PLAYER NOTES
–LB Sean Lee left the Giants game with tightness in his hamstring. He didn’t practice on Wednesday. Head coach Jason Garrett pointed out in subsequent press conferences that Lee did return to action on an onside kick play. The coach added that in a closer game, Lee might have been on the field. Instead, first-round draft pick Leighton Vander Esch upped his number of snaps and finished with seven tackles, all solo.
–DE Randy Gregory went through a full practice on Wednesday. He didn’t play against the Giants after entering the league’s concussion protocol in the season opener versus the Panthers.
–S Xavier Woods hasn’t played in the first two games due to a hamstring injury. Woods, who practiced on a limited basis on Wednesday, could be close to returning to the lineup as he was expected to be out 4-8 weeks from the middle of August.
–DT Maliek Collins has an apparently minor knee injury, and was limited to one tackle versus the Giants. He didn’t practice on Wednesday.
–DT Datone Jones hasn’t played yet this season due to a knee injury. He went through a full practice on Wednesday.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: DE Taco Charlton had his best game as a Cowboy in his two seasons in the NFL as he posted a sack and two tackles-for-losses in the win over the Giants. Charlton didn’t start a game last year and had just 15 tackles on the season, but he’s started both games this season and has four tackles and a fumble recovery.
GAME PLAN: The preseason idea that having Ezekiel Elliott full-go this season was going to open up the passing game has pretty much done a 180. The reality is that the Cowboys need Dak Prescott to find open receivers as well as get outside the pocket and run in order to give Elliott more room to run. That applies this week as Dallas will try to exploit the Seahawks secondary.
Dallas has given up 14.5 point per game through the first two weeks of the season against the Panthers and Giants. The Seahawks offensive weapons don’t seem as threatening as either of the Cowboys’ first two opponents. That means there will be a high bar for Dallas’s ability to shut down the Seahawks. The Cowboys’ best bet is to make Russell Wilson one-dimensional by keeping him in the pocket.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “I think we’re really close. Really close to where we need to be. We’re just like one block, one man away from hitting some big ones.” — Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott on creating big plays in the running game.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Cowboys DBs vs. Seahawks QB Russell Wilson. The Dallas secondary held the Giants to 6.3 yards per passing attempt, so Cowboys DBs Byron Jones, Chidobe Awuzie, Kavon Frazier and Jeff Heath did a good job of limiting big plays from Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard and Co. The Dallas DBs need to keep it up versus Doug Baldwin (if he plays), Tyler Lockett, Brandon Marshall, et al.
–Cowboys QB Dak Prescott vs. Seahawks secondary. Prescott completed 16 of 25 passes last week for 160 yards and a touchdown versus the Giants. Although his passer rating was just 77.9, he connected with seven different targets and directed an efficient-at-times offense. The Seattle secondary isn’t as scary as it used to be, but will Prescott be able to exploit it?
