3 Cowboys whose stock is falling after ugly win vs Titans
By Jerry Trotta
Unless their opponent resides in Minnesota, it’s never easy with the Dallas Cowboys. With the Titans resting a cavalcade of starters, including Derrick Henry and Jeffery Simmons, with an eye on their win-and-in finale against Jacksonville, all signs pointed to Dallas putting things in cruise control pretty early.
Instead, the Cowboys made fans sweat out a victory in Nashville. While a win is ultimately all that matters — it keeps their hopes to win the NFC East and notch the No. 1 seed alive — the performance served as more evidence for cynics who preach every Monday that Dallas will falter come playoff time.
With the playoffs arriving in two weeks, Mike McCarthy can’t afford to continue playing mistake-prone players. While injuries will force the head coach’s hand at some positions, these three players deserve less snap after they turned in duds Thursday night.
These Cowboys players stock is falling after Week 17 win vs Titans
3. Noah Brown, WR
Brown was indispensable early in the season before and after Michael Gallup returned to the lineup. In the first four games, Brown caught 18 passes for 274 yards and a touchdown, including a 91-yard, one-touchdown effort in the narrow win over the Bengals in Week 2 with Cooper Rush starting.
Brown followed an 85-yard showing vs the Texans with a clutch two-touchdown performance in the overtime loss to Jacksonville. Of course, that display was marred by his overtime drop that bounced into the hands of a Jaguars defender, who housed it for a walk-off defensive touchdown.
On Thursday, Brown had another case of the drops. After drawing an early pass interference, the former fifth-round pick dropped two passes. Both targets hit Brown square in the hands. To put the throws into context, you’d expect an NFL receiver to catch them with his eyes closed. They were that routine.
While neither drop was consequential, they won’t help Brown’s case for more snaps behind CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup and now TY Hilton. Brown’s work as a blocker in the running game is wildly important, and largely goes unnoticed. We might see more of him in that role after this two-drop dud in primetime.