The Jets will be seeking their first win of the Aaron Glenn era at home on Sunday against the 1-2-1 Dallas Cowboys. Dallas boasts the league\u2019s number one offense but their only win came in overtime against the Giants. Can New York\u2019s other team have more success than their cross-town rivals?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s break down the Cowboys roster, going position-by-position:<\/p>\n
After injuries caused him to miss nine games last season, four-time pro bowl quarterback Dak Prescott leads the league\u2019s top passing offense under new head coach Brian Schottenheimer, although two of their games going deep into overtime is a factor in this.<\/p>\n
Prescott has two 300-yard passing days already this season but has thrown three interceptions and fumbled once. The Jets, who are yet to force a turnover yet this season, will be desperate to add to those numbers.<\/p>\n
The backup is Joe Milton, who has thrown just 34 passes in his NFL career, including five since joining Dallas ahead of this season.<\/p>\n
For the third week in a row, the Jets are facing an offensive line that will be seriously undermanned as the three Tylers – Tyler Smith, Tyler Guyton and Tyler Booker – have each been absent from practice all week. Guyton and Booker are already ruled out but Smith is questionable despite not practicing.<\/p>\n
Booker already missed last week\u2019s game with TJ Bass filling in at right guard, but Smith and Guyton each started the first four games so the pack will need to be shuffled again on some level.<\/p>\n
Of the three, the left guard Smith – a two-time pro bowler – would have been the biggest loss but the left tackle Guyton and Booker were their 2024 and 2025 first round picks, so it\u2019s not helpful for their development. Understandably with so many players hurt, the unit as a whole has struggled, especially in pass protection.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys were already without starting center Cooper Beebe, who is on injured reserve, so Brock Hoffman is starting at center. Guard Robert Jones was also placed on injured reserve before the season with a season-ending neck injury. The only day one starter whose status has not been in doubt is right tackle Terrence Steele who gave up nine sacks last season.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s seventh round pick Nathan Thomas has been the first man off the bench and could fill in at tackle, although Hakeem Adeniji has started 15 games in the NFL and is the only experienced player they have available. He has some experience at guard so could be the best option there if Smith can\u2019t go. The other option at guard, unless they elevate someone from the practice squad, is the inexperienced Trevor Keegan.<\/p>\n
Sixth round rookie tackle Ajani Cornelius is also on the roster.<\/p>\n
Dallas signed Javonte Williams for $3.5 million during the offseason and he\u2019s proven to be a bargain so far as he\u2019s averaging five yards per carry and has racked up over 300 rushing yards, four touchdowns and 16 receptions in the first four games.<\/p>\n
Veteran Miles Sanders have been in a reserve role, but he\u2019s been effective too, as he\u2019s averaged almost six yards per carry. Sanders didn\u2019t practice all week due to knee and ankle injuries but hasn\u2019t been ruled out yet.<\/p>\n
Fifth round rookie Jaydon Blue and fullback Hunter Luepke round out the rotation in the backfield.<\/p>\n
CeeDee Lamb is the Cowboys\u2019 top wide receiver but he\u2019s dealing with an ankle injury and won\u2019t play on Sunday. In his absence, George Pickens has stepped up with over 300 receiving yards and four touchdowns and tight end Jake Ferguson was second in the NFL in receptions at the end of week four.<\/p>\n
With speedster KaVontae Turpin also ruled out due to injury, the depth at the wide receiver position is thin. Jalen Tolbert will be the other starter with Ryan Flournoy available as depth. Tolbert proved he can step up when required last season as he racked up over 600 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches despite Prescott missing half the season.<\/p>\n
Dallas also has four receivers on the practice squad, though, with Parris Campbell the most established option. Jonathan Mingo is also eligible to return from injured reserve but is questionable with a knee injury.<\/p>\n
Luke Schoonmaker and Brevyn Spann-Ford will back up Ferguson at tight end.<\/p>\n
Dallas made the decision to trade away all-pro edge rusher Micah Parsons, weakening their pass rush, although they did acquire the three-time pro bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark in the same deal. Clark starts alongside Osa Odighizuwa on the inside. Ex-Jet Solomon Thomas will rotate in with 2023 first round pick Mazi Smith on the defensive interior.<\/p>\n
On the outside the starters are Sam Williams and Dante Fowler, but this is one position where they have solid depth with Jadeveon Clowney, James Houston and Marshawn Kneeland all having plenty of experience. Kneeland suffered an ankle injury at practice on Thursday and has been listed as questionable.<\/p>\n
In Parsons\u2019 absence, Houston is the only player with more than one sack and nobody has more than three quarterback hits or tackles for loss.<\/p>\n
Rookies Jay Toia and Donovan Ezeiruaku are also on the roster. Toia is a defensive tackle who was drafted in the seventh round and Ezeiruaku is a second round pick who plays on the edge.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys\u2019 main linebackers are both new additions as they traded for Kenneth Murray Jr., who plays a full-time role, and signed Jack Sanborn, who is on the field most of the time, in March. Sanborn is their leading tackler after four games. Murray was limited in practice all week and has been listed as questionable.<\/p>\n
Marist Liufau is also listed as a co-starter with Damone Clark and each has played a part-time role on defense so far. Reserve Shemar James has not played on defense yet.<\/p>\n
DeMarvion Overshown would be a major contributor too, but he is still on the PUP list at the moment following last year\u2019s devastating knee injury.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys have some talent at the cornerback positions with former pro bowlers Trevon Diggs and Daron Bland, who plays in the slot. The other starter is former first round pick Kaiir Elam.<\/p>\n
At safety, the starters are Donovan Wilson, who had the team\u2019s only interception so far this season in overtime against the Giants, and veteran Malik Hooker, who is another former first round pick. However, Hooker has been ruled out with an injury.<\/p>\n
When Bland missed some time earlier in the year, Reddy Steward filled in for him off the bench. Rookie Trikweze Bridges has also seen some brief action at cornerback. The third safety has been Juanyeh Thomas, who is the brother of current Jets cornerback Azareye\u2019h Thomas. He will presumably start for Hooker.<\/p>\n
Also on the roster are cornerback CJ Goodwin and safety Markquese Bell. Josh Butler, who started three games at cornerback last season, is on the PUP list and third round rookie Shavon Revel remains on the NFI list.<\/p>\n
The Cowboys have the best kicker in the NFL, with Brandon Aubrey possessing unlimited range and accuracy. The former soccer player has made all 20 of his kicks this season, including a 64-yarder to send the Giants game to overtime, which he followed up with the game-winner.<\/p>\n
The punter is no slouch either as Bryan Anger is a former pro bowler. His numbers so far this year have not been that good, though.<\/p>\n
They will miss Turpin in the return game, as he\u2019s one of the league\u2019s top specialists. Tolbert (on punts) and Sanders (on kickoffs) will back him up with Thomas and Blue also listed as potential return candidates.<\/p>\n
In coverage, Goodwin and Thomas are productive as the primary gunners and reserves like Luepke, Spann-Ford and Clark will also contribute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jets will be seeking their first win of the Aaron Glenn era at home on Sunday against…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":278751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,34012,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-278750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-new-york-jets-news","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115319750446888714","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}