Getty David Irving made a huge play the first time he saw the field in 2018.
David Irving finally returned to the field for the Dallas Cowboys following a four-game suspension and an excused absence from the team. And he made an immediate impact, laying a hit on Blake Bortles to force the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback to throw the ball away on the defensive tackle’s first play of the 2018 season.
David Irving. Decent.
Before the Week 6 matchup with the Jags, Cowboys director of player personnel Stephen Jones said Irving would be on a “pitch count,” according to DallasCowboys.com’s Nick Eatman. His first play of the season came on third down of Jacksonville’s second drive. Irving’s big play forced the Jaguars’ second straight three-and-out.
After the Jaguars punted, Dak Prescott engineered a seven-play, 48-yard touchdown drive that ended with this scamper from the Cowboys quarterback for a 10-0 lead.
Run @Dak run…all the way to the 🏡
QB1 gets the score #JAXvsDAL t.co/Fr16X8tuAf
David Irving’s Suspension
For the second year in a row, Irving was suspended for the first four games of Dallas’ season.
In 2017, he was suspended for a violation of the NFL’s performance enhancing drugs policy. Upon his return, he recorded an impressive seven sacks in eight games, then he missed the Cowboys’ last four contests with a concussion.
This year, it was for violating the league’s policy on substances of abuse. The 25-year-old was eligible to return for the team’s Week 5 loss to the Houston Texans. But he missed training camp and preseason to deal with what the team termed “off-the-field issues,” according to ProFootballTalk, and his first practice of the year didn’t come until last Wednesday. Shortly after that, he was excused by the team due to a personal matter again, so he didn’t play.
“He’s certainly an awfully good player and he’s very physically talented and he seems to be able to handle playing without a lot of work,” head coach Jason Garrett said this week, according to DallasCowboys.com. “Hopefully some of the work he got last week and some of the work he’s been doing on his conditioning will help him go out and have a good productive practice today and string a couple together and see if he’s available for the ball game.”