NFC East Notes: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants

Cowboys

• Todd Archer reports that Cowboys LB Leighton Vander Esch (neck) will miss Week 9’s Monday night game “unless things change rapidly.”
• According to Archer, the Cowboys were hopeful that their Week 8 bye would give Vander Esch enough time to recover, but he’s still experiencing “soreness and range of motion issues.” 
• The Cowboys have officially have ruled out OT Cameron Fleming (calf), while CB Anthony Brown (hamstring) and Vander Esch are questionable. (Michael Gehlken)

Eagles

Eagles RB Jordan Howard feels Philadelphia’s system allows him to “do more” compared to how the Bears previously used him. 

“I feel like they’re allowing me to do more, show my game off more, instead of just being one-dimensional like Chicago had me,” Howard said, via Zack Rosenblatt of NJ Advance Media.

Eagles HC Doug Pederson said he isn’t sure why the Bears traded Howard for a conditional sixth-round pick and feels they “benefitted from that.”

“I don’t know about all that,” Pederson said. “I just know we got a great player and we benefitted from that obviously. We studied his tape and saw what he had done his first couple years in the league and … maybe he didn’t fit their structure and what Coach Nagy was trying to do, but I can’t really … I don’t want to comment or speculate on that. I know that when we got him, we were excited to get him and get him into our mix and he’s … done a great job.

Giants

Giants’ veteran CB Janoris Jenkins said he wasn’t worried about being traded from New York.

“I knew what was going on,” Jenkins said, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. “I had a conversation with somebody. They had already let me know. That’s why I wasn’t even worried about it too much.”

Jenkins added that he was always “in the loop” with his trade rumors at the deadline.

“I just let you all [media] kept the story going,” Jenkins said. “I was in the loop. You always respect when somebody puts you up and lets you know what’s going on.”

• Giants HC Pat Shurmur said they are more likely to officially activate CB Sam Beal from their injured reserve after Week 9’s game. (Dan Duggan)
• Duggan points out that the Giants’ deadline to activate Beal is on Wednesday, November 6. 
• According to Jordan Raanan, Giants WR Sterling Shepard sought out a second opinion from a concussion specialist to discover legal supplements and different MRIs that are available.
• Shephard said he wants to be as “knowledgeable as I can” and does not have concerns about returning.
• Although, Shephard mentioned that he’ll rest if he doesn’t feel capable of playing at the same level: “I don’t need to play this game if I can’t go out and be the player that I am.”