The first half of the Dallas Cowboys' primetime game against the Minnesota Vikings has been absolute chaos. If you thought Quinnen Williams intercepted J.J. McCarthy's first pass attempt was bonkers, Brandon Aubrey and Bryan Anger executed a genius fake punt minutes later that helped extend Dallas' first scoring drive.
Javonte Williams punctuated the drive with a short touchdown. But he appeared to injure his arm/shoulder area on a previous carry that moved the chains on another fourth down.
Williams, who has 1,000 rushing yards in a season for the first time in his career, came off the field favoring that area and he is officially questionable to return with a shoulder injury.
Cowboys RB Javonte Williams (shoulder) questionable to return vs. the Vikings
Update: Javonte Williams returned to the game for the start of the second half
Williams remained on the sideline after the Cowboys took the field following the Vikings' touchdown drive.
NBC's Melissa Stark reported that the medical staff worked on Williams' neck and that the RB was put through a concussion test. Stark added that extra padding was put on Williams' left shoulder. Those certainly aren't encouraging details, but it's encouraging he wasn't immediately ruled out.
In the meantime, Malik Davis, who has scored a touchdown to the Cowboys up 14-7 since the starting of this writing, and Hunter Luepke will carry the load.
Before the season, this would've been viewed as an ideal test for fifth-round rookie Jaydon Blue, but he is a healthy scratch once again. The Cowboys have been impressed by Davis, who's averaged 6.4 yards per carry on the season entering Sunday and offers versatility on special teams.
Davis doesn't have great long speed, but his vision is serviceable and he's cut from the Williams' cloth with how hard he runs. With the offensive line creating some movement up front and Klayton Adams scheming things up, the run game should be in good hands until Williams returns.