Planes, Trains & Automobiles - And Cowboys Zack Martin Playing at Bucs?
ARLINGTON - It is, probably, a natural offshoot of being a billionaire: You think anything is possible.
And that, it seems, is where we are with Zack Martin on the COVID list and the Dallas Cowboys prepping for Thursday's season opener at the Bucs and the possibility that the two twains might meet in Tampa.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on Tuesday morning that Martin's availability for Tampa is "iffy." On Tuesday afternoon, at a sponsor event here at AT&T Stadium, COO Stephen Jones piled on, saying the team feels “really good” about the All-Pro Martin's health and that having him playing Thursday is “still not out of the question. We haven’t ruled him out totally.”
The Cowboys, realistically, have two issues here.
One is the work being done to prepare Connor McGovern - who has a lot of fans who populate the Dallas Cowboys coaching and scouting staff - to be the right guard against the defending Super Bowl champ Bucs.
Said third-year guy McGovern at the start of the week after the Martin news broke: “Last year (when he started half of the games helped me a lot with confidence, so I'm ready to go."
"He'll definitely be ready for this opportunity," added coach Mike McCarthy, praising McGovern’s “work ethic” and terming his spring and summer effort, “Definitely one of the offseason bright spots of an offseason where we had a lot of bright spots."
Two is about the NFL's COVID rules. Martin must test clear twice in tests administered 24 hours apart. He must be asymptomatic. And there must be a five-day waiting period from the time he tested as having COVID.
So when was that test administered? At, say, 7:19 p.m. Saturday? Meaning that the clock can be squeezed in a way that means "five days'' is up at 7:19 Thursday - just in time for kickoff in Tampa?
This is "The Big Stage.'' National TV. Defending Super Bowl champs. Subbing for a future Hall of Famer is a game with gigantic implications. The Joneses understand "The Big Stage'' better than anybody in the NFL. So maybe they are selling "drama'' here. Or maybe they are being blindly optimistic here.
Or ... maybe on Thursday afternoon, the Joneses fly Martin to Tampa, separate from the team. Maybe he is stashed at a hotel, separate from the team. Maybe Martin is helicoptered in just in time for kickoff, his No. 70 jersey on and a couple of clear-up coronavirus tests in his pocket.
”If there was a player who can do it, Zack would be in that group of players,'' said McCarthy on Tuesday, maybe the result of the coach hanging around with a few too many optimistic billionaires.
READ MORE: Why'd Dallas Cowboys Just Change QB Dak Prescott Contract?
