Cowboys Today: Jerry Jones is more interested in winning than draft pick “obscurity.”

When a season goes as badly as this one for the Dallas Cowboys, no one is interested in making excuses. And I understand, every team struggles with injuries. But the roster the Cowboys continue to navigate remains a problem.

QB Dak Prescott (hamstring) and DE Sam Williams (knee) have already missed the season. There is still no clear timeline as to when (and if) DE DeMarcus Lawrence (football) can return.

And then we come to the uncertainty surrounding Sunday’s game at Washington and Thursday’s game against the New York Giants. Reserve offensive tackle Asim Richards, who has played 105 offensive snaps in the last three games, suffered a severe ankle sprain on Sunday. It seems unlikely he will be able to play on Thursday.

Brandin Cooks hasn’t played since the Week 4 win against the Giants. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)

Richards was one of 16 names on Dallas’ injury report on Monday. Of this group, five are listed as having multiple injuries. Five key players remain question marks for Thursday: LG Tyler Smith (ankle/knee), WR Brandin Cooks (knee), CB Trevon Diggs (groin/knee), TE Jake Ferguson (concussion) and RG Zack Martin (ankle/shoulder).

Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones said Monday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas that there’s a good chance Cooks and Smith could play. Diggs also has a chance. But Jones said it was “a bit of a stretch” for Martin and Ferguson.

Starting quarterback Cooper Rush (knee) was a name that was not expected to be on the report after Sunday’s game. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy made it seem like that wouldn’t stop Rush from playing Thursday. “He still has some work to do,” McCarthy said, “but I think we’ll be fine.”

Go deeper

Jerry Jones: McCarthy contract extension ‘not crazy’

Why not fill up?

Micah Parsons made it clear after Sunday’s game that he has no interest in tanking. Dallas’ star defenseman isn’t hoping to improve the Cowboys’ draft position. And the team owner and managing director is fully on board.

Cowboys DE Micah Parsons: “I’m not done yet. I don’t plan on filling up. If the higher-ups are looking for a draft pick, I hope that’s ruined because we still have a lot of football to play. “As long as I’m a part of this team, we’ll always fight.”

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) November 25, 2024

“I love it,” Jerry Jones said on The Fan on Tuesday morning. “I just absolutely love it. Micah gets criticized for some things he says, but the way he expresses it is powerful. … (Tanking) never occurred to anyone in this organization. Someone will take that and say, ‘That’s your problem, you’ve got your head up, you know what?’ “You don’t realize that you have to play for a higher draft pick, Jones, and that you have something in the draft would do better.”

“I get it. I get it all. But it’s critically important for us to get out here and compete. These guys (in the draft) will be there for us, the ones we want when we get there in the draft. “

Jones later added that “there’s a lot of uncertainty with these draft picks.”

If the season ended today, the Cowboys would have the 11th overall pick. Looking at the rest of their schedule and what the team has said about tanking, it seems more realistic that they will end up at 15-20 rather than 5-10. The last time they were in a similar situation was 2020 when they finished 6-10. They ended up taking 17th overall and drafting star WR CeeDee Lamb.

Too many penalties

The Cowboys place a lot of emphasis on left tackle Tyler Guyton’s future in the league. They know he has the ability to be a good starter. But it’s clear that their first-round pick needs to eliminate the penalties. Entering this week, only Houston Texans offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil (15) has more penalties than Guyton (12).

Of Guyton’s 12 for 90 yards, four were false starts and three were due to illegal formation. These bother the coaching staff the most because they are pre-snap penalties.

“That’s a big focus,” McCarthy said. “Of course we talked about it again and again. It’s just the discipline and attitude to break through this plane. It’s just not consistent enough. There is communication and every (senior) crew is different, but that has to end. He knows it. He’s getting sick. But we just have to get it corrected.

“These are penalties that potentially take points off the board or provide an opportunity to score more points. We need to get it corrected. We have come far enough across the board. He understands it. That’s how it works in this league too. His name comes up in the pre-game meetings with the officials. This is a focus that the senior department undertakes on a weekly basis. There is something there and we have to be better.”

Your NFL reads

• Power rankings: The Cowboys slowly advance after defeating Commanders

• QB Stock Report: Ranking of starting QBs, 1 to 32

• Ted Nguyen’s best and worst coaching decisions: I like what Mike Zimmer did

(Top photo by Jerry Jones: Robert Deutsch / Imagn Images)