Troy Aikman reacts to death of Marshawn Kneeland, predicts how Cowboys will respond in Week 11

The Dallas Cowboys on Monday will play their first game since the sudden death of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland. Dallas had its bye in Week 10, giving the team the opportunity to mourn the loss of Kneeland without having to quickly turn the attention to playing a game.

Troy Aikman, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Cowboys, reacted to Kneeland’s death on Thursday’s “NFL Live” on ESPN. He expects Dallas to “come out and play exceptionally well” in honor of Kneeland.

“I think the positive thing for them is the fact that they were allowed to grieve last week without the worries of having to try to go out and play with the timing of their bye week. I think Dak [Prescott] said it pretty well. I did not know Marshan Kneeland but clearly, he had a big impact on that locker room in such a short period of time,” Aikman said. “By all accounts, it sounds like Brian Schottenheimer handled it extremely well with the family and then with the team and all the players respected that. That’s a real positive. There is no doubt they go into this game, they’re gonna have heavy hearts.

“I think that for a lot of NFL players, for a lot of athletes in general, when they have tragedy like this, the only thing that brings any sense of normalcy to them is when they get back on the practice field or in this case, on Monday night in the game. This gives them something to play for and honor his memory. So, I expect them to come out and play exceptionally well. I like the way the Jones family and the Cowboys organization and everyone involved has handled it. How they respond, I would expect they would respond pretty favorably by the simple fact of what he meant to everyone.”

Cowboys HC Brian Schottenheimer reacts to loss of Marshawn Kneeland, offers condolences

Kneeland died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound last week. Police found his body in the early morning last Thursday after he had evaded officers during a pursuit and fled on foot, according to ESPN.

The Cowboys plan to honor Kneeland for the rest of the season by wearing a special helmet decal. They will also warm up in special t-shirts in Monday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, as well as the following week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, when they play their first home game since Kneeland’s passing. At the start of Wednesday’s press conference, Schottenheimer talked about the impact Kneeland made on the team.

“We had an opportunity last night to celebrate Marshawn’s life, tell some stories, share, laugh, cry,” Schottenheimer said. “Marshawn loved the words One Love, so we talked a lot about love as we grieve. I got a chance to really share a couple of things that I’ll miss the most about Marshawn.

“Those top couple of things was he had the most playful spirit of any young man I’ve been around. His smile could take you to your knees. And in terms of him as an athlete, no one had a better motor than him. My heart is heavy, our team’s heart is heavy. We don’t move on, but we do move forward.”