Cowboys healthy corners could make an impact

How can they do that? Continues to play out of nickel personnel with five defensive backs on the field to make things more difficult for Bryce Young to find a receiver. The Cowboys have trotted defensively in the nickel on 82.3% of their snaps since Week 9, the third-highest rate in the league. They also played in man coverage on 52.2% of their snaps last week against Cincinnati, the first time they’ve been over 50% this season. Against man coverage, Young has completed just 48.5% of his passes for five touchdowns and four interceptions.

They will also need help from their pass rush to disrupt Young and throw him out of the game. Carolina’s offensive line has been solid, allowing Young to be sacked just eight times since returning as the starter in Week 8, but Dallas’ pass rush has improved significantly. Since Micah Parsons returned in Week 10, they have the fifth-highest pressure rate (39.2%) and the tenth-highest pressure-to-sack conversion rate (23.1%) in the league. The formula is simple: Make Young uncomfortable and let your trio of playmakers in the secondary do the rest.

2. Can Dowdle surpass Hubbard on earth?

With how the Cowboys’ run game has started offensively this season, you might never have guessed that this matchup would feature two of the hottest running backs in the NFL. Chuba Hubbard has shouldered a large majority of the workload for Carolina on the ground and will continue to do so with Jonathan Brooks out for the rest of the season.

Similarly, Dallas has found their lead back in Rico Dowdle, who has carried the ball 40 times for a league-best 243 yards and a touchdown in the last two games. After not being able to generate more than 10 rushing yards above expectations in the first 10 games of the season, he generated at least 40 rushing yards above expectations against the Giants and Bengals.

Both Dowdle and Hubbard also have opportunities to have big days on Sunday, as the Panthers and Cowboys are ranked 31st.^St and 32^n.d run defense in the league or

The team that has a better rushing performance on offense will have a big leg up in this game. And that aspect is likely to be settled.

Dowdle (51.4%) and Hubbard (49%) have the first and second best rushing success rates in the second half of games this season, and whoever can take advantage of a potentially depleted defense will likely win their team played.