The Packers are unlikely to have one of their starting right tackle for Sunday’s game against the Cowboys.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Zach Tom is not expected to play Week 4 after aggravating his oblique injury against Cleveland last week.
Tom was on the field for just one offensive snap before he had to exit the contest. He had been a limited participant in practice all week and was listed as questionable.
“If a guy plays one play … we got to have some discussions about how we can’t allow that to happen,” head coach Matt LaFleur said in his postgame press conference on Sunday. “It’s disappointing when he plays one play.”
Tom did not play in Week 2 after initially suffering the injury Week 1.
The Packers’ first injury report of the week is set to be released later on Wednesday.
The Texans will have a new defensive back at practice on Wednesday.
According to multiple reports, they have signed Zion Childress to their 53-man roster. Childress was on the Cowboys’ practice squad.
Childress signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent this offseason and returned to the practice squad after being one of the team’s final cuts this summer. He was elevated for two of the team’s first three games and made a tackle on special teams.
The Texans had an opening in their secondary after releasing safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson on Tuesday, so they do not need to make a corresponding move to get Childress on their active roster.
On Sunday night, Micah Parsons will play in Dallas as a member of the Packers. And it will give Parsons a chance, for the first time in his career, to try to sack Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
How will that feel, if/when it happens?
“It’s going to be painful,” Parsons told Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press. “Dak’s my guy. You know, he was always like a good mentor for me. But, you know what it is. He always told me how whenever I face him, it’ll be a great matchup. So I’m excited to see what Sunday brings.”
Everyone is. In a weekend with plenty of great games and storylines, Micah making his way back to Dallas — one month to the day after he was traded — becomes the most compelling development. It’s compelling enough for the entire NBC Football Night in America production to make the trek from Stamford, Connecticut to Arlington for the game.
Thirty-one days after the Cowboys traded him to the Packers, Micah Parsons will return to AT&T Stadium. The Cowboys hope it’s not a triumphant return for the two-time All-Pro.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones admits a little extra competitive drive this week.
“Yes, I do,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, via Todd Archer of ESPN. “Of course, I’ve said this time and time again, I think the world of Micah as an individual and of course know him well. I might say, ‘I wish him well,’ except it’s obvious I don’t this weekend in terms of Green Bay winning the game. And so, it makes for an exciting time.”
One of Jones’ sayings is “don’t let your money get mad.” That seemed to be exactly what he did with Parsons after believing he and the four-time Pro Bowler had a handshake deal.
“Not at all. It was nothing personal,” Jones said when asked if he let his money get mad. “I told you, I liked Micah. As much as people wanted to make that of it, there was no issue regarding feelings relative to the negotiations. Certainly not on my part. It was just par for the course.”
After failing to sign the star edge rusher to a long-term deal, Jones traded him to a conference rival. They did it a week before the start of the season.
The Cowboys might have gotten more for Parsons if they had traded him before the April draft.
Jones, though, disagrees.
“We needed this timing,” Jones said. “We needed to be right here at the beginning of the season in my mind to get the highest value. I heard people talking about, ‘Well, why didn’t you trade him back before the draft?’ Because draft picks become the most valuable timing wise, you can have them in the offseason before the draft. That’s when the pick becomes much more valuable and the player becomes less valuable.”
The Cowboys got less for Parsons, one of the game’s best edge rushers, than the Dolphins got for left tackle Laremy Tunsil — never an All-Pro — in a 2019 trade with the Texans.
The Cowboys have given up 92 points through the first three weeks of the season and team owner Jerry Jones suggested the team will be making some changes to their defense heading into Week 4’s game against the Packers.
Jones said on 105.3 The Fan the team is talking about “how can we basically address it personnel wise, scheme wise” in the wake of their 31-14 loss to the Bears on Sunday. The pass defense is an area of particular concern as the Cowboys have given up the most passing yards in the league and Jones said that “the play on the front didn’t match what we were doing in the back” against Chicago.
One area where no change appears to be forthcoming is to the defensive coaching staff. Jones said he has not lost confidence in coordinator Matt Eberflus or other assistants.
“I think it’d be unfair, not to me, but to you to answer that way as though it’s a policy,” Jones said, via the team’s website. “It is not anything. It is just that I really like our coaching staff and they’re really outstanding teachers. They know what they’re doing . . . I’ve got real confidence that this staff that we’ve got, Flus we know well, coached here for seven years before he left coach elsewhere. Having said that, that’s not a discussion point.”
The Cowboys expect to have defensive end Jadeveon Clowney in the lineup and cornerback DaRon Bland could also play this week, but there’s plenty of work to be done to improve a defense that’s been defenseless far too often this season.
