Brandin Cooks stayed in New York following the Cowboys’ win over the New York Giants and had a procedure on his knee. That is when the infection developed for Cooks, and now he is going to miss at least this upcoming game for Dallas.

The Cowboys heavily rely on CeeDee Lamb on offense regardless, but not having Cooks on the field will be detrimental as it takes another option away from quarterback Dak Prescott.

Dallas is already undermanned with the injuries to Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. It seems likely that Parsons will miss some time, while Lawrence will miss at least four games after being placed on injured reserve. It will be a big test for the Cowboys defense against the Steelers without those two. Prior to facing the Giants, Dallas’ run defense had been the biggest problem, so those two missing this Sunday’s game is a blow to that. It will be interesting to see how defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer plans to guard Pittsburgh’s running game, which has Justin Fields as a factor.

Cowboys trying to withstand injuries during tough part of schedule

This upcoming game against the Steelers starts a rough stretch of games for the Cowboys, and this is arguably the easiest one of this upcoming stretch. The next seven games could be tough for Dallas before the team hosts the Giants on Thanksgiving.