Cowboys vs. Cardinals 2017 live updates: Scores, highlights and results from 'Monday Night Football'

The Cowboys and Cardinals are the “Monday Night Football” game of Week 3, and both need a win big time.

The Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals are both 1-1 with plenty of question marks after two weeks of play, and they’ll both try and answer some of those questions when they meet on Monday Night Football. The game is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN (live stream via WatchESPN) from University of Phoenix Stadium.

Arizona played its first two games of the season on the road, and it will be happy to have a home crowd after picking up an ugly win over the Indianapolis Colts in their last outing. The Cardinals barely held on in that one, and if they play the same way they did in that game, the Cowboys should have plenty opportunities to win.

The Cowboys, though, are coming off a pretty poor showing against the Denver Broncos. That game was a 42-17 drubbing that saw Ezekiel Elliott draw criticism for a lack of effort and appearing to give up at one point in the game. Elliott has his ongoing court case with the NFL over his domestic abuse-related suspension, and his performance in Week 2 had many doubting the Cowboys could compete this season.

Dallas does have one win, a victory over the hapless and directionless New York Giants in Week 1. That 19-3 win was one of the least eventful games of the season. The fact is the Cowboys are significantly worse on the offensive side of the ball this season, and that includes both Elliott and quarterback Dak Prescott.

Both teams manage to put up the offensive yardage, at least through two weeks, but neither are reliable at this point.

An appeals court will hold a hearing on Elliott’s suspension and his appeal of it on Oct. 2, essentially guaranteeing he will play in the team’s next two games, against the Cardinals on Monday and the Los Angeles Rams on Oct. 1.

Both teams are playing in bad divisions, the Cowboys in the NFC East and the Cardinals in the NFC West. The Cardinals entered Week 3 third in the division, tied with the Seahawks and Rams at 1-1. The Cowboys were in the same position in the NFC East, though technically listed as second in the division behind the Philadelphia Eagles, who also sat at 1-1.

Pregame reading:

• Elliott, at the very least, acknowledged that he looked like he gave up on a specific play against the Broncos. He said that he was very frustrated:

“I would say I was just very frustrated, but that’s no excuse for the lack of effort I showed on tape. I just can’t do that. Being one of the leaders on the team and being a guy that people count on, I can’t put that type of stuff on film.”

• Cardinals fans are pretty high on young receiver J.J. Nelson, and the folks at Revenge of the Birds want to know: is he the best receiver on the team?

That leaves J.J. Nelson. He is the only guy that can be a threat with his speed while John Brown is out and get consistent separation from opposing defenders. If his catch rate can remain as high as it did on Sunday against the Colts, he is going to see a lot more targets come his way. After all, the biggest knock on him has always been his ability to simply catch the ball.

• The folks over at Blogging The Boys really would like to see the Cowboys offense step up and establish something remotely resembling consistency against the Cardinals on Monday:

After all the talk about “quitters”, “blueprints”, and “slumps” this week, the Cowboys are probably hating that they have to wait until Monday. This is a team that was stifled in week two but that doesn’t mean they’re going fold it up. It hasn’t been the hottest start for an offense that bludgeoned teams in 2016. With great offenses like the Cowboys, we’ve seen what they can do once the ball gets rolling. They need an offensive awakening and it needs to happen against a decent defense like Arizona.