Up next for Dallas is a Monday Night Football game against the Arizona Cardinals. They will go on their bye immediately after, but when they return they will be playing on Monday night once more. That second game will be a road contest against the Las Vegas Raiders and will actually mark the first-ever regular season trip for the Cowboys to Sin City.
Jeremy Chinn was tailor-made for Dan Quinn's schematic concepts. He was fast, physical, and instinctive. There were times when he struggled in coverage, but even this area of his game improved as the campaign progressed. Washington gave Chinn a chance to resurrect his career on a one-year deal after things fizzled out with the Carolina Panthers. He looked like a player reborn, gaining 117 tackles throughout a season that finally put him back on the map.
No matter how many suitors line up for Crosby's services, it sounds like the Raiders refuse to budge. Perhaps best of all for the franchise, Pelissero notes that Crosby wants to stick with the Raiders. While the edge rusher has a strong desire to win, he wants that to happen in Las Vegas. Of course, the player previously showed his commitment to the franchise when he inked a three-year, $106.5MM extension this past offseason.
When you get in the second half, that skews. But we had 25 attempts last week in the game (a 40-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts). There was real balance in the first half of the football game when it was a close game. I think it gets out of hand, so when you look at some of the numbers, I think we had 25 rushing attempts and 36 passing attempts at the end of the day. But in the first half, it was really even.
It won't be all about keeping Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby quiet. Not when the Raiders have a hidden gem up front who's been causing havoc in the pocket through two games. Defensive tackle Jonah Laulu is a beefy and disruptive force for sub-package defenses in passing situations. He has the size and skills to wreck the Commanders' offensive line, which has been far from impressive so far.
Los Angeles Chargers outside linebacker Khalil Mack was ruled out of Monday night's game against the Las Vegas Raiders after sustaining an elbow injury in the first quarter that appeared to leave him in significant pain. Mack attempted a tackle in the first quarter when his hand was caught between Chargers linebacker Troy Dye and Raiders wide receiver Tre Tucker, turning his elbow into an awkward position. Mack jogged off the field holding his left hand, stopped on the sideline, and bent over in pain before heading to the locker room.
I don't think there was really a big reaction. Every team, every year is different. There's obviously a lot of people on a lot of teams in the league that we all have familiarity with and know well. Certainly there's still some people there that I know well and have relationships with that hopefully we'll have forever. Just excited for our opportunity.
