Dallas Cowboys: Effects of not playing final preseason game?

By Jimmy Long | Aug 30, 2017

ARLINGTON, TX - OCTOBER 05: J.J. Watt #99 of the Houston Texans is blocked by Zack Martin #70 of the Dallas Cowboys in the second half at AT&T Stadium on October 5, 2014 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

The NFL opted to cancel Thursday’s final preseason contest between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans. What does this mean for Dallas?

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the NFL announced Thursday that they would cancel the final preseason game for both the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport and Mike Garafolo.

The Texans have been practicing at The Star in Frisco, TX, as their facilities were unavailable. Previously, the game was even relocated and originally supposed to be played at AT&T Stadium. In fact, tickets were even sold last night with the proceeds being promised to Hurricane Harvey relief.

How does this affect the Cowboys and Texans going forward? Well, first off, they both lose out on a chance to evaluate their roster bubble players one more time before the cut deadline. Now, each team will have to cut from 90 to 53 players based upon what they’ve seen until now during the preseason.

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For the Cowboys, this means that players like Marquez White, Duke Thomas and Lewis Neal won’t have a final chance to prove themselves. It also means that fan favorite Cooper Rush won’t get valuable additional game snaps.

Not to mention, rookies Chidobe Awuzie, Ryan Switzer and Xavier Woods were all expected to get some play time on Thursday in preparation for the regular season. Considering that all three have missed considerable time due to injury, that experience would have been invaluable.

However, the NFL made the right call to cancel the game. At the end of the day, football is only a game, and allowing players to spend time with their families and help their communities during a time of need is very important.

Next: NFL 2017: Predicting one surprising cut for each team

And that’s exactly what the NFL is allowing them to do.

If you want to contribute to the relief from Hurricane Harvey, visit one of the following:

JJ Watt’s Houston Flood Relief Fund
The Salvation Army

Some things are more important than football.

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