Cowboys Rule Out Joey Porter Jr. With Illness Hours Before Kickoff

The Dallas Cowboys are suddenly down a starting cornerback, and it has nothing to do with a pulled hamstring or a rolled ankle.

According to Ian Rapoport, Joey Porter Jr. has been ruled out with an illness just a couple of hours before kickoff against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"Ian Rapoport reported: 'News just a couple hours before kickoff: The #Cowboys have ruled out CB Joey Porter Jr. with an illness.'"

There is nothing quite like the late-scratch illness to throw a wrench into a game plan. One minute you are going over coverage assignments, and the next you are quarantined in a hotel room watching your teammates warm up on television.

Dallas is coming off a tight 34-30 win over the Houston Texans and was looking to keep that momentum rolling at home. Now, they have to scramble to adjust their secondary rotation against Tampa Bay with almost zero notice.

For anyone holding a ticket on a Buccaneers receiver prop, this is the exact kind of pregame chaos that moves the needle. Taking a starting corner off the board this close to game time means the Cowboys are going to be testing their depth chart under the prime-time lights.

The immediate problem for Dallas is surviving tonight without getting torched through the air. After that, they just have to hope whatever bug knocked Porter out of the lineup does not decide to take a tour through the rest of the locker room.