This week against the Miami Dolphins, the Dallas Cowboys were a lot more competitive and ended up losing the game in the closing seconds. That meant that everyone, especially the rookie class, put in a higher effort overall. Regretfully, in the beginning of the game, one of them gained attention for the wrong reasons. Let’s dissect it.
iDL Mazi Smith
Even though Mazi Smith was excellent last week, he clearly regressed this week. He participated in 26 defensive plays, finishing second in terms of overall workload among interior defenders, the majority of which were against the run. However, in contrast to last week, Smith was regularly losing the struggle for leverage and being somewhat jostled.
Moreover, Smith did not do much with his prospects for a pass rusher. Smith saw a good amount of pass rush reps after recording his first career sack the previous week, but he did not generate any pressure. It’s easy to write this game off as a rare miss for Smith given his overall performance this season, but it’s still disappointing to see this at the end of the season.
TE Luke Schoonmaker
Maybe Luke Schoonmaker was relegated to TE3, but since Peyton Hendershot returned from injured reserve, he is more capable. Three fewer offensive snaps than Hendershot, he participated on 13 total, mostly as a blocker.
Notably, he did manage to catch his only target of the day for four yards, as Hendershot was unsuccessful.
to bring one of his two targets closer. Before the postseason officially begins, this matchup between these two might go on.
