Gameday is approaching, but will the Cowboys be without some key players? Three starters sat out Thursday’s practice as seasonal illness continues to have its way with the locker room. Anthony Barr plans to make his return, though, and James Washington is getting closer and closer. The Colts will be missing a star defender, and the Cowboys are stepping up their efforts to cure their penalty problem. And are the Dallas players taking Indy seriously enough?
Elsewhere, a franchise icon is as sure as he can be that marquee receiver Odell Beckham Jr. will wear the silver and blue, CeeDee Lamb is catching practically everything that comes his way, the computers like the Cowboys on Sunday, and the decades-old photo of Jerry Jones is sparking new debate; Dak Prescott and LeBron James weigh in on how the controversy is being handled. All that, plus a look inside the history you never knew about Texas Stadium, the storied former home of the Cowboys franchise.
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The Cowboys come in ranked second, tops in the NFC behind Kansas City, but with the most obvious threat coming from inside the house, and inside the division.
2. Dallas Cowboys (8-3)
Chance to make the playoffs: 99.9%
The Cowboys’ flaw: Game managementYou’ve watched Mike McCarthy-coached teams plummet to earth in the postseason before. I would give the Cowboys a pass if he had left his old habits in Green Bay, but he brutally mismanaged the time late in the fourth quarter in Dallas’ playoff loss to the 49ers a year ago.
Another McCarthy trope popped up in a recent Cowboys victory. During the blowout win over the Vikings, the commentary team said he had told them he wanted to aim for “30 rushes per game” to seal a victory.
Team to avoid: Philadelphia Eagles. They have been one of the league’s most analytically inclined teams over the past two decades, and while Andy Reid wasn’t exactly one for getting aggressive on fourth down, the Eagles have had plenty of success when Doug Pederson and Nick Sirianni have kept their foot on the gas.
The Cowboys have begun taking players out of practice for committing penalties, showing the infractions to the team on video, and calling each other out for mistakes that will cost them if they occur during a real game. “I think the biggest thing is just always focus on cleaning your own house, whether it’s giving the ball away, the pre-snap penalties, the combative penalties,”…
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