by: Nick Geddes 2 hours ago NickGeddesNews
The Dallas Cowboys on Monday will play their first game since the sudden death of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland . Dallas had its bye in Week 10, giving the team the opportunity to mourn the loss of Kneeland without having to quickly turn the attention to playing a game.
Troy Aikman , a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Cowboys, reacted to Kneeland’s death on Thursday’s “NFL Live” on ESPN . He expects Dallas to “come out and play exceptionally well” in honor of Kneeland.
“I think the positive thing for them is the fact that they were allowed to grieve last week without the worries of having to try to go out and play with the timing of their bye week. I think Dak [Prescott] said it pretty well. I did not know Marshan Kneeland but clearly, he had a big impact on that locker room in such a short period of time,” Aikman said. “By all accounts, it sounds like Brian Schottenheimer handled it extremely well with the family and then with the team and all the players respected that. That’s a real positive. There is no doubt they go into this game, they’re gonna have heavy hearts.
“I think that for a lot of NFL players, for a lot of athletes in general, when they have tragedy like this, the only thing that brings any sense of normalcy to them is when they get back on the practice field or in this case, on Monday night in the game. This gives them something to play for and honor his memory. So, I expect them to come out and play exceptionally well. I like the way the Jones family and the Cowboys organization and everyone involved has handled it. How they respond, I would expect they would respond pretty favorably by the simple fact of what he meant to everyone.”