NFC East

The Washington Commanders are reportedly expected to activate running back Brian Robinson from the non-football injury list early this week.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Robinson is expected to return "sooner rather than later," but he is not a lock to play in Week 5 against the Tennessee Titans. Activating Robinson will allow him to practice with the team and fully test his overall health after being shot in an attempted robbery in August.

While two bullets hit Robinson's leg, he avoided major damage to his ligaments, tendons and bones and has made a full recovery. The next step will be ramping up his football activity after the Alabama product spent several weeks rehabbing.

Robinson was a third-round pick in April's draft and was seemingly in line to be the Commanders' early-down back before being shot. It's unclear what role he will play upon his return.

Antonio Gibson will start his fourth game of the season Sunday and has performed to mixed results the first three weeks. After a brilliant Week 1 saw him total 130 yards on 22 touches, he has put up a total of 81 yards the last two weeks. He's averaging a career-low 3.1 yards per carry and has seen J.D. McKissic and Curtis Samuel take over most of the passing game work.

Washington was planning on using Gibson as a return man on special teams before Robinson went out, and it's possible the preseason plan winds up taking shape. Robinson will have to prove he's healthy and explosive after an impressive preseason, but there's a real chance his starting role will be waiting for him once he's ready.

Dallas Cowboys tight end Dalton Schultz is reportedly set to return from a knee injury for Sunday's Week 4 game against the Washington Commanders.

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported Saturday that Schultz is "expected to play" despite being listed as questionable on the Cowboys' official injury report.

The fifth-year tight end missed Monday night's win over the New York Giants because of the PCL issue. He'd recorded nine catches for 80 yards through Dallas' first two games.

Schultz, a 2018 fourth-round pick out of Stanford, enjoyed a breakout season in 2021 with 78 receptions for 808 yards and eight touchdowns, all of which represented career highs.

His Week 3 absence was part of an up-and-down start to the campaign for the Cowboys (2-1), who remain without quarterback Dak Prescott after he suffered a thumb injury in the team's season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The 26-year-old Utah native previously discussed how battling through adversity has been a key talking point for the organization.

"The way I see it, it's just a storm," Schultz told reporters. "You've got two choices: You can run away from the storm or you can run right into it. I know myself included and everybody in our locker room is going to run right into that motherf--ker. That's just our approach."

Getting him back alongside CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup, who's set to make his season debut after recovering from a torn ACL, will give fill-in quarterback Cooper Rush a full complement of weapons for the NFC East clash.

That's a promising sign as Dallas prepares to face a Washington defense that's struggled in the early going, ranking 26th in total defense (402.7 yards allowed per game) and 28th in scoring defense (27.3 points allowed per game) during its 1-2 start.

Sunday's kickoff at AT&T Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Fox.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Gallup appears to be set to make his 2022 regular-season debut Sunday against the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium.

Mike Garafolo of NFL Network provided the latest news on Gallup, who suffered a torn ACL while making a touchdown catch during a Week 17 game against the Arizona Cardinals last January.

Gallup isn't officially active as of yet, and he may need to clear a final hurdle Saturday, per ESPN's Todd Archer:

However, all signs are ultimately pointing toward his return.

When the 2022 NFL season was approaching, the question wasn't whether the 26-year-old would be ready to go but rather how many weeks would pass before he received the all clear following a long recovery period.

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters Sept. 19 that Gallup might suit up as early as Week 3 against the New York Giants. That date came and went without him stepping onto the field, though.

The Cowboys won't wait much longer for his return, though.

In the offseason, Dallas effectively chose Gallup over Amari Cooper since keeping both while remaining under the salary cap was next to impossible. That put a lot of pressure on the Colorado State product, and the need for him to get healthy and start delivering grew after Dak Prescott's thumb injury threw the passing game into flux.

Noah Brown (15 receptions, 213 yards, one touchdown) has exceeded expectations early on. If that trend continues, it will be a nice bonus for the Cowboys as Gallup steadily plays his way back to his best.

New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley looks to have regained the form that saw him dominate the league in his rookie year, and he's happy with his performance so far.

Barkley ranks second in the NFL with 317 rushing yards and two touchdowns while averaging 6.0 yards per carry. He told reporters Thursday that his play this year is reminiscent of his first season in the league:

"Yeah, not to be arrogant but when you see plays like when I went back and watched film on the touchdown run I had on Monday, making that jump cut inside a hole, making those two guys miss and finding a way to score, those are plays where it just puts a smile on your face when you're like, 'That is the guy I know.'"

