The Cowboys have three of their starting offensive linemen on their injury report, and both guards missed practice Wednesday.
Right guard Zack Martin (ankle/shoulder) and left guard Tyler Smith (ankle/knee) did not participate in the team’s walk-through.
Left tackle Tyler Guyton (shoulder) was estimated as a full participant.
The Cowboys also practiced without fullback Hunter Luepke (calf) and linebacker Nick Vigil (foot).
Wide receiver Brandin Cooks (knee), linebacker Eric Kendricks (shoulder), defensive Marshawn Kneeland (knee), wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (back/foot) and cornerback Jourdan Lewis (neck) were limited.
Cornerback DaRon Bland (foot) could make his 2024 debut this week as he returned to full participation, and swing tackle Chuma Edoga (toe) appears ready to return from injured reserve after a full practice.
Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said earlier this week that he hopes to have cornerback Marshon Lattimore on the practice field this week, but the veteran won’t be working with the team on Wednesday.
Quinn told reporters that Lattimore, who has a hamstring injury, will work on the side while the rest of the team works to get ready to face the Cowboys at home.
“We’ll see what tomorrow looks like if we’re able to work him into some of the practices,” Quinn said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post.
Lattimore has not played for the Commanders since being acquired in a trade with the Saints earlier this month. He had 30 tackles in seven games for the Saints before the trade.
Since the owner said he has no desire to see Trey Lance start a game this season, it was a given that Cooper Rush would retain his starting job.
Coach Mike McCarthy made it official Tuesday, announcing during his media availability that Rush will start Sunday at Washington.
McCarthy added that the Cowboys will add some packages for Lance.
Rush threw for a career-high 354 yards in Monday night’s 34-10 loss to the Texans. He completed 32-of-55 passes with a touchdown and an interception.
Both Rush and Lance are free agents in March, and the Cowboys surrendered a fourth-round pick in August 2023 to get Lance from the 49ers.
Rush has played 158 snaps since Prescott’s injury, including 128 of 143 plays the past two games he started. Lance got 15 snaps in mop-up duty in the Week 10 loss to the Eagles.
The Commanders continue their search for a new stadium. One possibility has gotten a boost from Congress.
Via A.J. Perez of FrontOfficeSports.com, a bill that would make the site of RFK Stadium a viable destination emerged from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by the vote of 17-2.
Said a Commanders spokesperson, via Perez: “The vote today brings us one step closer towards continuing conversations with D.C., along with Maryland and Virginia, as a potential future home for our franchise.”
That’s the key. It’s not just about D.C. It’s about Maryland and Virginia, too. Three-way leverage, if played properly, gets the Commanders the best possible deal.
The Commanders may finally get one of their newest defensive players on the field this week.
Head coach Dan Quinn told reporters in his Monday press conference that Washington is hopeful cornerback Marshon Lattimore will be able to practice this week.
Lattimore has been sidelined by a hamstring injury now since Week 8, when he was still playing for the Saints.
Quinn noted that the Commanders want to be cautious given that it’s a soft-tissue injury, but Lattimore is trending in the right direction.
In seven games this season for the Saints, Lattimore recorded 30 total tackles with two passes defensed.
Playing the Cowboys on Sunday afternoon in Week 12, the Commanders will release their first injury report of the week on Wednesday.
The NFL has re-embraced transparency in officiating. Kind of. Sort of. At least for a little bit.
Appearing on NFL Network’s GameDay Morning, the NFL’s mouthpiece for officiating had some surprising words escape from his mouth. For the first time since the days of Dean Blandino and Mike Pereira, the league publicly admitted to an officiating mistake.
Actually, two of them.
First, Anderson acknowledged the Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean shouldn’t have been flagged for pass interference after he pulled the jersey of Commanders receiver Noah Brown during the opening drive of the third quarter. Anderson acknowledged that, while the pulling of Brown’s jersey could have been ruled defensive holding before the ball was thrown, it wasn’t a sufficiently significant hindrance to Brown. And thus shouldn’t have been called.
Anderson was somewhat reluctant to say what he said, and for good reason. That’s the kind of thing that can spark a sudden lightning bolt from the ivory tower at 345 Park Avenue. Indeed, Anderson had the demeanor of a kid being told by his parents, “Sure, you can drink that beer. Go ahead. What are you waiting for?”
