Call them “white hot” or “ice cold,” when the Dallas Cowboys take the field in Tennessee for their Thursday Night Football matchup against the Titans, the team will be rocking the official all-white color-rush uniforms.
⚠️ WARNING: these uniforms are so cold, they just might cause frostbite. ???
The Arctic Cowboy look debuts in primetime on @NFL Thursday Night Football. ❄️?#DALvsTEN | #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/NteBbLmAWS
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) December 29, 2022
Thursday night’s game had much more of the feel of a true Titan-Esque clash when Tennessee was sitting at 7-3 in mid-November. Since then, the Titans have lost five in a row and are reeling from injuries to several key players and the firing of general manager Jon Robinson several weeks ago.
On the other hand, the Cowboys wrangled a playoff berth in Week 16 courtesy of a Washington Commanders loss to the New York Giants, despite Dallas’ loss to Tennessee’s division rival, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
In a perfect world, Dallas’ defeat of the Philadelphia Eagles would have signaled a changing of the guard in the NFC East. But the triumph only staves off the inevitable likelihood that Dallas ends the season as the No.5 seed.
Dallas must win on Thursday, then beat Washington in Week 18, while counting on the Eagles to drop two games in the City of Brotherly Love, first on New Year’s Day against the New Orleans Saints, then the season closer against division-rival New York.
The Cowboys will have no idea what to expect as they kick off Week 17 on Thursday Night, but they know they will have to win and hope while watching from home as the remainder of the NFC action plays out.
The Cowboys built the 2022 season around a ferocious pass-rushing defense headlined by last season’s Rookie Defensive Player of the Year, Micah Parsons, and set off by Dorance Armstrong, Dante Fowler, Demarcus Lawrence, and Quinton Bohanna. Together, the team racked up 48 sacks in the first 12 games of the season.
However, this unit has been among the quietest in the NFL in the last several weeks, logging just one sack in the previous three games. With that said, half of the Cowboys’ 14 interceptions in 2022 have also come in the last four games.
Tennessee will go into the Thursday Night game without starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who will miss the remainder of the season with an ankle injury.
Surprisingly, getting the starting nod for the Titans will be Josh Dobbs, who was signed off the Detroit Lions’ practice squad eight days ago. Dobbs has never started a game before and appeared only in six regular-season games in his career, all with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who selected him in the fourth round of the 2017 draft.
Dobbs is getting the start over rookie Malik Willis, who has struggled in his three starts in relief of Tannehill. Willis, selected in the third round of this year’s draft, has failed to pass for 100 yards or complete a touchdown pass in a game but has thrown three interceptions.
As if the loss of the starting quarterback was not enough of a blow to the Titans, it is also doubtful that star running back Derrick Henry will be good to go against Dallas.
At best, Henry will present a wounded front from an offense desperate to pick up a key win. A loss against Dallas will almost be the final blow to the Titans’ season, ending the second year in a row that the team was viewed as a front-runner in the AFC.
Dallas will need to capitalize on a revitalized receiving core with the addition of T.Y. Hilton, who hauled in a 52-yarder last week to help the Cowboys break a close game and pick up a needed win over the division-rival Eagles.
The running game behind Ezekiel Elliott will need to execute effectively to open opportunities for CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup in the passing game if Dallas hopes to keep alive the dream of an NFC East Title.
A Dallas win, and the Cowboys can sit back on the couch on Sunday and hope the Eagles lose. Otherwise, the team will have nothing left to play for except to be as healthy as possible when the playoffs begin.
