per attempt, and tied for 3rd most rushing touchdowns in the league.

The Lions also average 27 rushing attempts a game, meaning they will attempt to run the ball early and often. If the Lions are successful in establishing an effective run game they will have a good chance of beating Dallas, but Dallas will be able to fight fire with fire. The Lions are the WORST run defense in the league, surrendering 168 yards a game. If Detroit wants to run the ball Dallas should show them how it’s done.

The Dallas Cowboys can’t stop the run to save their lives, let alone save their season. While the Cowboys defense has shined for most of the season and has suffocated most of the offenses that they’ve faced; their inability to stop the rushing attack of opposing teams has never truly gone away, it’s only been masked by the overall success of the team. While the Cowboys defense is still a top 10 unit in terms of passing defense and scoring defense, their rush defense is HORRIBLE. The Dallas Cowboys are currently ranked 19th against the run with 724 yards surrendered in 6 games, for an average of 120.7 rushing yards given up a contest!

This trend should be concerning as this Achilles’ heel has been the leading cause of the Cowboys’ most recent post season debacles. In 2018 the Los Angeles Rams obliterated the Cowboys on the ground during their divisional round match up, rushing the ball 48 times for a whopping 273 yards and 3 touchdowns!

Last year the run defense still proved to be the Cowboys undoing as they were again repeatedly gashed on the ground to the tune of 38 rushing attempts for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns.

In totality the Dallas Cowboys have surrendered 442 rushing yards and 5 rushing touchdowns in their last two playoff games, a trend that will continue to derail their title aspirations if left unchecked. The Eagles again exploited Big D’s biggest weakness in route to taking a strangle hold on the division. While the Cowboys defense was able to limit Jalen Hurts to 155 passing yards they were unable to contain the Eagles rushing attack, allowing 136 rushing yards on 39 carries. When push came to shove the run defense failed the Cowboys and until the Cowboys make the necessary scheme and personnel changes to fix their leaky run defense their chances to win a championship will continue to be fleeting at best. Good offensive coordinators will continue to exploit this glaring weakness and the Cowboys will continue to get ran off the field.

Dak Prescott’s return appears to be imminent! According to Mike McCarthy Dak Prescott will attempt to get medically cleared to return tomorrow when they return to Dallas! If Prescott is able to get cleared he will more than likely start in next Sunday’s matchup against the Detroit Lions.

Cooper Rush filled in valiantly in Prescott’s absence, however the offense struggled to score points, leaning heavily on the star studded defense to carry the team to victory. During his 5 starts Cooper Rush threw for 1020 yards 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions with a 57.7 completion percentage. While Prescott struggled in the season opener he is 11-6 in his last 17 regular season games with 38 TDs to only 11 interceptions. Prescott is also one of the winningest quarterbacks in the NFL being posting a career 53-33, tied for 5th most wins in the NFL since entering the league.

Prescott was also able to end the 2021 season 4th in passing TDs (37) and 4th in completion percentage (68.8%). With Dak’s return the offense should receive a much needed boost as the Cowboy’s are currently ranked 23rd in scoring and 27th in passing offense. With Dak’s return the Cowboys are poised to cement themselves as a complete team and legit contender going forward.

After a promising start to the 2022 campaign, the Hogs season has started to come unraveled. Since starting the season 3-0 the Razorbacks have lost 3 consecutive games and have for all intensive purposes have also lost any hope of making the College Football Playoffs. While a chance to compete for a National Title may no longer be in the cards for Arkansas, plenty of their players are still expected to be selected in this upcoming draft, including KJ Jefferson. A projected 4th round pick, Jefferson would make perfect sense for Dallas Cowboys as a developmental player. The 6’3 243 pound Jefferson is a physical player that can impact the game with both his arm and his legs. His size, athletic ability, and accuracy on deep balls are Jefferson’s most defining traits that will translate at the next level. While Jefferson has some holes in his game his upside and potential are worth teams taking a chance on him at the next level.

