{"id":10246,"date":"2015-10-30T08:05:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T15:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/battle-of-4-loss-teams\/"},"modified":"2015-10-30T08:05:16","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T15:05:16","slug":"battle-of-4-loss-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/battle-of-4-loss-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle of 4-loss teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014<\/strong> Two preseason NFC playoff contenders are set to play, both with four losses before the halfway point of the season.<\/p>\n

Dallas is just a little more desperate than Seattle.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys (2-4) are on their second backup quarterback trying to get a win without Tony Romo, and running out of time to get the two they probably need to have a realistic shot at defending their NFC East title when he\u2019s eligible to return from a broken left collarbone.<\/p>\n

Now Dallas is on its second starting running back since letting NFL rushing champion DeMarco Murray go to Philadelphia in free agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fighting to get a win,\u201d Dallas cornerback Brandon Carr said. \u201cThey\u2019re in the same boat as us. We\u2019re both urgent in the same mindset of every single day throughout this week, just chip away one day at a time, leading up to Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least the Seahawks (3-4) have more wins than losses since an 0-2 start by the defending NFC champions. And while Dallas has lost four straight without Romo and All-Pro receiver Dez Bryant to drop to last place in the NFC East, Seattle is coming off a dominant win over San Francisco to avoid the same spot in the NFC West.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not thinking desperate and I\u2019m sure they\u2019re not either,\u201d Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson said. \u201cI know we\u2019ve had some tough losses, and I know they have had tough losses, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least the Cowboys have a chance to get Bryant back for the first time since breaking his right foot in the opener. He practiced this week for the first time since the injury, and the team was optimistic he would play.<\/p>\n

The return of Bryant could be a boost for Matt Cassel in his second start filling in for Romo. Cassel replaced Brandon Weeden, who lost all three starts in Romo\u2019s place.<\/p>\n

Darren McFadden will make his first start at running back for Dallas after rushing for 152 yards in last week\u2019s 27-20 loss to the Giants. Joseph Randle was the starter for six games, but injured his back early against New York. He was away from the team during the week dealing with unspecified personal issues.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys also spent all week dealing with questions about polarizing defensive end Greg Hardy\u2019s shoving match with special teams coach Rich Bisaccia right after former Dallas return man Dwayne Harris had a winning 100-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter for the Giants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen things like that come up in the course of a season, you\u2019ve got to be able to stay together, more so even when you\u2019ve lost four in a row,\u201d tight end Jason Witten said. \u201cWe\u2019ve shown that in the last couple of years that it\u2019s a close group, mentally tough, and work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things to consider with the Cowboys trying to end the longest losing streak in five years under coach Jason Garrett:<\/p>\n

UNDER PRESSURE:<\/strong> Seattle defensive end Michael Bennett is coming off the best game of his career when he had 3 1\/2 sacks against the 49ers and he\u2019s tied for the NFL lead with 6 1\/2 for the season. But Dallas\u2019 talented offensive line is coming off what Garrett said was its best game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those games where you get challenged as a defensive line to see where you\u2019re at as a team,\u201d said Bennett, the brother of former Dallas and current Chicago tight end Martellus Bennett said.<\/p>\n

TURNABOUT:<\/strong> The Dallas defense had one of its best games of the season in last year\u2019s 30-23 win at Seattle, allowing just nine first downs and 206 yards. The Cowboys even had a takeaway \u2014 an interception of Wilson. They haven\u2019t forced one during the current losing streak, and all of their NFL-low three takeaways came in a Week 2 win at Philadelphia. \u201cI have never had a dry spell this long,\u201d defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said. \u201cBut we are going to keep positive. Keep working at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

FOLLOW ME:<\/strong> Richard Sherman is starting to make a habit of following the top receiver on the other team. And that could be Bryant, who had never missed more than four straight games before the current five-game absence. \u201cIt\u2019s a fun challenge when I\u2019m asked to do it,\u201d Sherman said.<\/p>\n

QB CHASE:<\/strong> Wilson has been sacked a league-high 31 times, and Hardy has the longest current sacks streak at six games. But Garrett says the Cowboys have to be careful chasing Wilson. \u201cYou certainly want to make sacks,\u201d the coach said. \u201cBut while you\u2019re trying to do that, you\u2019ve got to make sure you contain him because he makes so many plays with his feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

FAMILIAR FOES:<\/strong> Both backups to McFadden started the season in Seattle. Christine Michael was acquired in a trade the first week of the season, and Rod Smith was claimed on waivers two weeks ago. Smith, an undrafted rookie, is likely to be active for the first time with Dallas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 Two preseason NFC playoff contenders are set to play, both with four losses before the halfway point of the season. Dallas is just a little more desperate than Seattle. The Cowboys (2-4) are on their second backup quarterback trying to get a win without Tony Romo, and running out of time to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-10246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10246"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}