NFC East notebook: Dak Prescott injury, Jahan Dotson honored, more

From dysfunction in Dallas to the Eagles flying high, there was a lot of action around the NFC East after a roller-coaster week one. Here we will take a look around the division and see the fallout after Week 1 and what’s going on before Week 2.

Dallas Cowboys

It was a tough week one for the Dallas Cowboys after getting embarrassed on Sunday Night Football against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The worst part of it all is Dak Prescott fractured his thumb on his throwing hand, following surgery it looks like the timetable will be 6-8 weeks.

With this news though it looks like Jerry Jones isn’t prepared to make a push to bring another Quarterback in to compete. otherwise. In an interview with 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday morning, Jones revealed that the Cowboys would not be putting Prescott on injured reserve. The Cowboys GM seemed adamant that the 28-year-old would be back within four weeks.

This seems like it could be another major miscalculation by Jerry Jones in a long list of miscalculations so far in 2022. While trading for a quarterback may not make much sense, the timetable that Jones is implying seems like a massive stretch for a player that just had surgery on his throwing hand.

Long-time Dallas Cowboys supporter Skip Bayless may not have given up on the Cowboys yet, but it looks like a Cowboy has given up on Undisputed. Linebacker Micah Parsons initially agreed to come on Fox Sports 1 show Undisputed each Tuesday during the regular season to break down the previous week’s action. Leading up to Tuesday, though, nobody at Fox was able to get ahold of Parsons and he ended up no showings for the episode. Since missing the show Parsons went on the record to clarify everything.

“As my starting quarterback went down and we lost, I just didn’t think it was appropriate for me to be on a show at that point,” Parsons said on Wednesday, via USA Today’s Jori Epstein. “At this time, I need to step up and be a leader. It shouldn’t be on TV, it should be in this locker room.”

Shannon Sharpe though had an issue with the way everything went down talking about it on Undisputed.

“I’m hopeful that after a couple weeks of them getting back to winning that he’d join us during the season, even if it’s not every week,” Sharpe said. “But I don’t understand why, after FS1 put the equipment in his house, he’d go radio silent. Just say, ‘Look, at this point in time I just want to focus on football. I’m sorry to have led you guys on but right now football is the most important thing and I’m not gonna be able to do it right now.”

It seems like current players doing weekly shows seem to be growing in popularity with multiple players doing podcasts/show appearances each week. While you have to respect Micah Parsons focusing solely on football after everything unfolded, there aren’t many other players in this space going no show on their commitments after a loss.

• See SB Nation’s Blogging The Boys for more about the Cowboys

Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are coming off a week one victory on the road over the Detroit Lions. While it was an impressive showing for the Eagle’s offense especially newcomer AJ Brown, the defense left a lot to be desired. The Eagles gave up 386 total yards and put up 35 points on the talented defense. Nick Sirianni though doesn’t seem very concerned after just one game.

“I got a ton of confidence in Jonathan. That’s why he’s here,” Sirianni said on Thursday afternoon. “As far as the pressure, this is the NFL and this is Philly. We know what the expectation is and the expectation is to win football games. It’s our job as coaches to figure out how we put the players in position to win as many games as we possibly can.”

Joseph Santoliquito of Bleeding Green Nation touched on the Eagles’ defense.

“The Bad

The Eagles’ defense. Thankfully, Detroit’s defense was worse. At times, the Eagles made Jared Goff look average—if that’s possible. There were times when there were missed tackles. There were times when the Eagles’ passive defense allowed a lot of underneath completions.”

The Eagles have an extra day to figure things out as they are welcoming Justin Jefferson to Philadelphia coming off a big performance against Green Bay.

Another player that is looking to have a big game against the Eagles is wide receiver Jalen Reagor. It looks like after the trade to the Minnesota Vikings, Reagor had this game circled on the calendar.

After the trade, GM Howie Roseman even publicly stated that he regretted selecting Reagor. It is doubtful though, that Reagor will be able to turn this into his revenge game. With only getting four snaps on Sunday and them all on special teams, it remains to be seen if Reagor can get some offensive reps.

• See SB Nation’s Bleeding Green Nation for more about the Eagles

Washington Commanders

The Washington Commanders came away with a Week 1 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The offense rolled most of the day besides a couple of turnovers from Carson Wentz. One of the bright spots was rookie wide receiver Jahan Dotson who hauled in two touchdown passes, the second to give the Commanders the lead to win the game.

That performance was good enough to deliver Dotson the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week honors.

It was an impressive performance for the first-round pick. McLauren is already an established wide receiver Though with the performance of Dotson and Curtis Samuel, it looks like the Commanders could have a trio of pass catchers that defenses will have to account for.

With the offense rolling it looks like another player is working themselves back into shape. Brian Robinson is currently on the PUP list while recovering from gunshot wounds back on August 28th. Robinson is already back on the practice field working back remarkably quickly from his injuries.

Last week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter revealed the Commanders’ confidence that Robinson could return in Week 5 against the Tennessee Titans. This has truly been a remarkable recovery for the rookie running back whose season was in doubt just a few weeks ago depending on his recovery.

After having a strong preseason which saw him end up as the starting running back for the team, Robinson will look to reclaim that spot sooner rather than later. After the strong showing from the Commander’s offense in week one, getting Robinson back could be a big boost to help the Commanders really get fans excited for this season.

• See SB Nation’s Hogs Haven for more about the Commanders

NFC East standings