D'Andre Swift has missed the last two games with shoulder and ankle injuries; factoring in the team's bye, he's been sidelined nearly a month. Head Coach Dan Campbell says Swift will return to practice today, but it doesn't sound like he's 100 percent.
Campbell calls Swift "a little bit better," indicating the running back will be limited in his return to practice. That makes it sound far from certain that Smith will play in Week 7, and if he does, it's reasonable to expect less than a full workload. We'll know more by Friday, but if you have Jamaal Williams, it looks like there's a good chance you'll be able to use him with him getting at least half the snaps at Dallas, and maybe more than that.
The Cowboys have one of the league's best defenses, but it's not impenetrable. Opposing running backs have managed some production in most games.
Here's how those players have fared the first six weeks -- four featured runners, and two committees on lesser ground games. The one that really struggled (Rams) has struggled in most games; the Lions run the ball much, much better than they do, with or without Swift. And the better backs have been fine.
| RBS VERSUS DALLAS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Running Backs | Run | No | Rec | Tot | TD |
| Fournette, T.B. | 127 | 2 | 10 | 137 | 0 |
| Mixon, Cin. | 57 | 3 | 26 | 83 | 0 |
| Barkley, NYG | 81 | 4 | 45 | 126 | 1 |
| Gibson/Williams/McKissic, Was. | 137 | 6 | 30 | 167 | 0 |
| Akers/Henderson, LAR | 33 | 4 | 30 | 63 | 0 |
| Sanders, Phil. | 71 | 1 | 1 | 72 | 1 |
Ideally, you'd have a fully healthy Swift, or -- if you have Williams on your roster -- Swift would be held out for one more week. But if they're both playing, total production should be good enough that they can be used with some hope of good all-around production. It's a week to be more worried about the passing game, with Dallas ranked 6th against the pass (compared to 19th against the run).
--Andy Richardson
12 Reader Comments:
Greg Resin
Sitting at 2-4 and need to win...but I've got to ride it out, right? Good RBs are so hard to come by...so not sure who I'd trade him for anyway. I envision him crushing it around Thanksgiving time...ugh.
Greg Resin
Andy Richardson
Greg Resin
My RBs otherwise are Najee (who I was also high on, yikes), Rachaad White, Eno Benjamin & Nyheim Hines. Hence the added difficulty of considering moving Swift.
Fortunately I’m playing the guy with Jefferson, A. Brown, & Devonta all on byes…so there’s that lol
Greg Resin
Greg Resin
Swift and Najee, for example, to me looked so fantastic as a tandem…but like a good hand pre-flop that becomes ugly post-flop…gotta know when to move on.
Struggling with that. Maybe an ego thing having projected them for monster seasons.
Ben Hogevoll
Kevin Clark
It’s been painful watching Denver’s offense.
Cliff Neville
or by whichever week my teams finally tank beyond the point of no return.
not very noble of me, but kinda nice to know i'm not alone in this.
John Casani
George Rodenbach
George Rodenbach