FRISCO, Texas – Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis missed Dallas' game against Houston on Monday night with a neck injury, but is optimistic that he'll be able to return on Sunday against the Commanders.
"I'm good," Lewis said. "I feel really good, hopefully playing barring injury… I'm feeling way better."
Lewis' injury has been one of many for the Cowboys defense this season. There's no excuse for the way they're playing, but missing key players at different points of the year for extended periods of time isn't easy to adjust to. And yet, they've just got to find a way to do it.
"You always have plans for your guys like Micah and D-Law… it's kind of hard to adjust, especially midseason it's always tough," Lewis said. "But that's our job, our job is to execute and play good ball, and that's the bottom line of it."
Injuries have forced adjustments for defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer too, whose hand has been forced to put in younger players because veteran players like DaRon Bland, Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Eric Kendricks have all been unavailable at some point during the season.
"It gives them opportunities to play," Zimmer said. "It's not like we're trying to integrate young guys, it's guys need to go in there and go play."
That has also led to Zimmer testing out some different looks and fronts in his defense, trying to mix things up and give opposing offenses new looks. Lewis is a fan of the change, but knows they need to put everything together better if they want to yield positive results.
"He's definitely mixing it up and I appreciate him for that…" Lewis said "We just definitely got to believe in it for four quarters, that's the bottom line, we've got to go out there and execute."
The Cowboys defense struggled at the book ends of the game, allowing a combined 28 points in the first and fourth quarters to the Texans compared to six in the second and third.
Next, Dallas heads on the road to Washington to face off against a familiar face in former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and former Cowboys pass game coordinator/secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr. In their first season together in Washington, the Commanders and are 7-4 overall and sit in second place in the NFC East. While there's a lot of respect for Quinn amongst his former players in Dallas, Lewis knows the Cowboys have to play with a chip on their shoulder on Sunday.
"We got to go out there and play with some pride number one," Lewis said. "Regardless of whoever has what scheme and how we feel about somebody."
