The message this week from the Dallas Cowboys has been that although the no-show against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday was disappointing, the plan is to spend time learning from it and moving forward. As defensive coordinator Dan Quinn put it: “We’re not going to let this game beat us twice.”
Though Quinn and the Cowboys can mentally move on, some players physically won’t be part of the solution.
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The Cowboys suffered injuries in every phase of the game, some that create a massive void that will be hard to fill. One of the headliners was linebacker Leighton Vander Esch, who went down with a neck injury. Though neck injuries are a serious matter for anybody, it’s especially concerning in Vander Esch’s case, given his history with neck injuries.
“It’s a challenge,” Quinn said. “Certainly, Damone (Clark) stepping up and having a big piece of that to go. We’ll have others that will have to do that, including Micah (Parsons), in that space.”
Vander Esch wears the green dot on his helmet — he’s the communicator on the field for the defense. That responsibility is expected to go to Jayron Kearse or Malik Hooker. Both have had reps in that position, but it will require adjustments for the entire defense when the play caller on the field is in the secondary instead of a linebacker on the second level.
The biggest adjustment will have to come in between the whistles. Not only has Vander Esch been a solid player but also he plays a position that is arguably the thinnest on the Cowboys’ roster. In terms of true linebackers, Clark is the only pure linebacker on the roster without Vander Esch. The Cowboys have options to compensate, including using Parsons more off the ball as a linebacker instead of an edge, as well as Markquese Bell, whom the Cowboys converted from safety to linebacker coming out of training camp.
But after losing DeMarvion Overshown in the preseason and now Vander Esch for the foreseeable future, the Cowboys will have to look to options that weren’t part of the plan. Those include external solutions such as first-round pick Rashaan Evans, whom they worked out, and internal elevations such as Malik Jefferson.
“It’ll be tough to replace Leighton,” Kearse said. “He’s been coaching those young guys up. They look up to Leighton and Leighton has been a tremendous leader for us, helping us on the back end, helping the guys on the front. I know it’s going to be tough to replace him, but it’s the same way it was when we lost (Trevon Diggs). Next man up. We’ve just got to be able to duplicate what those guys bring to the defense.
“I believe we have the right guys in place to do it. We just have to go out and do it. At this point in the season right now, especially after that (loss), there’s not really much talking that a lot of us can do. We just got to get out there and play football.”
Because the Cowboys play the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night, they have an extra day to prepare for that game, then have a bye week the next weekend, which should buy time to get the replacement options as up to speed as possible.
Though losing Vander Esch is a tough blow for the defense, especially after losing Diggs a few weeks ago, that unit still has some of its top playmakers, such as Parsons, Kearse, DaRon Bland and Stephon Gilmore. The special teams unit was dealt a more significant blow, losing its leader and top playmaker, C.J. Goodwin, to a torn pectoral muscle. Goodwin will be out for a while, and given the nature of the injury, there’s a strong chance his season is over.
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“I can’t describe how big of a loss that is,” special teams coordinator John Fassel said. “On the game field, of course you guys see that, but gosh, everything else he does, Monday through Saturday — meeting rooms, practice fields, mentorship. And he’ll still do that, but we’ll miss him on Sundays. That’s a hard one to just say, ‘Hey, you do this job’ because he’s just different. He’s very special. He’s very special. Very special. That one hurts.”
Goodwin played an integral, if not underrated, role in the Cowboys’ season’s start with a boom. It was one of many examples of how his impact off the field and play on the field became the bedrock for special teams. Injuries on offense and defense usually have a trickle-down effect to special teams. For example, Bell suddenly becomes much more important on defense and Fassel will be tasked with a lot of plug-and-play in different areas, even if it isn’t as chaotic with time to plan as it was against the 49ers.
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“The game (Sunday) was one of the harder games I’ve been through, just as far as configuring 11 guys on the field,” Fassel said. “Losing C.J., you have to pull from somewhere, and then wherever you pull from, you have to replace there. It’s just a domino effect, like when does this end? Losing (KaVontae) Turpin, we had to use a blocker to go return the kicks so it was kind of a double whammy right there.”
Turpin’s injury isn’t believed to be as serious as Vander Esch’s and Goodwin’s, and Turpin’s role is easier to replace one-for-one as well. Deuce Vaughn will likely get the call on kickoff and punt returns, but Fassel said Rico Dowdle and Juanyeh Thomas could be in the mix as well.
Though the obvious step in replacing the injured players is with the next players up, the Cowboys are going to have to get more from their established talents than they have been getting. Parsons has to diversify his role and limit the instances when his tangible impact on the game fades, as it did Sunday. The defensive line has to be better for the linebackers behind them to shoot gaps and fill holes without having to make more complex plays and overcompensating.
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The offense also needs to pick up the slack. The defense isn’t suddenly off the hook, but the reality is, through five weeks, they have lost an All-Pro cornerback and a starting field general linebacker. Special teams has lost its ace. Some growing pains might be on the way for those two units, so the offense, which is trending the other direction and has every starter available, has to do more to help, whether it’s simply scoring more points or, at the least, winning time of possession and field-position battles.
The Cowboys were at just about their healthiest entering the 49ers matchup and they lost by 32 points. They won’t be playing the 49ers every week, but if they are to follow through on their mission to not let the aftermath of that game linger, they’re going to have to do more than just mentally move forward.
(Top photo of Malik Hooker, Deebo Samuel and Damone Clark: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
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