DeMarvion Overshown will not play against the Packers on Sunday night, and he will not even make the trip. The Cowboys ruled out their linebacker Saturday with a hamstring injury, with Mike Garafolo reporting Overshown would stay behind in Dallas.
That is the clearest signal a team can send about a soft-tissue injury. Players who have a real chance travel. Overshown is not close.
A Defense Already Playing Short
The Cowboys are 2-3 and walking into Lambeau Field without one of the few players on that defense who changes the geometry of a play. Overshown’s range is what allows Dallas to keep a lighter front on the field, and Green Bay is going to test exactly that.
The rest of the injury report does not help. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. rolled an ankle in practice and is questionable after missing last week with a stomach virus. Defensive end LT Overton with a foot injury and cornerback Ameer Speed with a knee issue are also questionable.
Cornerback Cobie Durant was ruled out Friday, which makes four straight games he has missed. Safety Jalen Thompson will be out at least two more weeks. Safety PJ Locke is out as well, though he can begin practicing again this week.
To cover for it, Dallas elevated cornerback Derion Kendrick and safety Juanyeh Thomas from the practice squad. Kendrick came over from the Rams in the offseason and has spent five weeks on the practice squad waiting for a weekend like this one. Running back Emari Demercado was restored to the 53-man roster, and offensive lineman Nick Leverett was signed to the practice squad.
What It Means for Sunday Night
Brian Schottenheimer’s defense has to find a way to make Green Bay’s offense left-handed without its best linebacker and with a secondary that has been picked apart by injuries since September. Those two things pull against each other. You cannot play aggressive coverage with backups and you cannot sit back and let a good offense carve you up either.
The one break Dallas gets is on the other side of the ball. Green Bay lost two interior defensive linemen to injured reserve on Saturday. If there was ever a week for the Cowboys to pound the middle of a defense, this is it.
Kendrick is the one to watch. He has been sitting on the practice squad for more than a month while this secondary bled, and if Porter Jr. cannot go, he could end up taking real coverage snaps in a prime-time road game on no notice at all.
Dallas will name seven inactives 90 minutes before the 7:15 p.m. CT kickoff, and the Porter Jr. decision is the one worth watching. A corner who rolled an ankle on Saturday rarely gets through a Sunday night game clean, and the Cowboys cannot absorb another loss in that group.
Overshown’s absence is not a one-week story either. Hamstrings on linebackers with his kind of speed tend to linger, and nobody in Dallas has put a timeline on it. For a 2-3 team that needs a road win to stay in the NFC picture, the timing is brutal.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.