After being drafted No. 2 overall in 2018, Barkley immediately emerged as a star in New York's backfield. He totaled 2,028 scrimmage yards and 15 combined touchdowns on his way to being named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Barkley's promising career took a turn when he suffered a torn ACL two games into the 2020 season. He played 13 games last year but struggled to produce while he was on the field. He was hobbled with an ankle injury throughout the season and finished with 593 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

The 25-year-old revealed that last season he lacked the confidence he has now, as he didn't fully trust his body at the time:

"That is the guy who was always there. He was there last year to be completely honest. I just had a hard time finding a way to bring him out. That is coming with a mental disconnect, loss in confidence and just human nature. It happens. You're going to have your ups and downs in life, but you have to find a way not to waver and trust yourself. Continue to trust the process and find belief in yourself again. I feel like I'm starting to do that."

Barkley is excited to continue to put his skills on display this week when the Giants welcome the Chicago Bears to MetLife Stadium. He recorded 102 yards on 21 carries in a Week 17 loss to Chicago last year, his first 100-yard game since the 2019 season. The Bears were the team he tore his ACL against in 2020, so any matchup against them always means a little extra to him.

"Last year is when I really felt the hurdle everyone wants to talk about, I kind of felt that was the hurdle for me last year," Barkley said. "Obviously we didn't finish the last game last year--we didn't play well at all as a team. For that one, to go back to Chicago, the place where I tore my knee, to have a 100-yard game, obviously it's all about the team, but to look at it from my mindset, to go to that place that kind of put everything in the past for me and be able to go into the offseason healthy.

"I was able to show glimpses of that, especially inside running," he added. "I just wasn't breaking long runs and now that I have that confidence back all that stuff is starting to happen again."

Philadelphia Eagles star Jalen Hurts has played like an MVP candidate through the first three weeks of the season, and Doug Pederson seems proud of his former player.

"He's going to defy all odds," Pederson told reporters on Wednesday. "That's just the way his career has been built. He's overcome adversity everywhere he's been, at Alabama and Oklahoma."

Pederson was the head coach of the Eagles during Hurts' first season in the NFL, with the quarterback showing some flashes of his ability across four starts. Hurts has taken his game to a new level in 2022, totaling 916 passing yards, 167 rushing yards and seven total touchdowns while leading Philadelphia to a 3-0 start.

"Just not surprised," Pederson, who is now coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars, said of Hurts. "Not surprised that he's playing this well, and he's playing and really utilizing the guys around him to help him get these wins that they're piling up."

The Eagles will look to keep their hot streak going against Pederson and the 2-1 Jaguars in Week 4.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott "seems to have a good chance" to retake the field Oct. 16 when his team plays the Philadelphia Eagles.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network on Wednesday reported that note and more regarding Prescott, who suffered a fractured thumb Sept. 11 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"From my understanding, he has an outside/slim chance to play against the Rams," Rapoport said, referencing Dallas' Oct. 9 matchup at Los Angeles. "I know that's when he would like to play—but probably a slim chance—but seems to have a good chance to play Oct. 16 against the Eagles. That's probably the most realistic time when we could see Dak Prescott."

Prescott said Monday that he's looking to return against the defending Super Bowl champions.

"Nah, probably not," Prescott told Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today when asked about his availability for Sunday's game against the Washington Commanders. "But Week 5 against the Rams? That's the one I'm looking at."

That means Cooper Rush will once again start for the Cowboys. Rush has led Dallas to a pair of wins over the Cincinnati Bengals (20-17) and New York Giants (23-16) in the past two weeks.

Rush has completed 47 of 75 passes for 514 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions. The Cowboys will also be clear favorites at home against the 1-2 Commanders, who have been outscored 46-0 in the first half of their last two games.

The Rams matchup should be far tougher, especially since they feature one of the best defensive players of all time in lineman Aaron Donald. But having Prescott back for the Eagles game will be far more important considering Philadelphia's hot start and status as an NFC East rival.

The 3-0 Eagles are one of two remaining undefeated teams alongside the Miami Dolphins. They have an MVP candidate in Jalen Hurts at quarterback leading a dominant offense that includes wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, tight end Dallas Goedert and a great line.

The defense has also played better than it did last year, with cornerback Darius Slay notably looking like an All-Pro through three weeks. He notched two interceptions in Week 2 versus the Minnesota Vikings and has five pass breakups.

Rush has played well, but Prescott will certainly be welcomed back by a team that finished with the NFL's No. 1 offense in points and yards last year when he started 16 games.

