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Report: Dak Prescott’s hamstring tendon partially tore off the bone
Jane Slater of NFL Media reports that the initial diagnosis is a partial avulsion of his hamstring tendon, which is the tendon partially tearing off the bone. The recovery time typically is more than four weeks, which is the minimum stay required for an injured reserve stint.
Prescott is seeking other opinions, per Slater, before the Cowboys make a decision on whether to place the quarterback on IR. It is not yet known whether he will require surgery.
In some cases, the injury is allowed to scar over, repair and then strengthen. It is unknown where in the hamstring the injury is. Lower in the hamstring, around the knee, heals quicker than higher in the hamstring, near the glute.
Big Blue View
Giants-Panthers: ‘Things I think’ entering Week 10 — Daniel Jones, trade deadline, more
This has already been an eventful week
Daniel Jones’ last stand?
Daniel Jones is coming off his best game of the season. His best game, in fact, since 2022. Yet, the reality of where the Giants are in their season and where Jones is in his career, mean that Sunday in Munich, Germany could mark the final start of Jones’ career as Giants quarterback.
The Giants and Panthers have identical 2-7 records, yet the Giants are a significant favorite when it comes to the betting odds. This has always been a game the Giants were expected to win.
If they don’t, they will be 2-8 heading into their bye week. It will be difficult at that point for head coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen to justify starting Jones at MetLife Stadium Week 12 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The season will clearly be over in terms of competing for a playoff spot. It already is, of course, but even the Giants will have to admit that if they can’t beat the Panthers. It is clear that the Jones-Giants marriage has run its course and that the Giants need a new plan at quarterback.
It is a huge financial risk for the Giants to continue to play Jones when the outcome of the 2024 season, and when we know what has to happen when it’s done, are already all but certain.
The Nick McCloud release
The NFL is a harsh business sometimes. The Giants lost Nick McCloud on Tuesday because they needed the $1.404 million in cap savings they got from cutting him more than they needed player.
Fact is, per Over the Cap the Giants were down to $1.166 million in salary space, last in the league. No chance they make it to the finish line of the season with that miniscule amount of money, so they had to do something.
McCloud was playing on a non-guaranteed one-year, $2.985 million contract. Multiple reports indicated that the Giants have been trying to get McCloud to accept a pay cut for weeks now. He refused. The Giants, with few other options to save a few pennies, cut him.
I can’t blame McCloud for standing his ground. No one likes to take a pay cut, and he was being paid what his RFA tender said he was worth. I can’t blame Schoen for the decision, either. He has to have money to operate.
What I can do is wonder how the Giants, with Schoen having had three offseasons to dig out from the cap disaster former GM Dave Gettleman left him with, is still not out from under it.
Bleeding Green Nation
Saquon Barkley is NFC Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season
The Eagles’ star running back has basically been unstoppable.
Saquon Barkley is NFC Offensive Player of the Week for Week 9 of the 2024 NFL season, according to an official league announcement.
Honestly, he deserved this just for the play where he broke two tackles and then jumped over a Jacksonville Jaguars defender BACKWARDS alone. All told, he had 27 carries for 159 yards (5.9 average) and one rushing touchdown … plus three catches for 40 yards and one receiving touchdown in the Eagles’ most recent win.
This marks the third time Barkley is taking home the NFC POTW award this season. He was previously honored in Week 1 and Week 7.
Barkley has now won NFC POTW six times in his career. So, that means he had three in six seasons with the New York Giants … before having three in just eight games with the Philadelphia Eagles. Pretty wild just how good he’s been!
Blogging the Boys
Position battleground (offense): Cowboys vs. Eagles head-to-head breakdown
The Eagles offense is finding itself right now which is highly annoying.
QUARTERBACK
Cooper Rush/Trey Lance vs. Jalen Hurts
There’s no sugarcoating things this week, the quarterback position for Dallas has more questions than ever before.
This isn’t hard to decipher this week. One team is playing a backup quarterback, the other is starting a quarterback that has helped deliver a 6-2 record this season so far.
RUNNING BACK
Rico Dowdle/Dalvin Cook vs. Saquon Barkley/Kenneth Gainwell
Barkley ranks fourth in the league with six rushing touchdowns. He did experience back issues after the game so keep an eye on his name during practice reports.
This is a huge mismatch and that’s without counting the rushing threat of Hurts. The Eagles are second in the league in rush yards per game, the Cowboys defense rank third-worst in rush yards allowed.
WIDE RECEIVERS
CeeDee Lamb/Jalen Tolbert/KaVontae Turpin vs. A.J. Brown/DeVonta Smith/Jahan Dotson
The Cowboys decided to make a deal and trade with the Carolina Panthers for wide receiver Jonathan Mingo. They sent a fourth-round pick for the second-year receiver to help add weapons to the offense. The timing of the trade is confusing considering Dak has just been sent to IR, and the fourth-round price tag is extremely steep.
Neither Eagles receiver is close to matching Lambs production at the moment but both of them combined are a better WR1/2 duo than what Dallas currently has. Add in the fact the Cowboys will be playing with a backup quarterback, and that will affect the production of the wide receivers.
TIGHT END
Jake Ferguson vs. Dallas Goedert
Dallas Goedert hasn’t played since Week 5 for the Eagles after injuring his hamstring.
If Goedert is out then Ferguson wins this round. But there is one point to note here, the Eagles have yet to allow a tight end to score against them and Ferguson has zero touchdowns this year.
OFFENSIVE LINE
This Cowboys offensive line is in serious trouble, we mean stupendously serious trouble. They faced the worst statistical defensive line in the NFL last week and failed.
The Eagles are a very physical and mobile offensive line, and will look manhandle the inside defensive line from Dallas that has trouble out-muscling anything this season.
