Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys have their first eight-game winning streak since 1977. That year, rookie running back Tony Dorsett provided the spark to a Super Bowl championship.
This year, the Cowboys’ spark is coming from first-round running back Ezekiel Elliott. I wonder if it’s too soon to start thinking about how many Cowboys fans could make the drive down to Houston for Super Bowl LI.
There’s five more wonders still to come.
Away we go:
* Many have wondered if the Cowboys will look for a veteran cornerback down the stretch, especially with the injury to Morris Claiborne, who is not expected back for at least another couple of weeks because of a groin injury. Here’s what I wonder: Will the Cowboys look to safety Byron Jones to play some cornerback instead? They have tried to have him focus on safety, but now it’s close to "desperate times require desperate measures" time. The Cowboys hope Orlando Scandrick will be back after he was knocked out of the Steelers game. That forced Leon McFadden to play more than they wanted, and Ben Roethlisberger took advantage. The Cowboys might be able to cover themselves defensively better by going with Jones as a cornerback and using Jeff Heath at safety.
* A pectoral injury to Geoff Swaim has the Cowboys in the market for a tight end for the stretch drive. James Hanna will not be ready for quite a while, according to Jason Garrett. They have Rico Gathers on the practice squad. I wonder if people forget that a year ago at this time, he was grabbing rebounds at Baylor. Before this summer, the last time he played football was as an eighth grader. The Cowboys ask a lot of their tight ends. They have to know everything about everything. While Gathers has improved, the sense is that he is not ready to be added to the 53-man roster. Gavin Escobar will move into the No. 2 role behind Jason Witten, but the Cowboys need a third tight end. I would expect them to look at a veteran for help or perhaps somebody on another team’s practice squad.
* I don’t wonder if Cole Beasley will reach 55 catches this season. If he does, then he will earn an extra $250,000 on his 2017 base salary of $3 million. I don’t really wonder if he will catch 70 passes this season, which will add another $500,000 on to that base salary. But I wonder if people will forgive the Cowboys now for giving Beasley that contract instead of Dwayne Harris. There were quite a few fans wondering why Beasley would get that contract instead of Harris, who signed a four-year deal with the New York Giants that guaranteed him $7 million because of his special teams prowess. And for a mini-wonder within a wonder: I don’t wonder if Beasley would have these numbers if Tony Romo was the quarterback either. Romo was among Beasley’s biggest fans.
* I touched on special teams and Harris, who was an effective punt returner for the Cowboys. I wonder if the Cowboys will look to Dez Bryant as a punt returner as they close out the season. I know what many of you are thinking: He’s too valuable to the offense to be exposed like that. I get it. I do. But the Cowboys also need some help in the punt return game. Bryant is dynamic with the ball in his hands. Now, he hasn’t returned a punt since 2012 but he returned two for scores as a rookie in 2010. Bryant takes some reps in practice on Fridays as a punt returner. As the games grow more important and more difficult, finding ways to win the field-position battle is key, and Bryant can certainly do that.
* Sometimes teams have to look into the future on injuries. I wonder if the Cowboys are about to do that with backup offensive tackle Chaz Green. He has not played since the San Francisco game because of a sprained foot. He has been able to practice for parts of the last two weeks, but he’s not quite ready. Given his injury history at Florida, it seems like he always will have difficulty staying healthy. This would be the time to see if there is a veteran who could fill in if something happened to Tyron Smith or Doug Free. I’m thinking of a Charles Brown type. He was with the Cowboys last year, but retired somewhat surprisingly before the start of camp. I just don’t get the sense the Cowboys would go with Emmett Cleary as the swing tackle if Free or Smith were hurt. I think they would move Zack Martin from guard to tackle and move Joe Looney in at right guard. In a perfect world, Martin never moves from guard.
ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys have their first eight-game winning streak since 1977. That year, rookie running back Tony Dorsett provided the spark to a Super Bowl championship.
This year, the Cowboys’ spark is coming from first-round running back Ezekiel Elliott. I wonder if it’s too soon to start thinking about how many Cowboys fans could make the drive down to Houston for Super Bowl LI.
There’s five more wonders still to come.
Away we go:
* Many have wondered if the Cowboys will look for a veteran cornerback down the stretch, especially with the injury to Morris Claiborne, who is not expected back for at least another couple of weeks because of a groin injury. Here’s what I wonder: Will the Cowboys look to safety Byron Jones to play some cornerback instead? They have tried to have him focus on safety, but now it’s close to "desperate times require desperate measures" time. The Cowboys hope Orlando Scandrick will be back after he was knocked out of the Steelers game. That forced Leon McFadden to play more than they wanted, and Ben Roethlisberger took advantage. The Cowboys might be able to cover themselves defensively better by going with Jones as a cornerback and using Jeff Heath at safety.
* A pectoral injury to Geoff Swaim has the Cowboys in the market for a tight end for the stretch drive. James Hanna will not be ready for quite a while, according to Jason Garrett. They have Rico Gathers on the practice squad. I wonder if people forget that a year ago at this time, he was grabbing rebounds at Baylor. Before this summer, the last time he played football was as an eighth grader. The Cowboys ask a lot of their tight ends. They have to know everything about everything. While Gathers has improved, the sense is that he is not ready to be added to the 53-man roster. Gavin Escobar will move into the No. 2 role behind Jason Witten, but the Cowboys need a third tight end. I would expect them to look at a veteran for help or perhaps somebody on another team’s practice squad.
* I don’t wonder if Cole Beasley will reach 55 catches this season. If he does, then he will earn an extra $250,000 on his 2017 base salary of $3 million. I don’t really wonder if he will catch 70 passes this season, which will add another $500,000 on to that base salary. But I wonder if people will forgive the Cowboys now for giving Beasley that contract instead of Dwayne Harris. There were quite a few fans wondering why Beasley would get that contract instead of Harris, who signed a four-year deal with the New York Giants that guaranteed him $7 million because of his special teams prowess. And for a mini-wonder within a wonder: I don’t wonder if Beasley would have these numbers if Tony Romo was the quarterback either. Romo was among Beasley’s biggest fans.
* I touched on special teams and Harris, who was an effective punt returner for the Cowboys. I wonder if the Cowboys will look to Dez Bryant as a punt returner as they close out the season. I know what many of you are thinking: He’s too valuable to the offense to be exposed like that. I get it. I do. But the Cowboys also need some help in the punt return game. Bryant is dynamic with the ball in his hands. Now, he hasn’t returned a punt since 2012 but he returned two for scores as a rookie in 2010. Bryant takes some reps in practice on Fridays as a punt returner. As the games grow more important and more difficult, finding ways to win the field-position battle is key, and Bryant can certainly do that.
* Sometimes teams have to look into the future on injuries. I wonder if the Cowboys are about to do that with backup offensive tackle Chaz Green. He has not played since the San Francisco game because of a sprained foot. He has been able to practice for parts of the last two weeks, but he’s not quite ready. Given his injury history at Florida, it seems like he always will have difficulty staying healthy. This would be the time to see if there is a veteran who could fill in if something happened to Tyron Smith or Doug Free. I’m thinking of a Charles Brown type. He was with the Cowboys last year, but retired somewhat surprisingly before the start of camp. I just don’t get the sense the Cowboys would go with Emmett Cleary as the swing tackle if Free or Smith were hurt. I think they would move Zack Martin from guard to tackle and move Joe Looney in at right guard. In a perfect world, Martin never moves from guard.