Washington Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz is coming off his worst outing of the season in Sunday's loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, but he hasn't lost the confidence of his head coach.

Ron Rivera said he fully believes Wentz will be able to put his disappointing performance behind him.

"I'm not worried about Carson. Carson's going to bounce back," Rivera told NBC Sports Washington's JP Finlay. "He's a very resilient young man."

The Commanders fell to 1-2 this season after their 24-8 loss against the Eagles. Wentz finished with 211 yards on 25-of-43 passing with no touchdowns, no interceptions and two fumbles, one of which was lost. Per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, Wentz was sacked nine times and sustained 17 hits on Sunday.

Rivera was especially impressed with how the 29-year-old signal-caller shouldered the blame for the loss.

"I loved his press conference, accepting responsibility," Rivera said. "And he put it on himself and he tried to make sure everybody understood that this is a team game—we’re all culpable. And I don’t disagree with him. We are all culpable, myself included."

Wentz is in his first season in Washington after being acquired in a trade with the Indianapolis Colts in March. He had solid showings in his first two games, including leading the Commanders to a fourth-quarter comeback win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1.

Through three games, Wentz has thrown for 861 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 63.1 percent of his passes. However, he's been sacked 15 times, tied for the league-high with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Rivera said the team is aware that there are multiple mistakes that need to be addressed.

"But there is a sense of urgency. There is a 'gotta have it,' a 'gotta go out and get it done' type of mentality," he said. "It was the same thing last week. We wanted it. We worked to do it, and we’re going to do it every week that way. It’s just sometimes, it doesn’t work your way."

The Commanders will try to end their two-game skid when they face the Dallas Cowboys in another NFC East showdown on Sunday.

Jerry Jones is far more interested in seeing the Dallas Cowboys win a Super Bowl than he is in selling the storied franchise.

"I know that I wouldn't sell the Cowboys for $10 [billion]," he said, per Josh Schafer of Yahoo Finance. "I'll book it. I would not. Of course, I’m not interested in selling the Cowboys. … And then you have the fact that I bought the Cowboys not to make money, at all. ... What I wanted to do was coach football."

While Jones doesn't have any interest in selling, the opportunity for a massive return on his investment does exist.

Schafer noted he purchased the franchise for $150 million in 1989, which was a record at the time. However, Forbes listed the Cowboys as the world's most valuable sports team in 2022 at an estimated value of $8 billion.

That is far more than the $4.65 billion the Denver Broncos sold for in June, which was the most expensive professional sports purchase ever.

It is a testament to the strength of the NFL that the New England Patriots ($6.4 billion) and Los Angeles Rams ($6.2 billion) round out Forbes' top three, with the New York Giants ($6 billion), Chicago Bears ($5.8 billion) and Washington Commanders ($5.6 billion) also all included in the top 10.

The league is a television-ratings powerhouse and entered a new streaming deal with Amazon.

Dallas is consistently in the marquee viewing windows for those ratings as America's Team with the instantly recognizable star on the helmet and massive AT&T Stadium serving as the backdrop.

Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing noted the Cowboys' Week 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals averaged 27.389 million viewers on CBS, which was the network's most-watched national window since before the coronavirus pandemic in the 2019 campaign.

The Cowboys didn't even have star quarterback Dak Prescott (thumb) in that game.

Jones has become almost synonymous with the Cowboys at this point, and it would have been fairly surprising to see him sell the franchise even before these comments. He removed any doubt with them and is instead focused on trying to put the best possible team on the field.

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons said he wasn't going to let an illness keep him from playing in Monday night's 23-16 win over the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.

"I'm here to play. I'm here to be great," Parsons told reporters. "I could have a stomach virus. I could be pooping my pants, and I still want to play. I don't want to be held back. I live to play the game. Me at 60 [percent] is better than most people at 100 [percent]. I just wanna play."

The 2021 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year played 83 percent of the defensive snaps against the Giants but failed to make his usual high-end impact. He recorded one assisted tackle and two quarterback hits, per Pro Football Reference.

Parsons was listed as questionable going into the Week 3 contest after missing practice Thursday and Friday. He returned to a limited session Saturday.

He posted a GIF from Michael Jordan's famous 1997 Flu Game on Saturday:

Although Parsons, who tallied four sacks through the first two games, fell short of his typical impact, the Cowboys defense still played well. The unit held the Giants to just one touchdown and a 3-of-11 mark on third down.

The 23-year-old Penn State product will likely be closer to full strength by the time Dallas (2-1) battles the Washington Commanders (1-2) at AT&T Stadium on Sunday.