Cowboys Reveal 'Secret Sauce'; Dak Prescott & Practice Injury Report

Dak Prescott made his return as Cowboys starter against the Lions on Sunday, and on Wednesday it was back to The Star for some practice "normalcy'' ... and maybe some more Dallas "secret sauce'' as the 5-2 Cowboys prep for a Sunday Week 8 visit from the Bears.

From the win over the Lions, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore liked what he saw from his starter and noticed Prescott getting more comfortable the longer the game went.

“I certainly thought Dak did a really nice job of just kind of getting back into the groove of things,” Moore said. “You could see it as the game progressed, I thought he got more and more comfortable with it. ... Obviously when you hop back into it in the middle of the season, you don’t get a bunch of practice days to build up into it.''

So this practice day mattered, to Dak and others, including some Cowboys involved in roster moves and/or with injury issues.

Receivers Noah Brown and Michael Gallup both worked on the cords …

And a trio of newcomers merit mention, as Johnathan Hankins and Kendall Sheffield both worked …

as did rookie Damone Clark …

Click here for the Clark background …

And yes, Neville Gallimore is working as well.

Ezekiel Elliott, who rushed for two scores, is among those sidelined as he deals with a sprained knee.

So what about that "secret sauce''? That was a Kellen mention. He says the running game is benefitting from what he calls the running games “secret sauce” in offensive lineman duo Terence Steele and All-Pro Zack Martin.

“That’s a big part of our run game is how many times can we have those two guys together in double teams,” Moore said. “Anytime you can get those two guys together on a defender, working up to a second level defender, usually good things are going to happen.

“They both come off the ball really really well. That’s the secret sauce to Terence I think at right tackle. When you can get off the ball on the cadence that’s huge.''

Elliott and Tony Pollard certainly liked the secret sauce being produced on Sunday. The pair rushed for 140 yards on 27 carries. That’ll work.

Steele has played 100 percent of the snaps this season, with Martin playing 100 percent in every game except one. That's another part of the "sauce'' - "availa-ability,'' as owner Jerry Jones likes to say.

With the Cowboys now moving philosophically to being a defense-first based team, the offense can tone down its risk-taking ... and as far as the secret sauce goes, the Cowboys run the ball well. Through seven games, Dallas ranks 13th in rushing yards (852), 14th in yards per game (121.7) and gets 4.3 yards a clip.

Combine that with a healthy Prescott and Micah Parsons' "relentless'' defense, and there is no "secret'' to the likely results.

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