Adrian Fedkiw
Surprise, surprise Sean Lee is injured again.
The Dallas Cowboys linebacker Lee is unlikely to play in Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles after suffering a hamstring injury in Sunday’s 27-7 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He may also be out on Thanksgiving against the Los Angeles Chargers a week later, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Bad timing for #Cowboys LB Sean Lee: Source said he’s unlikely to play this week vs #Eagles and then it’s the Thanksgiving Day game against the #Chargers four days later. May miss several games.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 13, 2017
The difference in the defensive numbers are staggering when Lee is on and off the field. Opposing quarterbacks post a quarterback rating of 107.8 when Lee can’t play as opposed to 85.6 when he’s in the game. The disparity is even worse in run defense. When Lee plays, the Cowboys stifle running backs to just 3.5 yards per carry compared to 5.5 when he doesn’t. Lee is a multi-faceted linebacker who covers, stops the run and times his blitzes well. This is obviously a huge loss if Lee can’t go.
Lee has missed 41 of a possible 123 games due to injury during his career.
We’ll find out later in the week if left tackle Tyron Smith (back/groin) can play. Without him in the lineup Chaz Green struggled mightily and Adrian Clayborn set a season-high with six sacks. The eight sacks allowed by Dallas was the most since Week 3 of the 1991 season when the Eagles blanked the Cowboys 24-0 and put Troy Aikman on the ground eight times.