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Why Caleb Williams, Bears’ offense struggle
The Chicago Bears avoided disaster in the final moments of Sunday’s 29-9 loss to the Arizona Cardinals when rookie quarterback Caleb Williams limped off the field with an injured left ankle.
Williams said postgame that he was OK, but keeping the potential franchise quarterback in the last stages of a blowout raised some eyebrows. Williams said it wasn’t his decision to stay in, and coach Matt Eberflus said Williams was “just getting work and getting timing on the two-minute operation.”
It was noted that Williams was in there without his starting two tackles, who were hurt, and Eberflus responded: “The starters were left in the game because we’re going to fight to the end.”
Williams has been sacked 29 times, third most in the league. He is on pace to be sacked 62 times this season, which would be tied for the sixth most in NFL history.
Arizona had Williams under duress by pressuring him on 21 of his 50 dropbacks (42%). It led to six sacks, including on three consecutive plays.
A week prior, it was even worse. Washington pressured Williams on 63% of his dropbacks, the highest pressure rate he’s faced this season. He went 5-of-13 passing for 86 yards with two sacks and five scrambles.
Pro Football Focus
2024 NFL offensive line rankings ahead of Week 10
We will be monitoring NFL offensive line play all season long while highlighting the biggest weak-link players for each group. With Week 9 of the 2024 NFL regular season in the books, here are the weekly rankings and each unit’s best player.
Commanders crack the top 10: Washington is up three spots this week to No. 8 after surrendering four pressures and no sacks or quarterback hits in a win over the Giants.
7. Philadelphia Eagles (Up 2)
Projected Week 10 starters:
- LT Fred Johnson
- LG Landon Dickerson
- C Cam Jurgens
- RG Mekhi Becton
- RT Lane Johnson
Right guard Mekhi Becton not only returned to action following his injury, but he also played arguably the best game of his season. The former New York Jets offensive tackle earned a 94.1 PFF overall grade, which led all NFL offensive linemen this week.
While he endured some struggles in pass protection earlier in the campaign, guard Landon Dickerson was excellent on pass plays against the Jaguars in Week 9. Dickerson did not allow a single pressure and was not beaten once in the Eagles’ win over Jacksonville, leading to an 89.3 PFF pass-blocking grade that ranked second among guards in Week 9.
Best player: Lane Johnson
Johnson was at his best in Week 9 against Jacksonville, posting a 90.5 PFF overall grade to pace all NFL offensive tackles.
8. Washington Commanders (Up 3)
Projected Week 10 starters:
- LT Brandon Coleman
- LG Nick Allegretti
- C Tyler Biadasz
- RG Sam Cosmi
- RT Andrew Wylie
Washington’s offensive line put together a strong game in pass protection in Week 9. The unit surrendered four pressures and no sacks or quarterback hits in the team’s win over the Giants. As a result, their 92.0 PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating ranked seventh in the NFL in Week 9.
Rookie left tackle Brandon Coleman played the best game of his young career, as he did not allow a single pressure and was not beaten once against the Giants. His 89.2 PFF pass-blocking grade ranked fifth among offensive tackles in the NFL in Week 9.
Best player: Sam Cosmi
Cosmi has allowed pressure on 3.9% of pass plays this season — a career-best rate.
19. Dallas Cowboys (Up 2)
Projected Week 10 starters:
- LT Tyler Guyton
- LG Tyler Smith
- C Cooper Beebe
- RG Zack Martin
- RT Terence Steele
Rookie center Cooper Beebe struggled in pass protection in the Cowboys’ loss to the Falcons. He let up three pressures and earned a 35.9 PFF pass-blocking grade, the lowest mark on Dallas’ offensive line.
On the other hand, right tackle Terence Steele allowed just two pressures on 59 pass plays, albeit one of which turned into a sack. He recorded a team-high 81.7 PFF pass-blocking grade for his efforts.
Best player: Tyler Smith
While he allowed just four pressures in his first four games this season, Smith has surrendered 11 in the four games since.
29. New York Giants (Down 1)
Projected Week 10 starters:
The Giants’ offensive line rebounded following a rough game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In Week 9, the unit allowed just six pressures on 29 dropbacks against the Commanders. As a result, they earned an 87.9 PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating, which ranked 13th in the NFL.
Center John Michael Schmitz Jr. allowed pressure on 6.6% of pass plays as a rookie but has done so on just 4.9% of pass plays this season.
Best player: Greg Van Roten
Van Roten was the only Giants offensive lineman to earn a 60.0-plus PFF overall grade in Week 9 (67.0).
Pro Football Focus
2024 NFL quarterback rankings ahead of Week 10
A look at big-time throws and turnover-worthy plays
Before we get to the updated weekly rankings, let’s look at the big-time throw and turnover-worthy play rates for the season so far.
As discussed in a recent article on the topic, PFF grades on a plus/minus scale, in which players are rewarded for positive plays above expectation and penalized for negative plays in increments of 0.5. Throws graded at the higher end of PFF’s scale (+1.0, +1.5, and +2.0) are categorized as big-time throws. The lower range of the scale (-1.0, -1.5, and -2.0) are classified as turnover-worthy plays.
The chart below can be divided into four quadrants:
• The top left shows quarterbacks with a high turnover-worthy play rate and low big-time throw rate — those struggling to protect the ball while doing little to mitigate the risks.
• The top right quadrant includes QBs with high big-time throw and turnover-worthy play rates, those who “live by the sword and die by the sword.”
• At the bottom left, we find the “Alex Smith zone,” populated by safe quarterbacks with low rates in both categories.
• The bottom right is the sweet spot — quarterbacks with a high big-time throw rate and low turnover-worthy play rate, exactly where every passer wants to be.
Week 10 Quarterback rankings
