The Dallas Cowboys are off to a rough 1-3 start to the season, but no one in the NFC East seems to want to take control of the division. There's a playoff spot up for grabs but the Cowboys received another setback when starting left tackle Tyron Smith suffered another setback with his neck injury and is now reportedly out for the season.
On the daily Locked On Cowboys Podcast, hosts Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool discuss the injury to Tyron Smith and how much it changes the Cowboys season going forward.
Marcus Mosher: The Cowboys did get some bad news on Thursday at their practice, Tyron Smith, who did play in the team's Week 4 game against the Browns, suffered a setback with his neck. As of this recording, no official news has been announced, but it does look like the Cowboys are going to be without Smith for a lengthy period of time. There is also the chance that he misses the entire season. Landon and how big of a setback would that be for this cowboys offense in this team going forward? If they don't have either Tyron Smith or La'El Collins?
Landon McCool: It's a huge setback, for all the reasons that we've brought up all the previous weeks. It just limits what they can do down the field, it limits a portion of the playbook that they probably feel comfortable, depending on the matchups that they're facing that week. There's a reason that Tyron Smith and La'El Collins for that matter are considered to have the best offensive tackles in football because they're very good at their jobs. They're not easily replaceable.
There are lots of opportunities to find ways through scheme to try to protect these guys, to help with specifically pass protection. I think there's a loss there in the run game that I don't know that you're going to be able to get back, even with the guys that you have replacing them even with tight end help. Until the Cowboys can get to a stable situation… you are probably going back into another week with a new combination on the offensive line, a new starting five. I think if anything the real problem is that there's a strong lack of continuity on this offensive line and if the Cowboys could try to find a way to maybe have the same starting five out there from one week to another, maybe they can show some improvement. I think for they're just going to continue to have to play the carousel until they find a five that they're comfortable with for until Tyron gets back, or probably what it sounds like, likely the rest of the season.
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