PERSONNEL NEWS

Strategy And Personnel

The Sports Xchange

October 11, 2018 at 3:02 am.

PLAYER NOTES

–RB Ezekiel Elliott is listed on the injury report with a knee injury. He came up limping after an overtime carry against Houston. But he went through a full practice on Wednesday.

–DE Taco Charlton was limited in practice on Wednesday with a thumb injury. He had one tackle against Houston and left the game due to injury.

–CB Chidobe Awuzie was limited in practice on Wednesday with an ankle injury. He had to come out of the game against Houston due to injury. Jourdan Lewis took his place and came up with a fumble recovery.

–LB Sean Lee reinjured his hamstring and had to come out of the game against the Seahawks in Week 3. Lee didn’t practice last week and was out on Wednesday.

–WR Cole Beasley was limited in practice last week with an ankle injury. He played against Houston and had one catch for eight yards. He went through a full practice on Wednesday.

–DE DeMarcus Lawrence is listed with a shoulder injury and didn’t practice on Wednesday. It’s unclear whether Lawrence’s shoulder injury impacted his zero-sack, one-assisted-tackle performance against Houston.

–DT David Irving has missed the last three practices while dealing with a family issue. Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett said he anticipates Irving practicing on Thursday.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: TE Geoff Swaim caught three passes for 55 yards against the Texans, following up his three catches for 39 yards and first career touchdown the previous week against the Lions. Swaim, with 14 receptions for 159 yards this season, is now Dallas’s third-leading pass-catcher behind wide receiver Cole Beasley and running back Ezekiel Elliott. That’s not enough to make the Cowboys stop missing Jason Witten, but Swaim qualifies as a bright spot for the Dallas passing game.

GAME PLAN: The Cowboys’ stunted development in the passing game means they can’t depend on Dak Prescott picking apart opposing defenses, especially a group as accomplished as the Jaguars’ secondary. So Dallas needs to get creative by involving Tavon Austin in the running game and a heavy dose of Ezekiel Elliott and the tight ends in the passing game. The Cowboys have kick-started Elliott at home and mixed in big plays through the air. They’ll need more of the same against Jacksonville.

On defense, it could be a simple matter of whether or not DeMarcus Lawrence and Co. can rack up a few more sacks. T.J. Yeldon has done a good job of compiling yards both as a runner and receiver, but the Cowboys have shown the ability to take away opponents’ running games. If they do that again, it will be up to Blake Bortles to burn Dallas by hitting receivers, or the Cowboys to drop him.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH

–Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence vs. Jaguars QB Blake Bortles. Lawrence was the NFL sack leader before he was shut out on Sunday in Houston. In fact, Lawrence had just one assisted tackle against the Texans. Lawrence and his defensive line teammates nicknamed themselves the Hot Boyz during training camp, but they were more on the mild side against the Texans. The Cowboys defensive front has to get after Bortles to disrupt the Jaguars passing game for Dallas to have a chance of staying unbeaten at home this season.

–Cowboys QB Dak Prescott vs. Jaguars DBs. Prescott threw two interceptions versus the Texans, both on balls that were slightly off target and then tipped up for defenders to snatch. Those two turnovers proved to be a huge factor in the overtime loss as one stopped a potential scoring drive in Texans territory and the other led to a Houston field goal. The task gets more difficult for Prescott this week as the Jaguars rank third in the NFL in pass defense. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who picked off four passes last season on his way to first-team All-Pro honors, leads the Jacksonville secondary. The Jaguars defensive backs have the potential to make life even more miserable for the Dallas passing game.