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The Dallas Cowboys enter Week 15 on a three-game losing streak. Hosting the surging Los Angeles Rams is hardly the ideal situation to break out of it.
When we circled this game on the calendar before the season began, it was hoped the biggest issue the Cowboys would be facing was potentially securing the NFC East title. That level of optimism is long behind us as this team continues to struggle, but amazingly, thanks to a porous NFC East, they find themselves in contention to win their division.
The Cowboys could theoretically lose this game to the Rams and still be in what many other teams would consider an enviable spot needing only to win out against the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins. Of course, beating the Rams today could go a long way in shortening that to-do list, and there was some thought that the Cowboys could be going at it without one of their more marquee names - Sean Lee.
The General did not practice all week, and while his play has dropped off in his 10th season, he is still a better option than a lot of backups across the league. With Leighton Vander Esch missing his fourth game in a row Lee has become more vital although the Cowboys did prepare themselves by activating some depth off of the practice squad in Chris Covington.
That seemingly won’t be all to necessary as according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Sean Lee is “planning to go” against the Rams.
#Cowboys LB Sean Lee, questionable with pectoral and thigh injuries, is planning to go today against the #Rams, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 15, 2019
Obviously we’re all hopeful that Lee truly feels ready to play and that he isn’t trying to do something that he physically is incapable of at this time. That wouldn’t be fair to the team, the other linebackers, or Lee himself. Perhaps he rested and prepared himself all week so as to be ready for today’s game.
As mentioned, a loss to the Rams hardly ends the playoff hopes of the 2019 Cowboys so you have to imagine that Sean Lee really wanted to play in this game. It could wind up not impacting the division race (this would be the case if the Eagles defeated the Redskins today) but that doesn’t seem to be an issue here.