NFC Notes: Commanders, Cowboys, Eagles

Commanders

• Commanders HC Ron Rivera says that no decision has been made on the team’s starting quarterback. (Ben Standig)
• Rivera said that QB Carson Wentz showed that he is “fully healthy… has fresh legs right now, has a lively arm, showed quick decisions, showed the quick twitch you look for in quarterbacks…Picked up the blitz a couple of times and got the ball out quickly…early on he wasn’t as quick with.” (John Keim)
• Rivera on RB Antonio Gibson‘s status: “Antonio Gibson has a sprain, so we’re going to have to monitor that very closely this week.” (Nicki Jhabvala)
• Rivera also gave an update on DE Chase Young: “Next week, the expectation is to see if he can go a little bit more. I think we’ll put a little bit more on him in terms of playing him earlier in the downs, playing him a few more reps in a row before we rotate him out.” (Jhabvala)
• More from Rivera on Young making his return: “If he can get himself quickly up to form, people will have to start paying attention to him a little bit more as well, and that I think will help offset some of the stuff that Montez [Sweat] has been having to deal with all season.” (Jhabvala)

Cowboys

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott compared getting pick-sixed to start Week 16’s game against the Eagles for the second straight drive after the Jaguars got him in overtime the week before to getting the tar beat out of him by his older brothers. 

“Thinking about that,” he said via NBC Sports’ Peter King. “I’m thinking about the way I was raised. Being the little brother, there’s a lotta times I got my ass kicked and things didn’t go my way. The only chance I had against them was to forget about what just happened, come back, respond, and beat ‘em. Sometimes I’d find my mother, I’d be crying, and she said, ‘If you can’t play with the big dogs, stay on the porch.’ So in a situation like today, early in the game, it’s about staying focused, understanding what’s happened is done. So I made a bad throw. What can I do about it? Respond. And I know I will.”

Eagles

Eagles HC Nick Sirianni defended DC Jonathan Gannon after the team’s loss to the rival Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Eve.

“I have a ton of faith in Jonathan Gannon,” Sirianni told Angelo Cataldi on the 94WIP Morning Show. “He keeps answering the bell. I know there’s scrutiny on him, especially on your show, or if he’s a good coordinator or not. And he is most definitely a great coordinator who is giving us a chance, helping us develop the defense. We have good players and he is a good coordinator. I stand on the table for him and I am convicted in Jonathan Gannon. I know how good of a football coach he is, and I know how high of demand he’ll be this offseason. I know how high of a demand he was when we got him here as a coach. I love him. He’ll rebound from a tough game that we have as a defense, that we had as an offense, we will completely as a team rebound from this.”