FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys enter week nine preparing to host the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers at AT&T Stadium and will have their fourth quarterback this season under center.
The two storied franchises have not met since the 2016 matchup and to date, both are moving in opposite directions.
Andy Dalton has been placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list and the Cowboys will be without the veteran backup on Sunday. The Cowboys were hopeful he would be cleared to return from concussion protocol and take the reigns back from Ben DiNucci, but due to a series of unfortunate events, that is obviously not what ensued. There will be an open competition between Cooper Rush and Garrett Gilbert for the vacant starting quarterback role.
Mike McCarthy hopes the decision will be made by Saturday as the staff takes the “full week” of practice to evaluate both Rush and Gilbert getting reps with the first-team offense. The determining factor according to McCarthy between the two will be based on “ rhythm, continuity, and command” of the offense.
The Cowboys’ defense made strides against Philadelphia in week eight with four takeaways, but the offense struggled. Even with Moore’s dialed up trick plays, the unit could not reach the end zone for the second-consecutive game. DiNucci held onto the ball too long and bluntly as owner and general manager Jerry Jones put it on 105.3 The Fan, “ It was frankly more than he could handle.”
Throwing the football will not be a winning strategy with a backup to the backup’s backup (you get the picture) and the Cowboys will have to have success on the ground running the football with Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. The club will need to get the running game going on first and second down, as well as open up the play-action game to create more opportunities.
The Cowboys accumulated 133 rushing yards against the Eagles, the highest rushing total since week one against the Rams. Zack Martin’s return in the lineup made a drastic difference in helping control the line of scrimmage to create seams for Pollard and Elliott.
Mike Tomlin is keeping an eye on Elliott and noted earlier in the week, “ We’re preparing with the understanding that we have to deal with Ezekiel Elliott this weekend, and we understand what that means…I have a lot of respect for Ezekiel Elliott. He’s an elite, elite running back, arguably the best in the business: his vision, his balance, his power on contact.”
Elliott and co. will certainly have their hands full facing Pittsburgh’s stellar defensive unit. Their 3-4 front centers around the production of outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree. The dynamic tandem is not only one of the best pass-rush duos in the league but Watt and Dupree are also great run defenders that offense’s have to game plan around. They have a combined 12.5 sacks and Watt has the most pressures among edge defenders (39) and has a 27% pass-rush win rate, the highest by an edge defender through week 8 since 2015 per Pro Football Focus.
On the dynamic pair, Elliott told D210SPORTS, “ They got, Watt and Dupree on the outside. They’re high energy, high effort, they’re fast, quick twitch, they play hard, very skilled players throughout that linebacker group so I mean we just got to stay disciplined and do our best to slow those guys down.”
For Dallas’ defense, the team is hopeful cornerback Chidobe Awuzie will be able to go this week against the Steelers. He was not quite ready to start last week as expected and will move into the third week of the 21-day acclimation period (hamstring) from injured reserve. With Ben Roethlisberger and his weapons JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chase Claypool coming to town, the Cowboys will need all the help they can get in the backfield. McCarthy noted Awuzie’s workload on Thursday in practice would determine whether he plays in the week nine matchup or not.