Anderson apparently got tipsy on the first sip, because then he admitted to a missed roughing the passer call for a hit on Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
It’s critical that the league embrace candor and honesty when it comes to officiating mistakes that everyone sees. Circling the wagons gets people to don tinfoil hats, especially in this age of HEY EVERYONE, GO GAMBLE ON YOUR PHONES!
Still, the best approach is to not make mistakes. While some will always be possible, the league can do more to create the impression that it’s doing everything possible to get the calls right (like full-time officials and a more complete embrace of technology). But if/when calls are gotten wrong, the far better option to pretending it didn’t happen (which the league usually has done) is to admit it.
Yes, there’s risk involved. First, there are more mistakes in a given week than can be covered by the sliver of time they devote to Anderson during a four-hour show. Second, it will piss off the officials to have their mistakes publicized.
As to the former, that’s on the producers of the show, who at times seem to be prioritizing performative nonsense over substance. As to the latter, suck it up. Don’t make mistakes. And own the ones you make.
The NFL needs to do it. Time will tell whether Sunday’s comments from Anderson are an aberration or the start of a trend.
As you might have heard, Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and Bills will be only the fifth time since 1970 that two teams with eight or more wins will meet in Week 11 or earlier. There’s another nugget that demonstrates the divide between the great and not-great-Bob teams in 2024.
For the first time since 1970, three games in Week 11 feature teams with seven or more wins.
In addition to the 9-0 Chiefs facing the 8-2 Bills, the 7-3 Ravens play the 7-2 Steelers and, on Thursday night, the 7-2 Eagles beat the 7-3 Commanders.
That’s what happens when 11 times have three or fewer losses. Someone else will have the wins. Six teams with plenty of them will be squaring off this weekend, with one game done and two big ones to go on Sunday.
It took some time, but streaming-only games are starting to outpace cable-only games.
The week began with Dolphins-Rams drawing only 12.2 million viewers for an ESPN-only game. Three days later, Commanders-Eagles attracted 14.42 million for Amazon Prime.
That’s an 11-percent increase over last year’s Week 11 Bengals-Ravens game, which drew 12.98 million.
Thursday Night Football is now averaging 13.2 million viewers for 2024. It’s a major jump over the full-season average for the first year of the Amazon Prime package, which averaged only 9.58 million.
Did the NFL get ahead of the curve or did the NFL help force the curve? It doesn’t matter, because NFL fans have a knack for finding NFL games, wherever they might be.
The Eagles stifled the Commanders offense for most of Thursday night’s 26-18 win and one of the key reasons they were able to do that was the play of first-round pick Quinyon Mitchell.
Mitchell was tasked with covering wide receiver Terry McLaurin much of the time and the rookie cornerback took Washington’s top wideout out of the game. McLaurin had one catch for 10 yards that came against different coverage and said after the game that Mitchell plays like he’s been in the league for a lot longer than a few months.
“He’s a good corner,” McLaurin said, via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I think he plays well. He doesn’t really play like a rookie.”
The Eagles finished 30th in points allowed last season, but they’re currently sixth and they have allowed the fewest yards of any team in the league. They also have the third-stingiest pass defense.
Neither Mitchell nor any other individual can take all the credit for that, but the decisions to hire defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and add players like Mitchell, cornerback Cooper DeJean, safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and linebacker Zack Baun to his unit reflect well on General Manager Howie Roseman’s offseason efforts.
Late in the first half of Thursday night’s win over the Commanders, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts ended up in the medical tent for a preliminary concussion evaluation.
By halftime, Hurts was out of the tent and jogging to the locker room.
He was asked about the evaluation after the game.
“I guess I beat the protocol,” Hurts said.
He was asked if he knows how he did that.
“I beat the protocol,” Hurts said.
Was he surprised about being evaluated?
“It happens,” Hurts said. “Was I surprised? I don’t know.”
It was surprising he ended up in the tent when he did. It was surprising he didn’t end up in the tent after the failed trick play that resulted in Hurts’s head whipsawing against the ground. He struggled to get up. It looked more than like enough to check him out. It didn’t happen — despite the various people who are present at the game for the sole purpose of monitoring players for potential concussion evaluations.
As to Hurts’s reference to beating the protocol, he and all players need to realize that the protocol is there for their own good. Most players view it as a hurdle to be overcome, an impediment to what they’re trying to do.
That makes it even more important that the NFL regard the concussion evaluation not as a checklist but as healthcare. In many cases, it’s involuntary healthcare.
If it’s even healthcare at all.
