Dallas Cowboys’ Rico Dowdle Injured at Practice; Tony Pollard Role Change vs. Panthers?

Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle was great against the New York Giants, but head coach Mike McCarthy didn't promise any additional touches for Tony Pollard's backup. … and now there is an injury issue.

It’s been an interesting week for Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle. .. which ends with him being listed, surprisingly, as “questionable” for Sunday at Carolina.

After calls for a complementary back to be added at the trade deadline, Dowdle saw the opportunity to make plays against a beleaguered New York Giants defense. In the 49-17 Week 10 win, Dowdle had the best game of his career.

With no need to play starting running back Tony Pollard for 60 minutes, Dowdle saw 12 rushes for 79 yards and a score.

Dowdle celebrates a touchdown against the New York Giants / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

He was able to break off chunk gains, including a 21-yard run, and looked good in short-yardage situations, something the Dallas offense hasn’t seen much of in 2023.

Since then, Dowdle has been praised by his owner, coaching staff, and teammates. Given Pollard’s struggles—he hasn’t scored since Week 1 and his yards per carry have dropped from 5.2 to 3.9 since last year—the calls for Dowdle to get more carries have increased.

Head coach Mike McCarthy extended some more praise on Thursday but didn’t seem to push the issue.

“We’ll see how the game goes,” McCarthy said. “I'm thrilled to death with the way Rico’s playing. I think we do an excellent job of ball distribution.”

There’s only one football, and McCarthy has drawn criticism for how the target and rushing shares have developed, most notably with receivers CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks. Both have been addressed, with Cooks going off in Week 10 and Lamb posting one of the best three-game stretches in recent memory.

On Sunday, Dallas will visit the Carolina Panthers in a Week 11 showdown that many expect to follow last week’s progression. The Cowboys are clearly the more talented team, and opportunities should once again arise for Dowdle to get the rock.

Even so, McCarthy didn’t make any promises.

“The game dictates that,” he said. “I have no problem with Rico getting more carries. That would be great. But also my focus is Tony Pollard as far as the primary ball carrier.”

And now? It seems Rico injured an ankle in Saturday’s workout and has been downgraded to questionable for Sunday’s game vs. Carolina.

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Pollard hasn’t appeared as explosive as he was last season, a potential ramification of his recovery from offseason surgery or the workload Dallas has given him. The Cowboys spent the summer promising Pollard could thrive in a workhorse role.

 Instead of putting him in a better position to succeed, and thus giving Dowdle some extra run in the red zone and on early downs, McCarthy has continued to give Pollard the lion’s share of meaningful carries.

If there’s any reason to be optimistic, both for Dowdle and Dallas’ run game in general, it’s that Carolina’s run defense is easily the worst in football. Ranking dead last in expected points added per rush and success rate, the stage is set for somebody to break out, regardless of McCarthy’s initial intentions.