December football is in full swing both on the field and on fantasy apps on phones across the world. If you are still rummaging through fantasy football rankings today, odds are you managed to lock in a playoff berth in your league. Now, the real work starts, and it is going to take luck and the right moves to move on. In Dallas, the players with the star on their helmets will control the fantasy fate of countless owners.
Hunter Luepke's role in Dallas was meant to be a fullback in the mold of John Kuhn, who played for McCarthy in Green Bay. Over McCarthy's last two years in Dallas, Luepke started in four of the 33 games he played in. He had 18 carries for 57 yards and a touchdown, along with 15 receptions for 129 yards. Not exactly on par with Kuhn's numbers in his hey days with the Packers. But apparently he showed enough.
There may be some vacancies in the Cowboys coaching staff after the season. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has been on a hot seat practically the whole season and even special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen is coming under increased scrutiny. The Cowboys have not been averse to bringing back coaches that have coached in Dallas before. Matt Eberflus (DAL 2011-17) is just the most recent example, but before him Mike Zimmer
Entering Week 15 of the NFL season, the Dallas Cowboys are firmly on the outside looking in when it comes to the NFC playoff picture. But despite a 44-30 loss to the Detroit Lions last Thursday that dropped the team to 6-6-1, the path for the Cowboys to make the playoffs is not as unrealistic as you may think. Simply put, the Philadelphia Eagles' 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night was huge.
Let's be clear, the Cowboys record as of today has very little to do with the lack of Cowboys offense, but one glaring issue has continued to crop up over the last four games. In those games, the Cowboys offense has put up a combined total of 118 points (29.5 PPG). But one area of concern is how often this Cowboys offense is starting off very slow during their scripted play sequence.
I'm not someone who believes in curses, ghosts, witchcraft, or supernatural forces deciding football games. After watching the Dallas Cowboys for the last 30 years, the highs, the heartbreaks, the collapses that always seem to arrive right on schedule. I can't lie: sometimes it feels like this team is fighting more than X's and O's. I'm not saying the Cowboys are literally cursed, but I am saying this franchise plays like a team that's been trying to break one since 1996.
If you haven't been paying attention to how much of a hit the Dallas Cowboys special teams unit has taken this year, maybe you should. When John Fassel left to take the job with the Tennessee Titans, many thought it might be an easy fix, wrong. With how brutal the Cowboys special teams play has been this year, Brian Schottenheimer said today on 103 The Fan that personnel changes may be on the way. The current special teams coordinator is Nick Sorensen.
Lastly, we have Terence Steele, the Cowboys' starting right tackle since essentially the 2020 NFL season. In December 2022, he tore his ACL and MCL in a major knee injury; not even a year later, Dallas gave him a five-year, $86M extension. It was a huge gamble that banked on Steele returning to form. They tied themselves to him until 2028 without seeing him on the field after the injury.
Just when you thought the Dallas Cowboys might go on an improbable run toward the postseason, they were undone on the road against the Detroit Lions. The offense put themselves in a deep hole early and were playing catch-up against one of the league's most potent offenses. The Cowboys put themselves in a high-octane race against Jahmyr Gibbs and the Lions, and unfortunately, they got lapped. With the loss, Dallas' chances of making the playoffs plummeted.
A few fans kept repeating the same idea: Trade the second first-round pick, move out of 25 and pick up a 2nd and 3rd. It didn't matter whether they liked the players I mocked at 14 or 25. It didn't matter how the board fell. The loudest reaction was that Dallas should automatically turn pick 25 into more draft capital. When I pulled up the draft value chart, the numbers told a very different story.
Gibbs ran for three touchdowns, including a 13-yarder with 2:19 left that sealed the Lions' much-needed 44-30 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night. The Lions sacked Dak Prescott five times a week after they had no sacks and lost to Green Bay and had two interceptions and recovered a fumble. You could see an uptick in urgency from everybody, Jared Goff said.
