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21	August 2018

Lugo will be looking to snap a two-start slump Mond

Less than two years removed from spectacular rookie seasons that transformed the Dallas offense Taijuan Walker Jersey , quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott are even more in control of the future of the Cowboys.

The team must move on without Jason Witten and Dez Bryant.

Witten retired earlier this month to join ESPN's "Monday Night Football" following 15 seasons as the Cowboys tight end.

He left as the club leader in catches (1,152), receiving yards (12,448) and games played (239). Witten was selected to the Pro Bowl 11 times.

Bryant was a three-time Pro Bowler playing all eight of his NFL seasons for Dallas before being released in April.

"As we lost those guys, the first statement coming in was we're not trying to replace those guys," Prescott said Wednesday after the Cowboys completed the second of three days of offseason practices this week.

"Those guys are irreplaceable."

Prescott knows something about replacing a big-name Cowboy. He did so after four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Tony Romo was lost to injury before the 2016 season.

As a fourth-round selection in 2016, Prescott led Dallas to a 13-3 record, an NFL East title and was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Elliott, Dallas' first-round pick that year, led the NFL in rushing yards in 2016 with 1,631. Last season, he was suspended for six games because of domestic violence allegations. The Cowboys dropped to 9-7 Tyler Anderson Colorado Rockies Jersey , finishing four games behind the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the division.

Witten most often led quietly, by example. Bryant was vocal, animated both on and off the field.

Prescott said his leadership style probably more resembles Witten's.

"Those guys did a great job of encouraging me to be the kind of leader that I am," Prescott said. "Kind of making me take charge. Now with those guys gone, it's really no different."

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Prescott made his presence felt in the locker room immediately.

"He's had really unique leadership qualities," Garrett said. "The best leaders develop relationships with people, and he did that right from the start. It wasn't like he was banging the drum saying, 'I'm a leader. I'm a leader.'"

Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan sees a different type of leadership style in Elliott.

"Zeke sure brings a lot when it comes to his approach and how he plays, his physicality," Linehan said.

Garrett said of Elliott's season in 2017: "Obviously what went on last year was distracting to anybody. There's no question he's locked in and ready to focus on what he needs to do to be prepared to play his best football."

As for who will most likely fill Bryant's energy role, Linehan said, "We don't have a whole ton of rah-rah guys yet. They're working on getting to know their jobs and earning their keep. I think that will get developed."

Tavon Austin and Allen Hurns are among the newcomers who could fill the void of two players who combined last season for 132 catches and 1 Uchenna Nwosu Youth Jersey ,398 receiving yards. Austin was acquired in a draft-day trade while Hurns signed as a free agent in March.

Two-time All-Pro right guard Zack Martin hasn't participated in this week's team drills so far, though he's working out at the team facility on his own, while his representatives try to work out a new contract.

Martin is in the fifth year of his rookie deal at a salary of $9.4 million. The Cowboys drafted him out of Notre Dame with the 16th overall pick in 2014. He has started all 67 games in the regular season and playoffs for the Cowboys.

"He's one of the best players we have," Garrett said. "He represents everything we want. We want him to be here for a long, long time. But there's a business side to this, and we all understand that."

"We miss having '70' out there, but 100 percent understand the situation," Prescott said. "Know why he's doing it. Want the best for him. I hope he gets everything he deserves."

NEW YORK � New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway has been using some variation of the term �sync up� so often lately, he sounds like an early 1990s music critic discussing Milli Vanilli. At least on Monday the Mets will face another out-of-sorts team whose fortunes are sinking faster than those of an exposed one-album wonder.

Two squads enduring a miserable June will meet when the Mets host the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game series at Citi Field. Seth Lugo (2-2, 2.85 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for New York against Jameson Taillon (4-6, 4.03 ERA) in a battle of right-handers.

Both teams suffered the final loss of a three-game sweep Sunday, when the Mets gave up seven solo homers in falling to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela Jersey , 8-7, in 11 innings and the host Pirates dropped a 3-0 decision to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The losses ensured the Mets (31-44) and Pirates (36-41) will enter Monday with the worst June records in the National League. New York is 4-17 since the calendar flipped while Pittsburgh is 7-14.

The nosedives have all but ended once-robust playoff hopes. The Mets, who opened the season 11-1, are 12 1/2 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East and 10 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the race for the second wild card.

The Mets opened June in a historic offensive slump in which they scored just 20 runs in 12 games from June 1-15. New York has scored 47 runs in its last eight games but has lost three games in which it scored at least seven runs.

�We just can�t sync up exactly what we�re trying to do every day,� Callaway said Sunday. He also used the sync up expression following Thursday�s 6-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

�If we swing the bats, we give up seven homers,� Callaway said Sunday. �If we pitch and swing the bats good, our defense isn�t quite there. It�s kind of been the whole season � we�re not syncing up all the components that we need to sync up to win some ballgames. We did that early in the season.�

The Pirates are uttering the same laments. Through 43 games, Pittsburgh led the NL Central with a 26-17 record and ranked fifth in the majors in runs scored (216).

Since then, though, the Pirates have gone an NL-worst 10-24 while scoring just 123 runs, the fewest in the NL and the fourth-fewest in the majors.

�At the beginning of the season Authentic Mason Cole Jersey , pitching was clicking, hitting was clicking,� Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams told reporters after he took the loss Sunday, when he allowed three runs over six innings. �We�re starting to get apart from each other and we�re hitting a skid at the same time.�

Lugo will be looking to snap a two-start slump Monday. He didn�t factor into the decision last Wednesday, when he gave up six runs (three earned) over three innings as the Mets fell to the Rockies, 10-8.

Lugo has given up 11 runs (eight earned) over eight innings in his last two starts after tossing 13 straight scoreless innings in three games (two starts) from May 31-June 10.

Taillon took the loss last Tuesday, when he allowed three runs over five innings as the Pirates fell to the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2. He has alternated wins with losses in four June starts.

Lugo has never faced the Pirates. Taillon is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in two career starts against the Mets. He made both starts consecutively to open his big league career in 2016 and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the second start on June 14.
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