Team news: Dallas Cowboys | Page 65

The Patriots will only have three wide receivers active Sunday against the Saints: Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan and Phillip Dorsett, and respected Patriots beat writer at ESPN, Mike Reiss, expects Hogan to play a heavy snap count.

"I expect Chris Hogan to play close to every offensive snap Sunday at New Orleans," Reiss wrote.

Related players: Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Brandin Cooks

Hogan already played 73 of 81 snaps Week 1, but he only caught one of his five targets. If it doesn't happen for him this week, then when will it? The Saints are a much more beatable defense for Hogan and this offense this week, but he's still, at best, the third passing option behind Rob Gronkowski and Brandin Cooks. For that reason, we still don't consider Hogan a WR2 play this week but a FLEX play option with room for more from there.

Jerry Jones expects Ezekiel Elliott to be on the field Sunday when the Cowboys play the Denver Broncos. Beyond that, the Cowboys owner and general manager wasn't making his thoughts known Tuesday morning.

"We've got a good narration going with the media that are really doing, in my mind, a pretty good job of explaining it to our fans," Jones said on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM] of Elliott's legal situation. "I'm not going to try to trump that, but the bottom line is, I do expect him Sunday."

Jones wouldn't commit to Elliott's longterm status because it's still possible he's suspended. But as long as the process is still being sorted out, Elliott will be allowed to play. Jones said expect a similar workload to the 24 carries he received in Week 1 as long as Elliott takes the field.

Dalvin Cook expected to sleep well Monday night.

The rookie running back made his regular-season debut at U.S. Bank Stadium and had, in the words of Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer, an “outstanding” night.

Cook racked up 127 yards on 22 attempts, averaging 5.8 yards per carry, in the Vikings 29-19 defeat of the Saints.

Related players: Latavius Murray, Jerick McKinnon

With a revamped offensive line, the Viking run game looked good Monday night. Murray didn't help his case by fumbling on his first carry as a Viking and finished with just two carries for six yards. Cook looks to be the clear RB1 in Minnesota.

The six-game suspension the NFL handed down to Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott was put on hold when Judge Amos L. Mazzant III granted a preliminary injunction last Friday and the legal fight has moved on to its next step.

The league filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in hopes of getting that injunction overturned.

If the appeal is granted and the NFL succeeds in the next stage of the legal battle, Elliott’s suspension could go into effect. How quickly that will be decided is unclear, but chances are that it won’t happen immediately as the average time for a case to go from notice of appeal to decision is over eight months. There is the option for either side to ask for an expedited appeal, although doing that didn’t make things move much faster in the case of Tom Brady‘s appeal of his four-game suspension, the story went on to say.

Cowboys Inactives
RB Darren McFadden
QB Cooper Rush
WR Noah Brown
OG Jonathan Cooper
CB Bene Benwikere
LB Anthony Hitchens
CB Jourdan Lewis

Related players: Alfred Morris, Ezekiel Elliott

This is a bit of a surprise as McFadden was expected to be the backup to Ezekiel Elliott. Looks like Morris will at least have those duties in Week 1. It's also significant to note for those who wanted to handcuff Elliott in the event of injury or suspension.

Reporting from Albert Breer, Kate Hairopoulos, Daniel Wallach, Adam Schefter and Gabe Feldman...

Breer: "Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott has been granted a temporary restraining order by a Texas district court, per court docs. He can play."

Kate Hairopoulos: "Judge: Elliott was denied a fundamentally fair hearing by Henderson’s
refusal to allow Thompson and Goodell to testify at the arbitration."

Wallach: "NFL barred from imposing suspension for duration of lawsuit (likely all season)."

Feldman: "While we wait for the decision, keep in mind that the grant/denial of a preliminary injunction is immediately appealable to the 5th Circuit."

Schefter: "Ezekiel Elliott now likely gets to play this season, but NFL and NFLPA are awaiting further explanation."

The NFL will appeal but as Schefter noted, Elliott will "likely" be able to play this season. Appearing on the NFL Network, Feldman added, "While this is winding its way through the court, Ezekiel Elliott is allowed to play, so it could be that the suspension is reinstated down the line, but for now it looks like Elliott will play most if not all of this season." It appears that owners who rolled the dice on Elliott in the late 1st/early 2nd will be rewarded handsomely.

Source: The Patriots are placing WR Malcolm Mitchell on Injured Reserve.

Related players: Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola, Phillip Dorsett

It's not clear at this point if Mitchell will have a chance to return this season, but this is clearly an upgrade for the other receivers in New England and might explain why the Patriots traded for Phillip Dorsett. Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola and Dorsett get a bump.

More on Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott's pending restraining order...

NFL Network legal analyst Gabe Feldman: “We learned that Zeke had a better chance I think most people anticipated. It’s very rare for a judge to grant a temporary restraining order injunction, particularly to interfere with an arbitration process and the league’s internal investigation. But based on the questioning he asked which was particularly hard on the league, wondering why they made certain decisions, raising some points that highlighted and really strengthened and affirmed some of the arguments that Zeke has made about the fundamental unfairness of the process. So he certainly seems to have a better shot than we anticipated, but it’s still a long shot to get this injunction to get an order that would allow him to stay on the field after Week 1.”

If Elliott get good news on Friday, the NFL could appeal immediately to the Fifth Circuit Court asking for an emergency stay to block the injunction and reinstate the suspension. Or the league could elect to let the case wind its way through the court system, which would allow Elliott to play out the season.

There are varying opinions about Elliott's chances of playing a full season while he fights the suspension in court. The momentum seems to be on his side, but Feldman throws some cold water on those prospects by saying that "it's still a long shot" for Elliott to get a favorable ruling this week. Stay tuned.

Good reporting here from Albert Breer, Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport...

Breer: Harold Henderson has upheld Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott's 6-game suspension, per source (@mortreport had it 1st). Off to court we go.

Breer: So now, Ezekiel Elliott awaits ruling from Texas court on his temporary restraining order. If granted, Cowboys likely to have him all year.

Pelissero: NFL took position Ezekiel Elliott CAN play Sunday. Judge rules by 5 pm Friday on restraining order.

Rapoport: To sum it up: Elliott plays Sunday. Could get a restraining order to stay in the field this season. Could not get it and sit Weeks 2-7.

Breer: Reports from in the courtroom indicated TRO hearing went well for Ezekiel Elliott. And again, he gets the TRO, he plays until case is settled.

Signs have been pointing to Elliott winning his bid for a temporary restraining order (TRO), which would allow him to play all of 2017 as the case sorts itself out. He's a top five running back if he's able to suit up against the Giants.

The Vikings didn’t have a pick in the first round of this year’s draft, but they found starters with three of their first four picks.

The Vikings have second-round pick Dalvin Cook, third-round pick Pat Elflein and fourth-round pick Ben Gedeon listed as starters on their depth chart heading into Monday’s game against the Saints.

Related Players: Latavius Murray

Cook is listed ahead of Latavius Murray at running back, which comes as no surprise after a summer that saw Murray limited by offseason ankle surgery and Cook getting praised by Vikings coaches at every turn. Murray got healthy by the end of the preseason, but it will be equally unsurprising if Cook should find himself getting the lion’s share of the work as his rookie season unfolds.