With the Cowboys‘ decision to carry Greg Hardy on their roster still under scrutiny, head coach Jason Garrett offered a statement to reporters on Sunday, including Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com, explaining why the club was willing to sign Hardy.
“We as an organization, we don’t condone domestic violence. We take the issue very, very seriously,” Garrett said. “We knew when we signed Greg Hardy there would be some criticism that came with that. We laid out expectations for him right from the start. We decided that we were going to give him a second chance but in doing so the expectations and standards would be very clear to him, how he and really everybody else is supposed to conduct themselves on the football and off the football field. … He knows what the expectations and standards are and we’re going to hold him accountable to those.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones also reiterated his support for Hardy, repeatedly stressing – as Garrett did – that the team wanted to give the former Panthers defensive end “a second chance” (video link via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram). While Dallas may be willing to provide Hardy that second chance because of his ability on the field, the team lost again on Sunday night, falling to 0-4 with Hardy in the lineup.
Here’s more from around the NFL’s East divisions:
- Jets kicker Nick Folk is set to undergo an MRI on Monday afternoon to determine the severity of his quad injury, which kept him from attempting extra points or field goals on Sunday, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. If Folk is unable to play this Thursday, New York figures to sign a new kicker within the next couple days.
- Jim McBride and Michael Whitmer of the Boston Globe round up several key Patriots-related news items from Sunday, touching on injuries sustained by running back Dion Lewis and tackle Sebastian Vollmer. Within the piece, the duo also notes that Patriots president Jonathan Kraft believes that the idea of expanding the IR-DTR rules to accommodate more than one player per team “may not be a bad idea.”
- Following his first game back since injuring his hand in an offseason fireworks accident, Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul admitted that he was “a little rusty.” However, as Dan Graziano of ESPN.com notes, JPP injected some life into the team’s pass rush, particularly in the fourth quarter.
Welcome Back JPP Go Giants !!!!