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In a surprise twist just hours before their Sunday Night Football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle arrived at Levi's Stadium feeling sick and was declared inactive. Dalvin Cook, elevated from the practice squad just days ago, will make his Cowboys debut and likely be forced into a larger role alongside Ezekiel Elliott, per NFL insider Tom Pelissero.
Earlier in the month, head coach Mike McCarthy expressed some optimism about Cook's ability to contribute to the offense eventually.
“[Cook] took some reps yesterday in the team periods, so we're definitely moving him forward,” he said. “But the other part of it, too, is I think Rico and [Elliott] they haven't been given a lot of opportunities too, so it isn't like they haven't done anything to warrant their opportunities decreasing right now.
It's a great place to be. It gives us excellent depth. That's a hell of a situation to be in.”
Cook last played in last year's playoffs with the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round. He saw eight carries for 23 yards. Cook began the season with the New York Jets but only played more than 20 snaps in Week 1, when he carried the ball 13 times for just 33 yards.
The 29-year-old hasn't scored a touchdown since December 2022 or had a 100-yard game since November 2022.
Cowboys' one-dimensional offense continues to be exposed
With defenses selling out to defend the pass, Dallas just can't have the same success. A hidden stat from their blowout loss two weeks ago against the Detroit Lions was that Prescott was sacked on just over 10% of dropbacks. Add two interceptions to that, and it's clear the Cowboys must find a way to fix their running game.
FOX's NFL broadcaster Troy Aikman laid into the Cowboys' offense and CeeDee Lamb appeared to take it to heart.
“As a leader, I take it in,” Lamb said. “We got to work. I use it as a building block. If you say our routes are lazy, I'm going to go out here every week and show you my routes. Personally, I take that as constructive criticism.”
“If we can control it, let's go work at it and get better at it. I'm a hard worker. So anything you say that I'm not doing, I'm going to show you that I am doing it.”
Meanwhile, head coach Mike McCarthy dismissed the statements as meaningless. That speaks volumes about the differences between McCarthy and a man like Lamb.
“They don't carry any weight with me because I watch all the tape, I get to go to the meetings, I'm at practice, I'm part of the games,” McCarthy said. “So I have a clear understanding of what and where. Troy's statement in particular, I don't agree with the word selection.”
The Cowboys are in San Francisco to face the 49ers in Week 8.