Similar to Prescott

Dak Prescott is the undisputed starter in Dallas. Since entering the league in 2016 Prescott has amassed 53 wins in 86 starts, the 5th most wins by a QB in that time frame. Despite Prescott’s success on the field he has been plagued by the injury bug recently and is expected to miss his 17th game since 2020 Sunday night when the Cowboys travel to Philadelphia. With Prescott’s recent injury woes and with only two seasons left under contract it makes perfect sense for the Cowboys to bring in a young QB they can develop behind him. While not as refined, Jefferson is a similar player to Prescott. Both can make and extend plays with their legs and athleticism and thrive on play-action and RPO concepts. While Jefferson has issues with his throwing mechanics so did Dak early in his career and he has since developed into a top 10 passer in the league statistically. Jefferson would have at least two seasons to sit and develop behind Prescott and could either stay in the backup role if Prescott re-signs with the team, or Jefferson could step in as the starter with two years of time in the system under his belt if Dak decides to leave once his contract is up.

Jefferson has the arm talent and athleticism to eventually excel at the NFL level and as a player who is expected to be a late round pick he is a low risk high reward player who’ll have the luxury of learning behind a pro bowl quarterback with a similar skill set.

The Dallas Cowboys’ defense has been one of the best defensive units in the entire NFL so far. Through the first 4 weeks of the season, the team has not yet allowed a single team to score 20 points or more against them and they are currently tied for the 2nd most sacks in the NFL with 15. While these metrics are impressive a deeper look at the numbers shows a glaring weakness that may derail the team down the line. Despite their stellar start the Cowboys defense has still not been able to stop the run. The Cowboys’ run defense currently ranks 27th in the league and are currently allowing a little over 137 rushing yards a game.

While the defense has been able to win games due to keeping opponents out of the end zone there will come a time where better competition can exploit their inability to neutralize the run game. In both of the Cowboys last two playoff loses they were bludgeoned on the ground and literally ran off of the field. In their matchup against the Rams during the 2018 playoffs the Cowboys surrendered 273 yards on the ground and lost the time of possession battle 36:13 to 23:47.

In last year’s debacle against the San Francisco 49ers the Cowboys surrendered 169 yards rushing and lost the time of possession battle 33:59 to 26:01.

The Cowboys biggest Achilles’ heel has consistently been the run game and it will continue to derail the Cowboys’ title hopes until it is addressed. The Cowboys are giving up 5 yards a carry and have also given up the most explosive run plays in the league as well as the highest explosive run percentage. If the Cowboys want to succeed in the playoffs they’ll have to find ways to become a complete defense.

Recency bias is defined as a cognitive bias that prefers recent events over historic ones; a memory a bias. This best describes the multitude of overreactions from the Cowboys’ fan base in regards to the perceived quarterback controversy between Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush. The Cowboys have won 3 consecutive games with Rush under center and many fans are calling for him to retain the starting job even when Prescott is fully healthy and ready to return. While Rush has played admirably in Prescott’s absence he has not displayed a level of play that Prescott has not. While Dak was not good in the season opener he has been one of the better quarterbacks in the league for several seasons. Entering the season Prescott was top 10 in passing yards, passing touchdowns, completion percentage and passer rating since 2016 and while wins are not solely a quarterback stat Prescott is 4th in wins since 2016.

Prescott is also currently 5th all time in career completion percentage and had a bad throw percent of only 14.7 which was 7th best in the league as well as throwing the 7th most on target passes in the league last year with 452.

It is more likely that his season opener was an outlier and the quarterback who was in the MVP race for most of the previous season is the player that he truly is. Dak is the better quarterback and gives the Cowboys the best chance to win a championship and this is no by means a slight against Cooper Rush. He has played well enough to help the Cowboys win games and in the process has made himself quite a bit of money from a potential suitor this off-season however, Rush has not played better than what we’ve seen from Prescott and that is why the QB controversy is more clickbait than an actual possibility. Rush is currently on pace 21 tds and 3100 yards passing at 60 percent completion if he continues to perform at the same clip he is currently on. For comparison Prescott finished last season with 37 tds to only 10 interceptions, passed for 4449 yards, and completed 68.8 percent of his passes. The gap in production is undeniable and while Rush has surpassed expectations, he has not surpassed Dak Prescott.

