Cowboys seek lost momentum in Thanksgiving meeting

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Raiders and Dallas Cowboys have one victory between them in November and one more chance to do something about it before the playoff push time also known as December.

It just so happens they’re playing each other on Thanksgiving.

So forget about Dallas receiver Amari Cooper playing his former team for the first time Thursday — a positive COVID-19 test and his vaccination status took care of that. The NFC East-leading Cowboys (7-3) want to bounce back at home coming off a poor offensive showing, just as they did a week and a half ago against Atlanta.

The expected return of left tackle Tyron Smith, who missed three games with an ankle injury, could be the boost the Cowboys need.

“As we head into the latter part of the season, we got to start getting this thing back rolling,” said running back Ezekiel Elliott, who took another shot against the Chiefs to a right knee that’s been bothering him for weeks. “It’s time we start firing on all cylinders.”

Cooper, acquired from the Raiders for a first-round draft pick in 2018, is Dallas’ most reliable receiver but will miss a second consecutive game because NFL protocols require unvaccinated players to be sidelined at least 10 days. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones, while calling Cooper “one of the highest character guys you will ever be around,” wasn’t pleased about it.

“It said it early,” Jones said on his radio show this week. “You check ‘me’ at the door in a football team. That has nothing to do with the issues of masking, not masking, getting vaccinated, not getting vaccinated. The facts are it is a ‘we’ thing when you walk into the locker room, and anybody is being counted on to pull his weight.”

Thanksgiving week was difficult for the Cowboys a year ago. Strength and conditioning coach Markus Paul collapsed in the weight room and died at a hospital a day later, about 24 hours before the Cowboys lost to Washington 41-16. Coach Mike Mccarthy led a discussion about Paul in a team meeting Tuesday.

“From my perspective, we want to make sure his legacy carries on. It’s important to all of us,” Mccarthy said. “We have 84 players in the locker room, and 40 of the players were not here last year. Clearly I was talking more to the new players just to understand who he was and what he’s meant to us.”