FRISCO, Texas- The Dallas Cowboys’ injury list is looking better and better headed into Sunday’s NFC matchup against the Green Bay Packers.
Wide out Michael Gallup practiced for the third-straight day on Friday and is progressing nicely, on track to play Sunday. Right tackle La’el Collins (back) practiced for the first time this week today and participated in individual drills at the beginning portion of practice. Collins is expected to play on Sunday barring any issues and left tackle Tyron Smith (ankle) did not practice on Friday. Smith will not play against Green Bay. Cameron Fleming will take his spot in the lineup and will protect Dak Prescott’s blind spot. He will have a critical role in the game with the Packers’ pass rush ability. Their defense is ranked third in the league against the pass.
The Packers have struggled throughout the 2019 season in stopping the run and with Dallas’ offensive line injuries, the green and gold will no doubt stack the box with eight-man fronts and a variety of blitzes to create penetration.
I spoke with Jason Garrett on anticipating eight-man fronts and he remarked, “ You gotta see how they want to play it. They have shown a lot of that during the year, they have also shown where they play coverage. They do a variety of things both in the base and the nickel, so you have to be on your toes for all that stuff. They have good players on all three levels of their defense so we certainly respect them and recognize what the challenge is. “
The performance of the Cowboys’ offensive line will be a game changing factor as the team’s old nemesis comes to town. Dallas’ o-line has only allowed 3.0 sacks on 127 pass attempts through four games in 2019, the third-lowest sack rate in the league at 2.4%. They will need another stellar performance at the line of scrimmage in week five.
