Dallas Cowboys: 3 players whose stock rose Week 2, and 2 who fell

In Week 2 the Dallas Cowboys managed to rebound nicely from their thrilling, but ultimately disappointing loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. By and large, this week’s victory over the Los Angles Chargers wasn’t quite the edge-of-your-seat shoot-out that fans saw in Week 1, but it was a very solid team win against a good opponent.

Just like last week, it’s time to play stock up/stock down with five Cowboys:

Dallas Cowboys Stock Up: T, Terence Steele

When it was announced that second-year tackle Terence Steele would start in place of the suspended La’el Collins, many Cowboys fans were understandably terrified.

Steele showed some signs of improvement towards the end of last season, but all too frequently he functioned as a human turnstile. Let’s just say that heading into Sunday, the less we heard Tony Romo and Jim Nantz say Steele’s name the better.

This week Steele drew the matchup against Joey Bosa, one of the best edge rushers in football, and managed to keep him relatively quiet all afternoon. Bosa finished the game with no sacks and just three tackles. Hopefully, Steele’s performance is a sign of things to come as he looks to hold down the fort until Collins returns.

Dallas Cowboys Stock Down: Special Teams Coach, John Fassel

When Mike McCarthy brought special teams coach John Fassel to the Cowboys from the Los Angeles Rams, I was pretty ecstatic. Fassel has always had a reputation as one of the more aggressive and innovative specials teams coaches in football, and with that phase of the game often feeling like an afterthought under Jason Garrett, I was hoping he would be a massive upgrade. So far he’s left a lot to be desired.

Last week there was the ill-advised and random 60-yard field goal attempt at the end of the first half. This week it was the utterly bizarre decision to send an all-out block against a Chargers’ punt at the two-minute warning in the second quarter. The block attempt led to a roughing of the kicker penalty that extended Los Angeles’ drive and ultimately ended in a missed field goal.

Even if the Cowboys hadn’t been flagged on the play, it still wouldn’t have been the right move.  Decisions like this make it feel like Dallas’ special teams aren’t a strength right now. Instead, they’re a liability.

I like having coaches who aren’t afraid to take big swings, and I still believe in Fassel. I genuinely think he can help this unit improve. However, it’s pretty undeniable that with someone as aggressive as he is, you have to take the good with the bad.

Fassel is just as liable to draw up something spectacular, as he is willing to pull out an ill-advised play that leaves fans questioning his thought process all week. This week it was definitely the latter and not the former.

Dallas Cowboys Stock Up: RB, Tony Pollard

Tony Pollard is playing like the best running back on the Cowboys right now. For all intents and purposes, the team’s backs split touches with Ezekiel Elliott having 16 carries and two receptions compared to Pollard’s 13 rushes and three catches. However, it was pretty clear who the most productive running back for the Cowboys was on Sunday afternoon.

Sure, Zeke didn’t play poorly, but he was completely outplayed by Pollard who eclipsed 100 yards rushing for the third time in his career. Right now Pollard is showcasing a level of explosiveness that Elliott just hasn’t shown since 2019. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore would be smart to find more ways to utilize both his running backs and keep Pollard involved in the offense in the coming weeks.

Dallas Cowboys Stock Down: Clock Management

For the most part, I really liked the game that the Cowboys called on Sunday. That said, the final seconds of their last drive left me banging my head against the wall.

After a Tony Pollard run gave the Cowboys a third and three on the Chargers’ 38-yard line with 33 seconds and one timeout remaining, the team just let the clock widdle down as opposed to trying to get one more play in.

The Cowboys had more than enough time to dial something up that would improve their field position and make everyone’s life easier. Instead, they settled for a long game-winning field goal attempt, that Greg Zuerlein thankfully made.

Yes, Zuerlein indeed came through and drilled the game-winner as time expired. But at 56 yards and just one week after missing three kicks, that’s a bigger gamble than the Cowboys should have ever wanted to take.

McCarthy has since said that the clock he was watching got obstructed and he couldn’t see it. Regardless of why it happened, someone, anyone needs to find a way to get that play off. It’s an inexcusable mistake that’s easy to avoid. Had Zuerlein missed, this would have likely been one of the big stories all week.

Dallas Cowboys Stock Up: K, Greg Zuerlein

So there was never any doubt when Greg Zuerlein lined up for the 56-yard game-winning kick right? Riiiiiiiight.

If you are a kicker you have to have a short memory, and thankfully Greg the Leg does. He had an atrocious showing last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, leading the Cowboys to sign a kicker to their practice squad.

This week though? Well, he more than redeemed himself.

Dallas Cowboys Bonus Stock Up: LB, Micah Parsons, S Damontae Kazee, LB Jaylon Smith 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this trio of Cowboys defenders in some capacity. All three of these players had some major question marks coming into this Sunday’s game, but by and large, they played really well.

With DeMarcus Lawrence sidelined for the next six to eight weeks, linebacker Micah Parsons was asked to line up as an edge rusher for the first time since high school. His response? He had the most pressures from a rookie defender since Nick Bosa of the San Francisco 49ers in 2019.

Safety Damontae Kazee followed his former head coach Dan Quinn from Atlanta to Dallas this offseason and was seen as a potentially low-risk high-reward signing. He co-led the NFL in interceptions back in 2018 but was limited to just four games last season with an Achilles injury.  So far, Kazee has started both games for the Cowboys this season and flashed his ball-hawking ability.

Last week he forced a fumble on the goal line and this week he picked off Justin Herbert in the end zone. A Cowboys safety who can take the ball away? You simply love to see it (and kind of have to in order to believe it).

Linebacker Jaylon Smith spent the better part of the offseason as an easy punching back for a frustrated fanbase. It sounds cliché, but 2021 is a bit of a crossroads for Smith and he needs to make every snap count. On Sunday he did, leading the team in tackles and generally playing well in every phase of the game.

Against the Chargers, Smith gave Dallas the kind of vintage Jaylon Smith performance that had fans and the Cowboys’ front office so high on him after 2018. Hopefully, it’s a step in the right direction after a poor 2020.