Cowboys
The last time Cowboys WR Amari Cooper played in Metlife Stadium earlier this season, he was limited to just a few plays before having to leave an eventual loss to the Jets. Ahead of this week’s return in a game against the Giants, Cooper aggravated the knee injury this week in practice and again during the game Monday. However, he fought through both to play and contribute a game-sealing 45-yard touchdown catch.
“To be honest, whatever was going to happen, I was going to play through it anyway,” Cooper said via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. “I couldn’t let that happen again. I was going to try my hardest to play through it.”
Dolphins
Before making the decision to trade him to the Dolphins, the Rams placed CB Aqib Talib on injured reserve despite the veteran disagreeing with the move and believing he wouldn’t need eight weeks to heal properly. Talib won’t be eligible to play for his new team until Week 15, but even when that time comes he might not play for Miami despite being healthy enough to do so. The Dolphins made the deal primarily for the draft pick, not for the player.
“I’m healthy enough to play right now,” Talib said while appearing on FOX, via USA Today’s Cameron DaSilva. “I talked to Coach Flo [Brian Flores] and right now, I’m just focused on getting healthy. When I’m able to come off the injured reserve list, it’ll be a decision to make for the team, for myself. But ultimately, I don’t make any decisions, as you can see. I just show up and make sure I’m healthy enough to play football.”
- The Dolphins worked out long snappers Kevin McDermott, Garrison Sanborn, and Matt Overton. (Aaron Wilson)
Rams
Rams LB Clay Matthews is set to return to practice this week after missing a few weeks while healing from a broken jaw. While Matthews has been targeting this week’s game against the Steelers for a return to the field, Rams HC Sean McVay said the team will see how practice goes this week before committing to anything.
“I think, really, it’s just kind of getting him back into normal routine, seeing how he’s feeling,” McVay said via Stu Jackson of the team’s website. “Everything’s checked out in a positive manner up to this point, so I think it’s just kind of progressing back to, ‘How comfortable do you feel putting a helmet on?’ Some of the collisions that naturally would occur and just kind of trusting that you’re nice and secure in that absence of some of that stuff that kind of kept it in place and helped it heal over the last couple weeks.”
The Rams are also working on setting up a second visit with a concussion specialist for WR Brandin Cooks, who suffered two concussions in a 24-day span. While the receiver was asymptomatic the day after the second injury, McVay said the team is operating out of an abundance of caution given the nature of concussions, particularly in such close proximity.
“He’s got a great perspective on what’s most important: I think, No. 1, he’s got so many great things going,” McVay said. “We’re not going to do anything to put him in harms way. That’s the No. 1 priority, that will continue to remain that not only with Brandin, but with all of our players. We’ll be very smart with how we ease him back into this whenever that time comes if that’s the decision we make.”
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