Former Patriots tight end Christian Fauria was suspended from his radio job in Boston on Friday after he made a racist joke about Tom Brady’s agent, Don Yee. More
In 2012, the Indianapolis Colts spent a pair of early-round draft picks on tight ends Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen. As of today, neither player is on the roster. More
The New York Giants have holes to fill on both offense and defense. One could argue that no position is as much of a pressing need as tight end. More
Martellus Bennett is not afraid to take a public stance on a variety of topics, and the Patriots tight end was at it again immediately after his team won the Super Bowl, telling reporters that he would not accompany it for the traditional champions’ White House visit. On Tuesday, Bennett posted a lengthy string of tweets, in which he took issue with the notion that athletes such as himself should “stick to sports.” More
Ever the character, Martellus Bennett was all over the place after his first Super Bowl win. More
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Sunday’s AFC Championship Game was won days before the raucous Gillette Stadium crowd sang along to Bon Jovi during a kickoff, before Patriots broadcaster Scott Zolak sent them into a frenzy by holding up a “Where is Roger?” sign on the jumbotron. More
The Latest on week 16 of the NFL season on Saturday (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
The Washington Redskins will be without tight end Jordan Reed and linebacker Su’a Cravens for their key matchup with the Chicago Bears.
Reed is out with a sprained left shoulder, and Cravens is inactive due to an upper arm injury. Reed is one of the top pass-catching tight ends in the league with 61 receptions for 646 yards and five touchdowns, and Cravens has…
MINNEAPOLIS — The Dallas Cowboys got a critical glimpse of what’s coming in the near future during their 17-15 win over Minnesota. This was a game that required Dallas to do things that haven’t been a big part of its season thus far: playing through mistakes, surviving without contributions from key players, dealing with costly penalties in crucial situations. It’s easy to think the Cowboys merely stole a victory when an upset seemed quite possible. It’s more important to realize that these are the kinds of games they’ll be playing in January, so it’s best to get accustomed to them in December.
Simply put, this was a contest the Cowboys should’ve lost. The Vikings controlled the Dallas offense for most of the contest and Minnesota also won the turnover battle. The raucous crowd inside U.S. Bank Stadium also kept the pressure on Dallas throughout the entire game. For the first time in weeks, it felt as if the Cowboys didn’t have immediate answers for the challenges they faced on nearly every series.
The most impressive part about Thursday night, however, is that Dallas didn’t quiver in the face of such adversity. It simply waited for the right opportunities and then pounced on them to improve to 11-1.
“This was a tough night and I like to use the word ‘fight’ as much as ‘resilience,'” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “We just kept battling. We kept fighting. Individually, the units came back to overcome different things. We kept picking each other up. It’s the foundation of what we try to do each and every day with the Cowboys and that (approach) was on display.”
This isn’t the first time the Cowboys have won a tight game. They beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh in one of the most entertaining contests of the season — a 35-30 win — and they survived the Philadelphia Eagles at home when rookie quarterback Dak Prescott rallied his team to a 29-23 overtime victory after playing poorly for more than three quarters. So they’ve already shown they can handle the heat that swells in high-pressure situations. They also won those games largely because their stars found ways to dominate.
That was not the case against the Vikings. Prescott only threw for 139 yards and was sacked him three times. Star running back Ezekiel Elliott gained 86 yards but 30 came on one carry. Wide receiver Dez Bryant produced 84 receiving yards — including a 56-yard catch that set up his team’s first touchdown — but tight end Jason Witten didn’t catch a pass. Dallas struggled on third downs (1 for 9), in the turnover battle (they lost 2-1) and with penalties (10 for 78 yards).
Like every team, the Cowboys were due to have a game like this. What they should take away from it is that teams that play deep into January learn how to win on their worst days. The Cowboys could’ve had a ready-made excuse for their sloppiness, that being they were playing…