Cowboys fears confirmed with Terence Steele: How Dallas can still protect Dak Prescott

December 13, 2022 ndowd

Dallas Cowboys right tackle Terence Steele left Sunday’s win over Houston and the team got bad news on his status going forward. So what’s next now?

The Dallas Cowboys found themselves in a much tougher spot than expected on Sunday against the one-win Houston Texans? Undoubtedly so — and a big reason for that was an early-game injury to right tackle and breakout star in 2022, Terence Steele. He was taken out of the game with a leg injury that kept him out for the remainder.

Dallas tried Josh Ball as a replacement before moving veteran Jason Peters to right tackle, which ultimately proved to be a deciding factor that allowed the Cowboys to scrape out a last-minute win. But the big question moving forward was the health of Steele over the remainder of the season.

Unfortunately, the team got bad news on Monday as it was confirmed that Steele suffered a torn ACL and will be out for the remainder of the 2022 regular season.

#Cowboys RT Terrence Steele confirmed with torn left ACL and is out for season, per source.
First reported @BobbyBeltTX.
With expected return of Tyron Smith at LT, #Cowboys have options. Jerry Jones said Jason Peters and Josh Ball primary candidates.

— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) December 12, 2022

Now the question has to be asked what the Cowboys will do to protect Dak Prescott moving forward over the final four games and into the playoffs.

Cowboys lose Terence Steele for the season: What’s next?

Losing Steele undoubtedly is a blow for Dallas and the offensive line. He’s played at an extremely high level this season. But the truth of the matter is that the Cowboys are currently in a good position to withstand that blow.

For starters, what we saw on Sunday against Houston is a viable option moving forward. While Peters has played left tackle for almost his entire career, he performed quite well on the right side of the line and could fill in there.

More important than that, though, franchise stalwart Tyron Smith has been gearing up for a return recently after spending much of the year on injured reserve. His return will offer Dallas even more flexibility as they could put Tyron Smith at left tackle and move rookie Tyler Smith, who has filled in beautifully for the injured veteran, to the right side. Or Tyron could slot in with Peters staying at right tackle with Tyler Smith perhaps slotting in at guard.

The general idea, though, is that the Cowboys have a number of quality options to replace Steele after this injury and should be in good shape moving forward.

source