Cowboys player projections for Steelers game call for more lackluster offense

The Dallas Cowboys are the only team playing on Sunday night who is coming off of a win as the Pittsburgh Steelers fell for the first time this season last week in Indianapolis. Even though the Cowboys did win, morale has been rather low. Some of this has to do with the fact that Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence both suffered injuries in the game and are expected to miss time. To be clear, Lawrence has already been placed on official reserve, but Parsons is only (using that word very loosely) dealing with a high-ankle sprain so it is possible that he returns much sooner.

To make matter worse, on Wednesday we learned the news that Brandin Cooks would also miss at least this game due to an infection that developed after injections he received in his knee. Needless to say, the Cowboys are going to be short-staffed.

As far as how the staffers in question will fare, we will turn to our friends at NFL Pro to understand. Their service (which you can subscribe to right here) offers player predictions for the top skill positions. Here is how the predictions fared last week (bolded text is the actual stat line):

Dak Prescott: 247.3 yards, 1.8 TDs, 0.7 INTs, 13.7 rush yards, 0.1 rush TDs
221 yards, 2 TDs, -1 rushing yards

Rico Dowdle: 34.1 yards, 0.2 TDS, 2.1 receptions, 15.3 receiving yards, 0.1 TDs
46 yards, 1 reception, 15 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD

CeeDee Lamb: 6.9 receptions, 87.8 yards, 0.5 TDs
7 receptions, 98 yards, 1 TD

Brandin Cooks: 3.1 receptions, 39 yards, 0.3 TDs
1 reception, 16 yards

Jake Ferguson: 3.9 receptions, 40.8 yards, 0.3 TDs
7 receptions, 49 yards

The projections were pretty close as far as Prescott’s passing touchdowns, Dowdle’s receiving yards, Lamb’s receptions and even Ferguson’s receiving yards were concerned. Consider that as we move forward.

Here is how NFL Pro views the Dallas Cowboys offense performing in Pittsburgh.

And here are their projections for the Steelers offensive skill players.

Justin Fields is not Lamar Jackson, but consider that NFL Pro projected the latter to have 50.2 rushing yards against the Cowboys and that he ultimately ripped off 87. Mobile quarterbacks can win against this defense and that is with both Parsons and Lawrence present. Without them… goodness.

Their injuries are a big reason why the Steelers are favored, although by less than the traditional three points offered to the home team, but the insights involved believe Pittsburgh will come out on top as well.

The Steelers have the edge in the passing department on both offense and defense in just about every single way.

The quick passing game does seem to benefit the Cowboys offense here which makes sense given how Dak Prescott played last week. He was 13 of 14 for 143 yards and two touchdowns on throws that came in under 2.5 seconds. He is leading the league in tight window throw percentage at the moment and doing so very fast, an indication at how little the Cowboys have to work with as far as their skill players are concerned.

Prescott also has very little to work with as far as the Cowboys ground game and NFL Pro is acknowledging that in overwhelming effort. Pittsburgh is presumed to have the advantage to an even larger degree in the run game, both on offense and defense.

By most measures this figures to be a tight game and the run game may wind up playing a critical role in that. If it does then the Steelers have the advantage on paper, but we play the games to see how right or wrong the paper was.