Cowboys news: La’el Collins’ agent finds NFL’s handling of his clients suspension ‘appalling’

La’el Collins’ agent blast NFL after Cowboys linemen suspended: ‘appalling’ - Ryan Gaydos, Fox News

Peter Schaffer, Collins’ agent, isn’t the only one unhappy about his clients five-game suspension.

Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman La’el Collins was suspended five games Friday for violating the league’s substance abuse policy and his agent was unhappy with the NFL.

Collins’ agent Peter Schaffer criticized the league for how they handled the issue.

“We are extremely disappointed in how the NFL has handled this entire matter from trampling on Mr. Collins’ rights to prematurely releasing the information knowing a timely appeal was filed to intentionally misleading the court at the hearing,” Schaffer said, via Sports Illustrated. “The extent and effort the NFL went to accomplish its ends is appalling.”

According to ESPN, Collins’ representatives are fighting the suspension arguing that the discipline should amount to a fine. The offensive lineman will be eligible to return to the roster on Oct. 18.

The most heated WR-CB matchups of the 2021 season - Maurice Moton, Bleacher Report

Trevon Diggs’ maturation is going to be fun to watch throughout the 2021 season.

Weeks 14 and 16: WR Terry McLaurin (Football Team) vs. CB Trevon Diggs (Cowboys)

This is an underrated matchup between two young playmakers. Terry McLaurin is going into his third season, and Trevon Diggs has only played 12 career games for the Dallas Cowboys.

However, McLaurin and Diggs could put on a show when they match up one-on-one in Weeks 14 and 16.

In Week 7 last season, they mixed it up on the field when Diggs put his hands in McLaurin’s face. On the following play, McLaurin beat Diggs on a 52-yard touchdown reception.

After the game, McLaurin told reporters that Diggs didn’t have anything to say following his long touchdown reception. While on injured reserve, the Cowboys cornerback missed the second matchup against Washington in Week 12.

While Diggs didn’t put up much of a fight in his first matchup with McLaurin, he could redeem himself this season. Dallas lost Chidobe Awuzie to the Cincinnati Bengals in free agency, so these two combatants will likely line up across from each other as the lead cornerback and wide receiver for their respective teams in upcoming contests. This could spice up a longstanding NFC East rivalry.

Jaylon Smith, Leighton Vander Esch were odd linebackers out for Cowboys - Charean Williams, PFT

Out with the old and with the new!? Smith and LVE out, Parsons and Neal in.

The Buccaneers ran 64 plays Thursday night. The Cowboys gave their five linebackers 131 snaps, but they weren’t evenly distributed.

Rookie Micah Parsons was on the field for 51 snaps, and free agent signee Keanu Neal played 50.

That didn’t leave many snaps for anyone else, with Parsons and Neal serving as the primary nickel linebackers.

Jaylon Smith played 16 and Leighton Vander Esch 14. Jabril Cox didn’t see action on defense.

“I think they understand if you look at the big picture,” coach Mike McCarthy said of Smith and Vander Esch, via Mark Lane of WFAA. “We took 24 defensive players into the game. We had projections of how we wanted to play guys, and we knew it was going to be a challenge with the climate and the humidity. I think we really hit the target as far as getting the distribution of playing all the guys on defense. So, yeah, personally, I can’t speak on their behalf. If they weren’t frustrated, I’d be disappointed. These guys have played a lot of football throughout their whole career. It’s our focus to be better as a whole as a defense and frankly the more players you play, the better off you’re going to be.”

Amari Cooper produces record-setting performance vs Buccaneers - Matthew Lenix, Inside The Star

Hopefully Amari Cooper’s sensational play in the season opener is a sign of things to come this season.

Amari Cooper added a new dimension to the Dallas Cowboys’ offense when he arrived around midseason in 2018, and he racked up 725 yards and six touchdowns in his nine games with the team. In his first full season with the Cowboys in 2019, Cooper set career highs in yards (1,189), touchdowns (8), and yards per catch (15.1). Last season, despite playing with four different quarterbacks, he set a career-high with 92 receptions.

With Dak Prescott making his return from a season-ending ankle injury that cost him 11 games in 2020, the expectations for what Cooper would be able to accomplish this season were sky-high. After missing most of training camp due to the effects of offseason ankle surgery, Cooper’s first test would be against a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that was a top-five unit a season ago. A tall task for sure, but Cooper was more than ready.

The former first-round pick caught each of his first 10 targets on Thursday night. By games end, Cooper had amassed 13 receptions for 139 yards and two touchdowns. It set a career-high for him for receptions in a game and also set a record for the most catches by Cowboys receiver in a season opener.

Dallas Cowboys: Ezekiel Elliott elite on Thursday, just not on the ground - Kenneth Wilson, The Landry Hat

Although he didn’t show up much of the stat sheet, Zeke made his presence felt in the season opener.

In the case of Thursday and though a defeat, that was definitely the case for one guy that seems to be catching a ton of flack…. or at least a bit of it, with all of it being undue. That would be Ezekiel Elliott. The statement is this. Ezekiel Elliott was still, absolutely, elite on Thursday night, it just wasn’t on the ground or via running the ball.

In close defeat, Ezekiel Elliott showed he can still be elite without running a ton.

He was a huge part and perhaps, the key, to what the Cowboys were able to do. When it comes to running the ball, itself, it was always going to be hard to run on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense.

They were one of the top defenses in the league last season and returned most of what they had. They ranked sixth in total yards allowed last season and though closer to the middle or bottom in passing yards allowed per game, they were number one in rushing yards allowed per game and by a long way.

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