The 7-6 Dallas Cowboys will be taking on the 6-7 Oakland Raiders on Sunday night in Oakland, California. Both teams are still in the hunt in their playoff pictures and must win out if they want a chance at playing football in January.
Cowboys Head Coach Jason Garrett said Friday that David Irving (concussion) and Orlando Scandrick (back) would miss a third day of practice each, which was followed by the team listing both players as out for Sunday night’s game against the Raiders. This will be the second straight game that both defenders will be inactive due to injury.
Both players suffered their injuries in the Washington Redskins game just three weeks ago and have yet to practice since. In their absence, rookie Lewis Neal and newly signed Datone Jones will get a lot of work at the three-technique position to fill in for David Irving.
Datone Jones, Lewis Neal
In limited playing time last week at the Giants, Datone Jones flashed, especially in the run game. Sunday’s game was the first week the Cowboys’ dressed Jones since signing with the team last month.
Against the Giants, Jones was credited with two tackles and one run stuff, according to ESPN.
Along with Datone Jones, Lewis Neal will also get playing time at defensive tackle. Of the two players, Neal is the better pass rusher and he’s shown that in the limited playing time he’s received.
Neal is an undersized defensive tackle that I evaluated as a 3-4 defensive end in last year’s draft process. His explosive first step and ability to convert speed to power makes him a tough matchup for offensive lineman when rushing the passer.
While I would prefer to have David Irving on the field, a combination of Lewis Neal and Datone Jones can get the job done and make some big plays while doing so.
Chidobe Awuzie
The other player the Cowboys will be without this weekend, is starting cornerback Orlando Scandrick. Just like David Irving, Orlando Scandrick has yet to practice in the last two weeks. His replacement, Chidobe Awuzie has been phenomenal while filling in for the 10th year veteran.
Against both the Washington Redskins and New York Giants, Awuzie has gotten the start at left cornerback. In those two games, Chidobe Awuzie was targeted eight times, and in those eight targets, he gave up only two completions for 19 yards. He also has five passes defended and six tackles over the two-game span.
He has performed excellently after spending most of his rookie season on the sideline nursing a hamstring injury.
Chidobe Awuzie was targeted 5 times against NYG. Allowed only 2 catches for 19 yards. Eli had a 51.3 passer rating when targeting him, per PFF#DallasCowboys
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) December 11, 2017
Normally, when the Cowboys’ defense looks to be without two of its better players, Cowboys Nation starts to panic, but you shouldn’t this week. I have faith in Lewis Neal, Datone Jones, and Chidobe Awuzie to hold down the fort and you should too.
Look for #33, #58, and #66 to make a ton of plays in both the running and passing game this Sunday night against the Oakland Raiders.
What are the Cowboys’ chances against the Raiders without Irving and Scandrick?
Let me know below!
This might be the week that Kavon Frazier starts at SS, Woods at FS and Byron Jones flips over to CB to pair with Awuzie. Otherwise you are limiting either the reps of Woods if Jones stays at FS, or you are limiting Jone’s reps as the slot CB. Neither of those last 2 options make sense IMO.
I expect the Raiders to bring the A game and be a very tough out tonight. The Cowboys will either be ready to match it, or they fly back with an L and the season largely over. I think Garrett will try to use the OL to get the same edge he got in New York, and that we see a lot of Morris 1st half and then Rod Smith with fresh legs in the 2nd.
I can see Dallas losing this game, but feel like chances are good to get the running game going and take the game over again. Dallas 31-27
Great point on Byron Jones. I wish they would get him back to CB. He is 6’1″, 203 lbs, with 4.3 speed and big time”hops”. Let’s go get another Safety in the draft if we need to. Byron could be a great CB, but not a Great Safety.
It’s nice to see the depth with the younger players finally start to show up. It takes years to build up that depth and teams tend to struggle and people get fired and rarely see the fruits of a long term vision like this. Stephen Jones along with Jason Garrett and Will McClay seem to be getting awfully close to what their vision was years ago. It’s been painful at times and it’s a shame Romo won’t be here to enjoy the fruits of all this. Hopefully Witten will last long enough so he can finally have a ring on his future HOF finger.
Crabtree had his way for 2 TDs with Awuzie and pulled a huge PI on Lewis, but they still were improving and learning g thro0ugh some hard knocks. Speaking hard knocks, I like Awuzie going hit-4-hit with Beastmode. He was wuzzie, but fearless and came back to stop Crabtreee from getting a 1st down. Anthony Brown seems to be getting better each week. He almost had 2 interceptions. The “almost” in the 4th qtr could have saved me a lot of heartburn. Wood, who many say are disappointed in his tackling, had several, while missing one behind the line on Patterson, that Frazier cleaned up. Holding the Raiders to “0” in the 1st half was impressive. They are making progress. Growing into their roles.