Cowboys Pass Rush Suffers Yet Another Blow

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The Dallas Cowboys have learned that right defensive end Jeremy Mincey will miss Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons due to concussion symptoms.

Unfortunate is the fact that the human body simply wasn’t designed to play football. The Dallas Cowboys are learning this lesson in the most difficult of circumstances.

The franchise will now be without its top three right defensive ends for Sunday’s Week 3 matchup against the 2-0 Atlanta Falcons.

I wrote on Friday that we’ll soon learn exactly how good of an offensive coordinator Scott Linehan really is in the coming week. Hopefully he’s just great because the Cowboys are going to need points in bunches against Atlanta.

The last thing you want for a defensive end group that doesn’t yet have a quarterback sack in 2015 is to start digging deeper into the depth chart while a meeting with Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones is pending.

Losing veteran Jeremy Mincey does exactly that.

With both Greg Hardy and Randy Gregory unavailable, Mincey’s loss forces the Cowboys to start looking at defensive tackles or rookies to pick up some major slack at a position that’s extremely weak already.

According to David Moore of the Dallas Morning News, Jack Crawford – owner of just 2.0 sacks in four seasons in the NFL – is the most likely to fill in for Mincey against the Falcons.

Standing 6’5” and weighing in around 290lbs, the Cowboys certainly get a bigger body to add to the defensive front on the edge.

Word is still out on how much quickness Crawford can bring to this position. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that Ryan isn’t much of a runner outside the pocket.

While the idea of sliding rookie defensive end Ryan Russell over from left to right might sound a bit more intriguing, there’s still the fact that he’s just a rookie and but a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. Further, he happens to be the primary backup to second-year end DeMarcus Lawrence.

What to do if Lawrence goes down?

Simply put, for all of the attention this franchise paid to improving a pass rush that wasn’t good enough to propel the Cowboys into last season’s NFC Championship Game in Seattle, it simply has nothing to show for it on Sunday.

It’s unclear how exactly Mincey suffered the concussion, and at this point it doesn’t matter. So long as this issue isn’t more serious than what’s being reported, or even known right now, the 10th-year veteran should be able to return next week.

Regardless of how Sunday’s game turns out, there will still be one more game to play before Hardy’s league mandated four-game suspension – this after sitting out all of last year – comes to an end. From that point, Gregory could be as few as two to three games from returning for the first time since suffering a sprained ankle in the season opener against the New York Giants.

Yes, Linehan will be tested with players like quarterback Tony Romo, wide receiver Dez Bryant and tight end Jason Witten all expected to be out or limited over the coming weeks.

At the same time, defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli certainly has his work cut out as well. As dominant as the defense played last week against the Philadelphia Eagles , one has to wonder if there’s enough talent to bring forth anything close to that on Sunday.

Next: Cowboys: Just How Good Is OC Scott Linehan?

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