Aside from winning Thursday night in Nashville and closing the deal against the Titans, the Cowboys’ primary goal was to get through the game unscathed. After all, the start of the week showed a clean injury report, which was hard to come by in 17 weeks.
But stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Cowboys are dealing with injuries on the offensive line.
They took care of the first part and pulled off a less than aesthetically pleasing 27-13 win, but that came at the expense of their center Tyler Biadasz, who sustained a bad ankle sprain in the last game of the third quarter.
While he would soon be ruled out after being helped off the field and then carted back to the locker room where he changed into street clothes and a hiking boot on his right ankle, the Cowboys’ sidelines quickly scrambled to rearrange their offensive line.
With Biadasz injured, three different positions were changed: Jason Peters came in for the left tackle, pushed rookie Tyler Smith to left guard and finally Connor McGovern to middle position. Alongside Zach Martin and Tyron Smith as right guard and right tackle, the Cowboys were once again forced to reconfigure their line this season.
But there was also no panic when the changes had to be made. Rotation changes are nothing new for the Cowboys this season. They’ve come and gone since the beginning of the season. Like Tyron Smith’s injury in training camp or Terence Steele, who tore his cruciate ligament in recent weeks and replaced him with Smith in a proper tackle, a position he hadn’t played since 2011.
With that unit on the field beginning in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys ran 20 games, including a 10-yard touchdown pass from Dak Prescott to Dalton Schultz on their first drive together to essentially thwart the game. Because they’ve become such pros this season (no pun intended) to adapt on the fly, the offensive line has had little trouble working in unison immediately after the realignment.
“It’s a good thing that we practice it during the week in case of the worst case scenario,” McGovern said. “So when [Peters] came out, Tyler [Smith] knew he was on the alert and we’re all on the same page for everything.”
The move back to center wasn’t unfamiliar territory for McGovern, having played the position during his stint at Penn State in 2017. As soon as Biadasz went down, McGovern quickly turned around to remove his blocking glove and dry his hands to snap the ball.
“The first thing that went through my mind was I have to make sure my hands are dry so I can hold onto that ball,” said McGovern. “It felt like I was just riding my bike again. Once I started getting going, I got used to it and we were good to go.”
With head coach Mike McCarthy saying after the game that the Cowboys will reevaluate Biadasz’s ankle injury on Friday, it’s certainly not unthinkable, if not likely, that the group that ended Thursday night’s game could change the starting lineup against a fierce Front seven will be the Washington Commanders, who will welcome back Chase Young just last week against the 49ers after recovering from a cruciate ligament tear.
Outside of Young, Commanders can still offer Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen, and Montez Sweat. Those three have combined for 24 sacks this season, with Washington amassing 37 sacks as a team, good for 13th in the NFL.
If the Cowboys need McGovern to dress up midway through Week 18, he said he’s ready. As will the rest of the group after seeing so much turnover this year. With so many different ways to apply the team’s mantra of “resilience” this season, the offensive line ranks as one of the most resilient aspects of the Cowboys in 2022.