The inevitable has finally happened. After suffering a knee injury in the Cowboys win against the Cincinnati Bengals, Dalton Shultz will NOT play against the New York Football Giants. Shultz was diagnosed with a PCL sprain and will likely be hindered by the injury for the remainder of the season. Look for rookies Ferguson and Henderhot to see an increased workload tonight.

Let’s be frank, quarterback wins are not a legitimate stat to begin with. In order for a quarterback to be credited for a win all that is required is to have started the game and for their team to win the matchup, thats it. A quarterback can be benched for poor play halfway through a game or injured on the first play and STILL get a win put on their résumé. For example, Trey Lance left the 49ers’ week 2 win with a broken ankle. Despite only throwing 3 passes and Jimmy Garropolo finishing the game Lance was still credited with a win for starting the game despite contributing next to nothing.

Wins also do not indicate if the quarterback actually played well; a Qb who throws zero touchdowns and multiple interceptions will still earn a win if his team is able to overcome his miscues. Despite Justin Fields not contributing a single touchdown and throwing two interceptions his team still won without any significant contribution from their starting signal caller.

With this in mind looking at wins against winning teams further skews reality. Josh Allen, Kyler Murray, Joe Burrow, and Justin Herbert are widely considered the best young quarterbacks in the NFL, however all have losing records against winning teams and only Josh Allen has an overall winning record as a starter.

Furthermore, despite being hall of fame worthy players, both Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers have losing records against teams that finished the season over .500. Having a winning record against winning teams is actually the outlier; Tom Brady and Russell Wilson are the only active QBs who have played at least 30 winning teams in their careers and have a winning record. Using this narrative to judge a quarterback’s worth would disqualify most of the league from being considered good players. To many factors go into winning a game to put to much credit or blame on the backs of quarterbacks and if you want to use wins against winning teams as a metric you’ll be sadly disappointed by the outcome.

Dak Prescott left Sunday night’s blowout win with a severe injury to his throwing hand. After having successful surgery Monday, Prescott initially was expected to miss 6-8 weeks as he recovers, however this may no longer be the case. During his weekly show, Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones stated that not only would Prescott not go on IR but he expects him to be back within 4 weeks, a time line that is half as short as what was first reported. While many can look at this injury news as a positive it is actually concerning. Injuries to a quarterback’s throwing hands don’t generally heal that quickly. When Drew Brees suffered a similar injury in 2019 he was sidelined for 6 weeks and missed a grand total of 5 games due to the injury. Russell Wilson also suffered a hand injury last year. While not the same injury it did sideline Wilson and it did effect his ability to hold the ball, the issue that first alerted Prescott that something was wrong. Wilson was also expected to miss 6-8 weeks but did come back after just 4; his play upon return, however was dreadful. In his first game back Wilson was 20/40 for only 161 yards, no touchdowns, and 2 interceptions.

Seattle’s offense didn’t muster a single point and Wilson’s accuracy was noticeably off. Wilson was also ineffective the following week, again failing to throw for a single touchdown. So while it IS possible for Prescott to return in 4 weeks it is unlikely that he will be effective passing the ball. With Kellen Moore’s unwillingness to use Prescott’s legs as a weapon, and Prescott’s expected drop in accuracy his presence would hinder the offense more than help it if he returns to early. No matter how long it takes, Prescott’s hand needs to completely heal before he returns. The worst thing that Prescott can do is put more bad performances on tape, especially in an environment where a section of the fan base has turned on him.

The defense and the run game of the Cowboys should be enough to win a couple games in Prescott’s absence. Rushing back a compromised quarterback won’t save the season, but a healthy Dak just might.