{"id":6990,"date":"2024-12-03T02:40:51","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T02:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=6990"},"modified":"2024-12-03T02:40:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T02:40:51","slug":"dallas-cowboys-get-good-news-ahead-of-bengals-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=6990","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys Get Good News Ahead of Bengals Matchup.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-1882505290-1.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-1882505290-1.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-1882505290-1.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-1882505290-1.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Dallas Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"266\" data-dom-ready-time=\"355\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">GEtty<\/span>The Dallas Cowboys are getting a boost of confidence just in time for their matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0are welcoming some good news, as the\u00a05-7 team\u00a0heads into their Monday Night Football game against the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0on Monday, December 9. They\u2019ve won the past two of their games with quarterback\u00a0Cooper Rush\u00a0playing for an injured\u00a0Dak Prescott, but they have some work to do if they want to get into the Wild Card playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, the Cowboys are getting some positive news this week, and it could give them a confidence boost going into their Bengals matchup.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Dallas Cowboys\u2019 Defense Getting Rave Reviews<\/h2>\n<p>Heading into the latter part of their season, some NFL experts and analysts are praising the Cowboys for a turnaround with their defense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dallas Cowboys\u2019 defense is not perfect, but it is certainly better than it was at the start of the season,\u201d\u00a0Todd Archer of ESPN stated in a December 2 feature about the Cowboys\u2019 improved defense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Cowboys were on pace to be one of the worst defenses in franchise history,\u201d\u00a0Archer added, stating that, happily, that\u2019s not the case right now.\u00a0In the past five Dallas games, the Cowboys have allowed more than\u00a0400 yards once and gave up more than 6.2 yards per play\u00a0only once. They\u2019ve also not allowed an opponent to convert more than 40% of their third-down chances. All in all, stats are up, and the defense is looking stronger.<\/p>\n<p>Having edge rusher\u00a0Micah Parsons back has been a major help. Arches says the improved defense \u201cmight be a Parsons\u2019 effect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter missing four games with a high left ankle sprain, Parsons has played in the past four games and\u00a0has 5.5 sacks,\u201d Archer added. Parsons also leads the Cowboys with 6.5 sacks, even though he\u2019s missed 17 quarters of playtime due to injury. That\u2019s an impressive stat.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Star Defensive End Could Return, But Not Too Soon<\/h2>\n<p>In a December 2 feature for the New York Times\u2019 Athletic, NFL analyst and expert\u00a0Saad Yousuf notes that Parsons\u00a0\u201chinted at some breaking news in his postgame interview Thursday, saying that the Cowboys could be getting veteran defensive lineman\u00a0DeMarcus Lawrence\u00a0back from his foot injury for next Monday night\u2019s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That would mean more good news for the Cowboys. Lawrence hasn\u2019t played since Week 4 against the Giants, so having him back in the fold could be a significant plus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Cowboys\u2019 defense and specifically defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer have been tough to evaluate this season because of the injuries,\u201d\u00a0Yousuf stated, but adding that, \u201cthe Cowboys\u2019 defense could be getting healthier during the home stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t expect a Lawrence return too soon, though. Seeing him against the Bengals could be a bit premature.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, December 2, C<span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">owboys EVP Stephen Jones dashed hopes of a Lawrence return too soon, saying on 105.3 The Fan that it\u2019s \u201c<\/span><span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">probably a long shot\u201d for Lawrence to play against Cincinnati, but it\u2019s \u201cnot out of the question,\u201d adding that \u201cI certainly expect to see him sooner than later,\u201d\u00a0per Jon Machota of The Athletic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Cowboys are underdogs to the Bengals, as David Halprin of\u00a0Blogging the Boys points out, so they\u2019ll need solid performances on both offense and defense to snag the win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GEttyThe Dallas Cowboys are getting a boost of confidence just in time for their matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. The\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0are welcoming some good news, as the\u00a05-7&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dallas Cowboys Get Good News Ahead of Bengals Matchup.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=6990\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dallas Cowboys Get Good News Ahead of Bengals Matchup.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GEttyThe Dallas Cowboys are getting a boost of confidence just in time for their matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. 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