La’el Collins Not Backing Down From Continued Challenges At Right Tackle

Judging by his play these last two games, maybe La’el Collins shouldn’t be practicing this week.

After all, the Cowboys’ right tackle has played arguably his best games of the season these past two weeks – despite missing six days of practice with a back injury. The problem was bad enough to throw his availability into question – and yet Collins managed the issue well enough to shut out top-tier pass rushers like Ryan Kerrigan and Jason Pierre-Paul in wins against Washington and New York.

“The nature of the National Football League is guys get banged up,” said Cowboys coach Jason Garrett earlier this week. “You have to be able to function when the conditions aren’t ideal, and he’s done a good job of that the last couple of weeks.”

All jokes aside, the extra reps can only help Collins in what figures to be another challenging matchup. Considering the injuries that both he and Tyron Smithhave been dealing with in the second half of the season, it had to be a boost to have both of them at practice on Thursday.