Coaches often preach the mantra of “one game at a time.” Although the Dallas Cowboys aren’t looking past this week’s matchup against the Houston Texans, head coach Mike McCarthy did learn quickly after arriving in Dallas that this time of year, there has to be a little bit of looking ahead.
“I really felt that, (2021), I made some adjustments,” McCarthy said. “Just because … I didn’t do a good enough job with the scheduling for recovery and so forth.”
This is a tricky part of the calendar each season for the Cowboys because they play on Thanksgiving every year. The marathon begins as soon as the game two games prior to Thanksgiving ends — this year that game is against the Texans. The fact that this week’s game is on Monday night, giving the Cowboys a short week before they enter their super short week leading up to Thanksgiving, doesn’t help.
The Cowboys will play three games in 11 days, beginning Monday night against Houston, traveling next weekend to play Washington and then home against the New York Giants on Turkey Day. The toll this stretch takes on players’ bodies is the obvious thing to watch out for but another thing is how this affects players returning from injuries. Somebody like Brandin Cooks, who is getting close to returning, might need a solid, high-intensity practice as the final benchmark before returning to play, but that likely won’t happen now until December.
Cowboys’ 3-game stretch
| WEEK | DATE | OPPONENT | TIME (ET) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
11 |
Monday, Nov. 18 |
8:15 pm |
|
|
12 |
Sunday, Nov. 24 |
1 pm |
|
|
13 |
Thursday, Nov. 28 |
4:30 pm |
Battle at left tackle?
Rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton missed last week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles but should be available Monday night. In his place, second-year player Asim Richards had a solid outing for the Cowboys, which has made things a bit interesting. Normally, you’d say that in what’s shaping up to be a lost season, you want to put Guyton right back out there so he can continue his development and work through the growing pains. While that may be what ends up happening Monday, the Cowboys are open to a little midseason competition at that spot.
Veteran left tackle Chuma Edoga is also making his way back from a summer injury and is closer to returning to the active roster. Playing Edoga as the starting left tackle would be a head-scratcher because you already know what you have in him, and what his ceiling is.
GO DEEPER
Rico Dowdle ‘excited’ about getting bulk of the carries as Cowboys’ No. 1 RB
However, Richards could be interesting to monitor the rest of the way. He’s a young player, too, drafted by the Cowboys in the fifth-round in 2023. Does he show you enough to where you can consider him at that spot and think about swinging Guyton back to his natural position on the right side? Guyton probably gets the starting nod against the Texans but even when he’s played this season, he has struggled. It could very well just be rookie growing pains but the situation at left tackle is worth keeping an eye on in the coming weeks.
Curtains drawn
After a week in which curtain talk dominated the Cowboys’ discourse, the AT&T Stadium had the curtains drawn for fight night Friday evening, featuring Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.
Ready for fight night ⏳#PaulTyson pic.twitter.com/vCBTJJWcAJ
— AT&T Stadium (@ATTStadium) November 15, 2024
What could have been?
Running back has been one of the Cowboys’ biggest weaknesses this season. Not enough was done to address the position in the offseason. That wouldn’t have been the case had they drafted Pro Bowl RB Jahmyr Gibbs last year. OK, so that was unlikely to ever happen. But the Detroit Lions’ standout mentioned the Cowboys’ interest during a recent interview.
Gibbs was the 12th overall pick in 2023. The Cowboys picked at No. 26, selecting Michigan defensive tackle Mazi Smith. Had Gibbs fallen to No. 20, there would be worthwhile second-guessing. But things weren’t close. Dallas was never moving up that high, — certainly not for a running back.
Gibbs is running behind a much better offensive line in Detroit. However, he certainly would’ve upgraded things in Dallas’ running back room had he somehow fallen another 14 picks.
Jahmyr Gibbs was almost drafted to the Cowboys or Bengals 😵💫
🎥: RichardShermanPOD | #OnePride pic.twitter.com/cGtdfKoYhR
— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔢𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔦𝔱 𝔗𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 📰 (@the_det_times) November 15, 2024
Must-reads
• Bad decisions: Cowboys make The Athletic’s Mike Jones’ list
• Dianna Russini’s what I’m hearing: Hiring cycle will be huge
• NFL Week 11 top storylines from Mike Jones
• Why Cam Ward’s draft evaluation is so tricky
(Photo of Tyler Guyton: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)
