NFC Notes: Cowboys, Deshaun Watson, Giants, Panthers

Cowboys

Cowboys players WR Amari Cooper and QB Dak Prescott spoke about their upcoming first-round playoff matchup and seemed confident they would get the win.

“It don’t really matter what outsiders say,” Cooper said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “I mean, at the end of the day, it’s why the game is played. If the game was won by what people believe will happen, then why even play the game? To accomplish what we want to accomplish, we’re going to have to play every team anyways, unless we are hoping that a team loses. Who does that? We’re just going to go out there and play our game. That’s why we practice so hard. That’s why we prepare so hard, so we can go out there and beat anybody.”

“We don’t care what people believe about us outside of these walls, whether they think it’s good or not,”  Prescott said. “We’re excited for the matchup. It’s a playoff opponent. You’ve got to respect them and what they’ve done. They’ve been a successful team the past few years. They were just as hurt as we were last year. But coming into this game, we expect a hard four quarters and it’s going to be a dog fight. It’s going to be a war, and we’re exactly up for that.”

Meanwhile, DE Randy Gregory and RB Ezekiel Elliott commented on their nagging injuries, with Elliott saying his knee injury is feeling “really good” and “feels solid.”

“Nothing to be alarmed about,” said Gregory. “I’ve had a good week of practice, flying around. I expect the same on Sunday.”

“Not really getting any stiffness out of it anymore,” Elliot said of his knee. “I feel good (wearing the knee brace), so not going to switch it up going into this game and hopefully for the rest of the playoffs.”

• Cowboys Mike McCarthy talked about the injury to RB Tony Pollard: “I think definitely the time off helped him too. I mean he was able to practice all through the week. Last week leading up to Philadelphia so really the Sunday-Monday-Tuesday time was very beneficial for him.” (Calvin Watkins)

Giants

• Jordan Schultz reports that Texans QB Deshaun Watson has internally expressed a “strong desire” to play in New York, where he spends his time in the offseason, with Brian Flores as head coach of the Giants.
• Schultz reports that Watson and Flores have been in constant communication in an attempt to get onto the same team, as Watson “trusts and likes” Flores and wants to play for him next season.
• Jordan Raanan expects that Giants assistant LB coach and ST Coach Anthony Blevins will find a job with a new team this offseason
• Aaron Wilson reports that Giants’ DC Patrick Graham is highly regarded and is on the radar of the Vikings and other NFL teams as a head coach candidate.

Panthers

When it comes to the 2022 draft, Panthers GM Scott Fitter is avoiding tipping his hand on any potential quarterback he is interested in.

“It’s a good class, it’s not a great class,” Fitterer said, via PanthersWire.com. “There are some good players in there. There are players every year throughout the draft—you might be able to find a guy, get lucky, second/third round. The one thing we have to really be careful about is not forcing. Taking a quarterback just because we think we need to take a quarterback. You can really get in trouble that way. You can pass on a really good player with the pick you have. So I don’t wanna force anything. I do like a couple of the quarterbacks in this class. I think it gives us options. But, as a whole, I think there have been other, better draft classes in other years.”