New Dallas Cowboys receiver Amari Cooper, second from left, practices on Oct. 24 in Frisco, Texas. The Cowboys traded a first-round draft pick to the Oakland Raiders for Cooper on Oct. 22. Dallas hosts the Tennessee Titans tonight with both teams in need of a win.ARLINGTON, Texas – Neither the Tennessee Titans nor the Dallas Cowboys played in the eighth week of the NFL season.
Considering the urgency each team is feeling right now and the work they believed had to be done before and after the open date, calling it an off week hardly seems appropriate.
The Cowboys lost their previous game, 20-17 to the Washington Redskins on Oct. 21, and the next day they traded a first-round draft pick to the Oakland Raiders for receiver Amari Cooper, who is expected to become a much-needed top-level target for quarterback Dak Prescott.
This past Monday, Dallas fired offensive line coach Paul Alexander, a former longtime Cincinnati Bengals assistant, less than halfway into his first season with the Cowboys.
There’s little question about the message owner and general manager Jerry Jones is sending as the Cowboys try to keep this season’s perfect home record intact to offset their winless road mark tonight as the Titans visit. Both teams are 3-4, with Tennessee having lost three in a row and Dallas yet to win back-to-back games this year.
“We’re more urgent because we’ve dug a hole here,” Jones said on his radio show this past week. “In order to really be where we want to be . in the playoffs, then we’ve got to be pretty strong in our success here. We don’t have time here. We don’t have the room to wiggle here.”
The trade for Cooper, the former Alabama star who in four pro seasons has 225 catches for 3,183 yards and 19 touchdowns, was deemed necessary because Dallas receivers simply haven’t made the big plays the coaching staff and front office hoped would still be there despite the offseason release of Dez Bryant in a cost-cutting move.
Marc Colombo, a former Cowboys offensive tackle, was promoted from assistant offensive line coach to head of the position group in the wake of Alexander’s firing. That move came because a front that has been among the NFL’s best for several years simply hasn’t been as good without Travis Frederick. The four-time Pro Bowl center hasn’t played this season and remains out indefinitely with a nerve disorder.
Now it’s time to see how some midseason upheaval, which included bringing retired former offensive line coach Hudson Houck out of retirement to help Colombo, translates to the field.
“I don’t think it’ll be that much of a change,” Cowboys right tackle La’el Collins said. “It’s more so just us being able to do a lot of different things that we’ve done in the past, just kind of getting back to us playing at a high level and being more effective.”
The Titans’ open date was preceded by a loss, but quarterback Marcus Mariota had a bounce-back performance in the 20-19 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in London. A week after being sacked 11 times by the Baltimore Ravens, Mariota had a season-best 75 percent completion rate, hitting on 24 of 32 passes for 237 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Still, the Titans have the 30th-ranked offense and passing game in the NFL this season. The Cowboys aren’t much better at 28th and 29th.
“I think everybody across the offense has a sense of urgency,” said Mariota, a fourth-year pro who turned 25 this past Tuesday. “If we can carry that throughout the entirety of a game, I think we can be efficient. We can do well on third downs. We can score touchdowns.”
The Titans’ rushing offense ranks 19th in the league. Running backs Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis, who have split playing time, both have averaged less than 4 yards per carry. Tennessee signed Jalston Fowler on Tuesday, bringing back the fullback who played for them the past three seasons, and coach Mike Vrabel made it clear the Titans want to run the ball better.
Defense has been a stronger suit for both teams. Dallas has given up an average of just 17.6 points per game this season, second in the league and one spot ahead of Tennessee at 18.1. The Titans are the NFL’s best inside an opponent’s 20-yard line, while the Cowboys are second.
“It’s going to be the battle of the red zone,” Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard said. “Bend but don’t break. That’s been our mentality on defense.”