ARLINGTON, TX – The Dallas Cowboys (2-1) are looking to grab their third straight game this season as they host the Washington Commanders (1-2) on Sunday at noon in AT&T Stadium.
Things to look out for on Sunday afternoon:
Defense:
The Commanders only have one win so far this season after having back-to-back losses to the Detroit Lions and the Philadelphia Eagles. While the Cowboys are coming off two solid wins to a good Bengals team and an undefeated Giants team in MetLife Stadium on Monday night.
The most interesting thing to watch this Sunday afternoon will be the dominant pass rush the Cowboys bring to this Commanders struggling offensive line. Washington has allowed the most sacks so far this season, they gave up nine sacks to the Eagles last game alone. While on the other side of the ball Dallas has the most sacks in the league currently with 13.
Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence are going to have fun on Sunday taking on this offensive line and if my predictions are correct both players will be adding sacks to their rapidly growing stat sheet.
Parsons played on Monday night with a cold and said he was at about 60 percent healthy. He recorded zero sacks in that game but still made a huge impact. He currently leads the league with most pressures after week three with 19. The next closest player is Brian Burns with 17.
The Cowboys defense only allowed 169 net passing yards last night against the Giants. The Cowboys have yet to give up 200 net passing yards in a game this season.
Cooper Rush:
Cooper Rush has exceeded expectations in Dallas as he gets ready for his fourth career start for Dallas this weekend for Week 4. Rush is currently 3-0 on NFL starts in his career and he is looking for his third.
Cooper Rush has 775 passing yards in his first 3 NFL starts. That’s the fourth most passing yards by a Cowboys QB in his first 3 starts behind Gary Hogeboom (905), Tony Romo (862) and Steve Pelluer (838).
Mike McCarthy told us in the press conference on Wednesday afternoon that Rush has been around the system for a long time and knows his teammates very well.
Jerry Jones told 105.3 The Fan that Cooper Rush has “the makeup of a top quarterback, adding, “let me say this he’s certainly playing as well as anybody could’ve expected.”
Michael Gallup:
Michael Gallup was supposed to make his debut back on Monday night football after having that ACL injury in January. He ended up not playing on Monday and it was told it was a gametime decision that was made early Monday morning.
Gallup told us today in the locker room that it was his decision to not suit up. He said he wanted a little bit more time to make sure everything else felt fine. He told us that it’s still a day by day process and he is going to evaluate every day until Sunday and make a decision later this week.
“You know you’re healthy, everything’s good. It’s just mental now. You’ve got to make sure you feel like your old self, so getting to that, that’s the hardest part.” Gallup said.
Mike McCarthy said that the player knows its body best and at the end of the day it is up to the player on if they feel comfortable playing or not.
The Run Game:
The run game was very efficient on Monday night’s game against the Giants. Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott combined for 178 total yards rushing. Mike McCarthy told us that he believes Pollard and Elliott are featured players for the Cowboys and he doesn’t see that changing anytime soon.
“We needed to run the ball better (this year). More importantly, we needed to get more attempts at the plate. We needed to stay committed to it. I think we’ve definitely done that the last 2 weeks. Tony (Pollard) & Zeke (Elliott) are featured players for us. I don’t see us changing.” McCarthy said in Wednesday’s presser.
These two teams will go head to head on Sunday at 12:00 CST.
