FRISCO, Texas – So here they go, the Dallas Cowboys looking for two wins in a row for the first time since Dec. 18 and 26 of last season. This win one, lose one, win one, lose two, win one just isn't going to cut it, especially with the Philadelphia Eagles streaking off to a 6-1 start and the 3-3 Cowboys having to wait until Nov. 19 to have any say in their matter.
Time to get their groove on for sure, and no better place to start than Sunday at FedExField against the Washington Redskins, stuck in a similar 3-3 rut, doing the win-lose, win-lose dance the past four weeks. So let's take a closer mid-week look.
- Now you might think the Cowboys have it bad, having lost kicker Dan Bailey to a groin injury the second quarter of the win over San Francisco this past Sunday, forcing them to sign available 12-year veteran Mike Nugent on Tuesday. Well the Redskins might just have it worse, having placed their kicker, Dustin Hopkins, on injured reserve with a severely strained hip muscle on Oct. 18 and signing first-year kicker Nick Rose of Dallas (Highland Park High School). Rose hit all three of his extra points in the loss to the Eagles and his lone field-goal attempt from 27 yards. Plus, the Redskins are so beat up, head coach Jay Gruden decided to call off Wednesday's practice after the Monday night game. When asked the state of his offensive line, Gruden deadpanned, "That's a great question," knowing four-fifths of his starters are suffering some sort of injury, making their availability for Sunday's game quite questionable.
- Now this is only an estimation from the Redskins since they did not practice Wednesday, but 13 players were listed as either limited or did not practice had they practiced. And they already had three other players on reserve lists, including first-round pick Jonathan Allen, linebacker Trent Murphy and corner DeAngelo Hall (PUP). Other than Bailey, the Cowboys rested Tyron Smith but held Kyle Wilber and Chidobe Awuzie out.
- When Gruden was asked about Dez Bryant's numbers being down – 28 catches for 327 yards in six games – he was like, are you serious? "Fantasy football numbers and stats put a cloud over players," he said. "He's still one of the top red-zone players in the league."
- Dak Prescott's QB rating is 98.2, ranking 8th in the NFL. Had those two dropped passes that turned into interceptions had just been just caught, as they should have been, his QB rating would be 103.1, almost identical to Aaron Rodgers' 103.2.
- Not since the final four games of the 2014 season had the Cowboys strung together at least 30 points in three consecutive games as they have now with 30, 31 and 40, upping their scoring average to 27.5 points a game after six games, slightly better than last season's 26.2.
