Cowboys' Orlando Scandrick not the last man to get hurt

By Brittany Willis

With Orlando Scandrick done for season, there is only one attitude to have…NEXT MAN UP!

Yes, losing our most reliable guy in our secondary was not something any of us anticipated nor happy about. But as always with the National Football league we have to expect the unexpected. Unfortunately, injuries play a huge part in this game, especially if you are the Dallas Cowboys. Or so it seems anyways. As Orlando laid there in pain, and wiping his tears from his face. I think everyone knew that it wasn’t good, as fellow teammates of No. 32 watched in agony.

“You know that’s a guy who’s been playing some great football for us…one of our leaders on the back end.” Carr said. It’s unfortunate for him to go down in practice . Our attention immediately turns to make sure he is OK, his spirits are lifted.” I think that we all can agree when I say that the Cowboys secondary was an ares of concern for the Cowboys last season. So to lose the most solid defensive back before the season even began it is more than just a bump in the road. However with that being said, the only way to bounce back from this is to focus on the next man up. Jerome Henderson, Cowboys secondary coach shared a few things with his players following the injury of Scandrick. He shared that he was impressed with the aggressive, proactive they had, with multiple interceptions. Then he said to his team “You know that ‘O is hurting right now, so everybody keep him in your prayers and it is the next man up if he is out.”

It does happen to every team and all the time. Just last week the Green Bay Packers lost their number one star receiver, to yet another ACL injury. But you have to focus, regroup, and keep moving. Undrafted second year corner Tyler Patmon is the next man up in my opinion The Cowboys also seem to be quite fired up about him as well. The Cowboys cannot replace Scandrick, but Patmon seemed to impress players and coaches alike this training camp. Coach Garrett said “He has a lot of the same traits that Orlando has, his strengths are the instinctive way that he plays, his ability to make plays, just has an overall good feel for the game. He is a great competitor. He’s feisty, he fights, he battles and scratches and claws, so we are going to give him an opportunity in there first.”

Patmon is most memorable for a few things in my mind from last season one being a preseason game against the Miami Dolphins, by intercepting Ryan Tannehill, then shortly thereafter taking a pick six off Matt Moore. Patmon also stands out in my mind week 9, playing against the Arizona Cardinals, when our beloved #9 sat out and I’m sure as all of us fans were, I was worried. But Patmon came out guns a blazing when he scored a 58-yard interception return off of Carson Palmer. Sitting at 5-foot-10 and 188 pounds, Patmon isn’t the largest corner in the league and not the fastest either. Again sharing a lot of the same traits that Scandrick has, Scandrick however, was at least drafted, and granted it was much lower than he had hoped for or anticipated, Patmon wasn’t even picked at all. He was given a mini-camp tryout in 2014. But obviously he showed them enough in that short time to earn him a spot on the roster.

I am deeply concerned at the loss of Orlando and I believe that goes without saying; however I will say I am really excited to see who is going to really step up to the challenge. The Cowboys are at a time that we need to win and we need to win now. Tony Romo and others don’t have a whole lot of healthy seasons left, and that is just the cold hard truth. We don’t have time to spend multiple years trying to mold a player. We need a player that is going to come into a position and fight every day to help get his team to a championship. A well overdue and much deserved championship season could not come any faster at this point. Oh and in case anyone was starting to question the subject, Dez still caught it. Two weeks and counting, Cowboys Nation … two weeks and counting!

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