Dallas Cowboys News & Notes: Cowboys Are Good To Go For Sunday

Dallas Cowboys' Rolando McClain at MLB but Justin Durant calls signals - Tim MacMahon, ESPN Dallas
The Cowboys are hoping that freeing up McClain from signal-calling will allow him "to play fast instead of being slowed down by thinking too much."

"I expect him to be really a heck of a linebacker for us," defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said of McClain. "I think he has great range. He's got length. He's smart. He's a really physical player. So we just have to get him going and see how it works out from there."

T. Williams, Martin, Selvie All Good To Go For Sunday - David Helman, DC,com
Terrance Williams (back), George Selvie (shoulder) and Zack Martin (foot) all showed up on the injury report at various points this week, but their injuries appear manageable.

Gosselin: Why Cowboys are catching 49ers at best possible time to pull upset | Rick Gosselin, DMN
Gosselin notes that the 49ers are down eight Pro Bowl appearances from their 2012 Super Bowl defense.

"It will remain a challenge for the Cowboys to move the ball with any consistency or efficiency Sunday against the 49ers. But it won’t be the challenge that it would have been last January — and certainly not the challenge it would have been two Februarys ago."

Jeremy Mincey: Dallas Cowboys have a lot of hardworking, lunch-pail guys, ‘and that’s what wins games’ | Jon Machota, DMN
Mincey uses some interesting imagery to describe the Cowboys defense.

"We have a lot of talent here regardless of what you see on paper," he said. "We have a lot of talent. We have a lot of hardworking, lunch-pail guys. And that’s what wins games. It’s all about the hungry dog."

And what exactly is the hungry dog?

"A bunch of guys you’ve never heard of who all have something to prove," Mincey said. "The most important traits for a hungry dog is consistency. You do the same thing over and over, every day, every day, every day and focus on getting better at things that you’re not as good at. When you become good at those things, that builds a player."

"I think we have a lot of guys who come out here and work hard every day, no complaining, no sitting out, just focused on what they need to do. I think that’s what makes our team special."

Cowboys Name Their Five Captains - Rowan Kavner, DC.com
Tony Romo, Jason Witten and Dan Bailey return as team captains, but the defense gets two new team captains in Barry Church and Justin Durant to replace DeMarcus Ware and Sean Lee.

Could Cowboys CB Orlando Scandrick be allowed to return for Sunday’s opener? | David Moore, DMN
Moore writes that one aspect of a new drug policy being negotiated by the league and the player's association is that the status of amphetamines would change from "performance enhancing substances" to "substances of abuse." That small change in wording would change Scanrick's situation, possibly leading to him being reinstated as soon as the agreement is signed. But it probably won't happen in time for Sunday's game.

Breaking down PEDs vs. substances of abuse | National Football Post
If you want more details on PEDs vs. substances of abuse, you'll like this inside look at how the NFL’s testing and punishment policies work.

Infographic: Inside Look At Cowboys' 53-Man Roster - DC.com
Did you know that 19 players on the 53-man roster went undrafted? Now you do. You can find this and more on a nifty visualization of the Cowboys 53-man roster.

What is an injury settlement? | National Football Post
Matt Johnson, Johnny Thomas, Zach Minter, Justin Green, Deshaun Pillips, Korey Lindsey and Ben Malena were all waived with an injury settlement by the Cowboys recently. Jack Bechta, an agent of 28 years breaks down how injury settlements work in the NFL and includes this nugget that might signal the start of a countdown for a few Cowboys fans:

Injury settlements can also give a team a chance at getting a player back during that same season. There is a rule in place that the team (agreeing to a settlement) can’t resign that player until a minimum of six weeks passes following the amount of weeks of the initial settlement.

Jerry Jones: NFL did not ask Dallas Cowboys to sign Michael Sam | Jon Machota, DMN
Jerry Jones said the Cowboys did not receive any kind of "encouragement" from the NFL to sign Michael Sam.

According to a report by NBC’s Peter King, NFL officials called teams around the league to gauge their interest in signing the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team.

"That would not be something that I have ever done, is visit with the league other than reporting a transaction," Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM]. "I am our voting representative with the team and technically nobody goes anywhere unless I OK it with the league office. That’s the only way I’ve ever talked to the league about anything to do with personnel is letting them know I’ve approved a trade or the waiver."

Jerry Jones: A Michael Sam Dallas Cowboys jersey was ‘never a consideration’ | Jon Machota, DMN
The Cowboys don't sell the jerseys of guys on their practice squad. Never have, never will. End of discussion.

2015 NFL mock draft: A big surprise at No. 1 - SBNation.com
A mock draft before the season starts? Not sure that was really necessary. Cowboys pick a defensive end. Big surprise.

Rate of Swearing (Per Word) on Sports Subreddits - Imgur
Over at Reddit, they've figured out the percentage of words that are swear words in their various sports "Sub-Reddits." The Cowboys are ranked 14th among NFL team reddits, which is only fitting for an 8-8 team. The biggest NFL potty mouths hail from Miami.

Washington Redskins merchandising sales drop 43.8 percent over past year, research shows - ESPN
Ugh.

Move aside Cowboys - the Packers are America's Team. | SportsonEarth.com
Yawn.

This is a full quote from an Eagles cheerleader | Comcast Philadelphia
Actual quote from an Eagles cheerleader after her first appearance at the Eagles' Stadium (though I'm pretty sure the spelling mistakes are not hers):

"Today? It's kind of been my favorite, really. All, our favorite. Our first like really big appearance, so it's really exciting, I mean, everything that's been going on is just completely exciting and we're all just like, everything that goes on, the rookies we're like, Oh my God, like pumped up to do this thing. People ask us sometimes what we're looking forward to the most in the season, and it's just like, we look forward to the next big thing in the season and then after that we're like, Okay the next big thing! And it's like there's not really one thing we're looking forward to, it's just the entire season is just full of so many things that we're so happy to be in and it's still very surreal for us, so most of us still wake up and go, Oh my God, we're an Eagles cheerleader, it's very exciting and just unbelievable. Really unbelievable."