Cowboys at Eagles: Rookie Kelvin Joseph Taking Over as New Starting CB?
Football coaches like to remind players that “obstacles also mean opportunities.”
Dallas Cowboys, welcome to your dual Saturday night obstacles, against the Eagles in Philadelphia and against COVID.
Kelvin Joseph, welcome to your big Saturday night opportunity.
“I think,” said Cowboys COO Stephen Jones, “he’s ready to get out there and show people he deserves to be a starter.”
Jones isn’t just talking about the rookie second-rounder playing a front-line role in tonight’s regular-season finale and “pre-playoff game”; as starting cornerbacks Trevon Diggs (illness) and Anthony Brown (COVID) didn’t even travel to Philly, that’s obvious.
No, this is about Joseph, hampered by injury for most of the year but now coming on strong, grabbing this chance, and maybe being so good that he never lets go.
Said defensive coordinator Dan Quinn: “I thought the work that he's put in allowed himself to say 'When the moment comes, I'll be ready.'”
As Dallas weighs its "rest-vs.-rust'' options, there are other kids and backups who will be involved tonight for the 11-5 Cowboys. But, for instance, Tyron Smith and Micah Parsons, both out with COVID, will automatically get their jobs back on Monday.
Ideally, Joseph won’t make that sort of decision in the secondary an easy one for his coaches.
“He’s competitive as hell,” Jones said.
Joseph started two weeks ago vs. Washington and played a great deal last week against the Cardinals.
A pretty picture here: The Cowboys in back-to-back drafts use second-round picks to gain two starters in Pro Bowler Diggs (with his NFL-best 11 interceptions) and “Fat” - what folks inside The Star call Joseph, a shortening of his “Bossman Fat” music-career persona.
“He'll get some opportunities for that on Saturday,” said Quinn, as the Cowboys try to turn obstacles into those opportunities.
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