Anthony Brown Down: Cowboys Lose Starting CB For Season; Contract Impact
The Dallas Cowboys' vital win on Sunday night carried with it an important loss.
Head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed on Monday that cornerback Anthony Brown will miss the rest of the season with a torn Achilles sustained in the 54-19 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Arlington. Team owner Jerry Jones feared the worst in the immediate aftermath - "I'm sick for him,'' Jerry said - and both McCarthy and an MRI confirmed the bad news less than 24 hours later.
"Obviously just emotional to see him go through that," McCarthy said. "He will be missed.”
Brown left during second-half action, requiring a medical cart to return to the locker room for evaluation. Thus ends his seventh season in both Dallas and the NFL, one that saw him earn 42 tackles and seven pass breakups over a dozen games.
Also worth noting (and enough to make you "sick'' for Brown: This was the final year of his contract. So his long rehab road back might be conducted in coordination with the NFL's wait-and-see approach regarding his next deal.
The 2016 sixth-round pick's teammates largely were abler to pick up the slack in his absence, forcing four turnovers in a fourth quarter that saw the Cowboys hold a 33-0 advantage. McCarthy himself praised the way Brown's understudies were able to come through. With Brown officially gone for the foreseeable future, those younger talents, including Kelvin Joseph, DaRon Bland, and Nahshon Wright, are expected to continue stepping up as the Cowboys (9-3) prepare to embark on a promising run to the postseason.
Also in play: Practice-squad vet Kendall Sheffield. And the Cowboys say they could look at street free agents as well.
"I thought a lot of our young players played big tonight," McCarthy said on Sunday. "They’re not rookies anymore. We’re a very young football team that’s playing young guys the whole year. The benefits of it are starting to show up. I thought those guys did an excellent job tonight.”
Sans Brown, the Cowboys will continue working their way through an interconference gauntlet before a crucial Christmas Eve showdown with Philadelphia, first facing the Houston Texans this coming Sunday afternoon (12 p.m. CT, Fox).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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