Lost somewhat in the strong second-half team showing of the Cowboys’ 44-20 rout over the Giants on Sunday was the minor scare fans had gotten earlier regarding one of its stars. As the first quarter came to close, cornerback Trevon Diggs- the league leader in interceptions, the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Month for September, and the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week at the time- was on the sideline getting his ankle taped.
Diggs returned to the game in short order and even continued his remarkable pick streak for a fifth consecutive game. But the ankle was bothering him enough that he sat out practice on Wednesday, showing up on the day’s practice report with the dreaded “DNP” designation.
It served as a stark reminder of just how day-to-day every player really is all the time, and it prompted reporters to make Diggs’s status the first question in head coach Mike McCarthy’s Thursday press conference as the team prepares for a trip to New England to face the Patriots.
“Trevon will be limited today,” McCarthy told media members at The Star. “We’ll see if we can maybe get him into the individual [portion of practice]. That will be the most he’ll probably do today.”
While a management day for Diggs held him out of team drills Wednesday, the second-year phenom did go through resistance training on his own, and the team expects him to play Sunday in Foxborough.
“Not of high concern,” McCarthy said of the ankle injury.
No practice for Trevon Diggs today. He went through resistance training as he works through an ankle injury that occurred vs. the Giants last week. Not expected to be an issue for Sunday. pic.twitter.com/KVp5TcxcBL
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) October 13, 2021
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Based on the way Diggs kept himself loose on the sideline bike during last week’s contest and then returned to make a major impact, it’s safe to assume that he and the team are taking the same sort of approach heading into the last game before the bye.
“No one knows their body the way they do,” McCarthy said on Thursday, speaking of athletes in general.
By all accounts, Diggs taking things easy on Wednesday and Thursday shouldn’t have much bearing on seeing him out there on Sunday, roaming through the secondary and looking to intercept yet another of his former Alabama teammates in New England rookie quarterback Mac Jones.