The Steelers will face the Dallas Cowboys in an NFL Week 5 Sunday Night Football matchup this week at Acrisure Stadium. Here are five things to know about the NFC East foe.
They have some key injuries on defense – Star pass rushers Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence both went down with injuries in their team’s Thursday night victory against the New York Giants. Lawrence has a lisfranc injury, and reports Sunday suggested he could miss as many as eight weeks. That makes him a longshot to play Sunday against the Steelers. Parsons’ prognosis is better but still not great. The former Penn State standout is nursing a high ankle sprain and was considered “week to week” in a radio interview given Friday by Stephen Jones, son of owner Jerry Jones and the Cowboys’ director of player personnel. With the Cowboys heading into a Week 6 open date, it’s possible he may not miss much action. However, as the Steelers learned in facing the Chargers’ Justin Herbert back in Week 3, high ankle sprains are difficult to fully overcome in the short term. If he plays in Pittsburgh, it’s likely he’ll be limited, which should be helpful for a banged-up and youthful Steelers offensive line battling inconsistency right now.
The running game is struggling – Ezekiel Elliott’s return to Dallas has helped little as the Cowboys have averaged just 75.3 yards per game on the ground. That put them third from the bottom in the NFL entering Sunday’s games. Only Chicago (72.7) and Las Vegas (51.0) were worse. Lead back Rico Dowdle is averaging a pedestrian 3.9 yards per carry. Elliott is at 3.4 in carrying his part of a 60-40 workload split with his younger teammate. And as a team, Dallas is still searching for its first 20-yard run of the season. So, at least on paper, this should be a welcomed change for the Steelers’ front seven after drawing tough assignments against the Chargers’ J.K. Dobbins and the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor over the past two weeks.
Dak Prescott’s numbers are down across the board – The runner-up to Lamar Jackson for NFL MVP last season hasn’t been bad by any means. Just more mortal. His completion percentage is at 65.4, down from 69.5. He’s averaging 7.2 yards per attempt, down from 7.7. His passer rating is 93.6, down from 105.9. And he’s on pace for just 25.5 touchdown passes after throwing 36 a year ago. So it seems fair to say he’s still figuring some things out after losing targets, including Michael Gallup and running back Tony Pollard, in the offseason.
But CeeDee Lamb has remained explosive – The star wide receiver missed all of training camp and the preseason amid a contract holdout from the team. He was ultimately rewarded with a four-year, $136 million contract after piling up a league-leading 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns on 135 catches in 2024. The protracted absence left many wondering if he might need some time to get up to speed, though. He’s thus far answered those questions with 20 catches for 316 yards and two scores. Thursday against New York, he caught seven balls for 98 yards and scored a 55-yard touchdown. He’s averaging 15.8 yards per reception, so he appears to be in fine form as he looks to challenge this Steelers secondary.
The defense still has other playmakers – Regardless of what happens with Lawrence and Parsons, there’s plenty of talent here to challenge a Steelers offense that has struggled at times in 2024. Eric Kendricks was the big prize of the free agent class, choosing Dallas after initially agreeing to return to the Chargers. The former All-Pro at middle linebacker has made an immediate impact, leading the team with 42 tackles and adding a pair of sacks and an interception through the first four games. And Trevon Diggs is back after missing most of last season with a torn ACL. The former All-Pro is one of the game’s great lurkers, having registered 19 picks in what’s just his fifth season as a pro.
First Published: October 1, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: October 1, 2024, 7:15 p.m.
