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DEC 7
3:24
PM CT
3:24
PM CT
By Tim MacMahon
IRVING, Texas – Mike Jenkins didn’t look like a cornerback chipping off a month’s worth of rust Sunday.
In his first game back after a hamstring stain sidelined him four weeks, Jenkins held his own against Larry Fitzgerald, serving as the primary cover man against Arizona’s perennial Pro Bowl while the Cowboys limited Fitzgerald to four catches for 55 yards.
“I just wanted to get up in his face and try to put my hands on him,” Jenkins said. “He’s a big body. There were some plays where I just had to compete to the end of the play. He put his hands on a couple of balls, but I just kept going to get the ball out or be a distraction. He’s a great receiver. I think everybody knows that.”
Jenkins has another big, physical challenge this week. Hakeem Nicks (6-foot-1, 208) isn’t as big of a name as Fitzgerald, but he’s definitely capable of making a good cornerback look bad.
Just ask Green Bay’s Charles Woodson. Nicks had seven catches for 88 yards and two scores against the Packers last week, including a one-hand grab in the end zone so impressive that Woodson congratulated him with a fist bump after the play.
“They were just going back and forth, and I think he probably got the best of Charles,” said Jenkins, who compared Nicks’ physique and ability to Dez Bryant’s. “We can’t have that over here.”
Jenkins, who expects to be matched up with Nicks most of Sunday night, doesn’t guarantee that he’ll shut him down. But Jenkins does vow to make Nicks’ job difficult.
“He’s going to have to make a festival catch every time,” Jenkins said. “I just want to be on him, want to be in his hip pocket. That’s pretty much it.”
