The Dallas Cowboys' season all but ended after an embarrassing loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night, and yet a player who wasn't even involved in the game is the biggest talking point.
While Matt Eberflus is public enemy No. 1 in Dallas after his defense allowed J.J. McCarthy, statistically the worst quarterback in football this season, to look like Roger Staubach, it is Trevon Diggs who is somehow making bigger waves than the Cowboys' defensive coordinator.
Jerry Jones told reporters after the loss that Diggs isn't healthy enough to play. The media eventually caught up with Diggs, and the 27-year-old clarified, just as he did during his availability earlier in the week, that he is healthy.
“I don’t know what else I need to do," Diggs said. "At this, point I feel like it’s not up to me what I do … I’m just showing up every day and working."
Cowboys' Trevon Diggs mess gets even uglier after loss to the Vikings
According to Cowboys team reporter Tommy Yarrish, Diggs was "upset" to learn that he wasn't activated off injured reserve for the game, and he communicated that to the team.
It's bad enough that Dallas put forth an embarrassing performance against a Vikings team that learned hours before kickoff that it had been eliminated from playoff contention. That the Diggs discourse is the lead story after not playing makes the loss so much worse.
That isn't to say Diggs is in the wrong. He didn't say anything out of line. He is at least painting the picture that he wants to be out there with his teammates. Team reporters haven't noticed him loafing in practice. He seems healthy, and he seems to be doing the right things.
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However, Brian Schottenheimer has made it a point to hold players accountable in the name of establishing a strong culture.
Diggs' effort was questioned earlier in the season, and he dug himself a deeper hole by criticizing Matt Eberflus after the loss to Carolina in Week 6 and not taking accountability for his own play. Diggs missed the following game with a concussion, the details of which still aren't known. He was subsequently placed on IR, and we haven't seen him since.
If the Cowboys don't activate Diggs by this coming Saturday, he will revert to season-ending injured reserve. The timing of Diggs' plea is no coincidence. He's making it known that he's healthy and taking the right approach in practice.
Whether Diggs gets activated in time remains to be seen, but this latest back-and-forth between him and Jones is more confirmation that this relationship has run its course.