Dallas Cowboys: 5 X-factor players for Week 2 vs. Falcons
By Randy Gurzi
These five Dallas Cowboys will be key to winning their home debut in Week 2.
Coming off a frustrating loss in Week 1, the Dallas Cowboys hope to get back on track in Week 2 against the Atlanta Falcons. It will be their home debut for the 2020 season and the first game for head coach Mike McCarthy as a Cowboys in AT&T Stadium.
McCarthy has had his fair share of success in Jerry World, including winning his Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers there back in February of 2011. Now, he looks to turn America’s Team around while also erasing the bad taste in their mouths from the loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
In this game, Dallas is going to need to dig deep in order to get the win. They’re facing a Falcons team that has a lot of firepower on offense that could make this game a shootout.
With that being said, we look at five players fo the Cowboys who will be X-factors for them in Week 2.
5. Dalton Schultz, Tight End
Losing Blake Jarwin was huge. The Cowboys had some high hopes for the fourth-year tight end but that came crashing down when he dropped to the ground with a torn ACL. With him out, the Cowboys turned to third-year pro Dalton Schultz who is still a relative unknown in the NFL.
Apparently, the team has some faith in Schultz as they avoided making any moves in free agency meaning he will be the guy in Week 2. And in his first game of the season, he wasn’t overly impressive as he pulled in just one of his four targets for 11 yards — although only one of those misfires seemed to be 100 percent on him.
Looking ahead to Week 2, Schultz won’t be a key figure in the offense but that doesn’t mean he won’t be an X-factor. We all know the wideouts are going to be targeted and so too will Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard out of the backfield. As for Schultz, he’s going to be the guy the defense isn’t concerned with. That means he needs to make them pay whenever his number is called.
Schultz doesn’t need to be the same player Blake Jarwin was supposed to be. He doesn’t need to be able to break the game open. But what he needs to be is someone who is not a liability for Dallas.