The Dallas Cowboys Sunday Night Football game with the New York Giants will determine, for a couple of weeks at least, the NFC East division leader. At the very least, it will give the winner a distinct advantage heading towards the 2011 NFL playoffs.
One area that Dallas' fans can look at as a positive is the return of two players, Miles Austin(notes) and Tony Fiammetta(notes).
Miles Austin, the Cowboys' starting wide receiver has only played in six games in 2011. He opened the season with a hamstring injury but started on fire anyway, with 14 receptions for 233 yards and four touchdowns in the first two games. Austin was the main hero in the Cowboys' victory over the 49ers with three touchdowns despite tweaking his left hamstring again in the game.
Austin returned in Week 6 against New England, who came in with the worst pass defense in the NFL. Despite the solid matchup, Austin finished with seven receptions for 74 yards and never found the end zone. After that game, Austin practically disappeared, with seven receptions for 96 yards in his next three games combined. Then, in the second quarter of the Dallas game with Seattle, Austin hurt his right hamstring.
After sitting out for four weeks, Austin finally returned to practice and will return to the field in Week 14. With the Giants up next, Dallas needs Austin to be back to full strength if they want to beat their division rivals.
The second returning player may not be a big name but he plays an important role in the Dallas offense. Fiammetta is the Cowboys' fullback, and without him the Cowboys filled in the gap as best they could. The Cowboys averaged 176 rushing yards in four games with Fiammetta as the lead blocker for Murray. In three games without Fiammetta, the Cowboys averaged 83
With Austin back in the lineup and Fiammetta blocking for Murray, the Cowboys can only hope they can get their offense back moving again.
Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys' fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys' related news, good or bad
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