It's Good To Be Jerry Jones Today
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — He wore a cheshire cat's grin as he moved the small mob of media into the doorway of the Dallas Cowboys' locker room Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Jerry Jones, owner and general manager of the Cowboys, was feeling justified, after watching his Dallas team take control of its destiny and the NFC East with a 38-27 victory over the Eagles.
It gives the Cowboys, a team not many expected to do much of anything back August, a chance to become the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
"The way we've done this in the league now, bunched everything up here at the end, very few of us can say we're in the playoffs tonight, even the ones that have 10 wins, but I can talk about 10 wins," Jones said. "There's no question in my view, prior to the 8-8 teams that we've had, we probably given this team in terms of talent and personnel, the less chance at 10 wins of any of the last three or four years. It is beyond my expectations from the start of the year that we're sitting here with the wins."
Jones said the Eagles' 33-10 Thanksgiving Day game opened some eyes. It made the Cowboys rethink going more to Dez Bryant, who had six catches for a game-high 114 yards and three touchdowns.
"There was no question part of our game plane was going to throw the ball to [Bryant], especially if they were going to single him up or if they were going to be slow about bringing a safety over. That was a big part of it. The crossing parts were a big part of it. You could feel the competitiveness. You could cut with a knife before the game with our team. It's a resolved team that had its nose rubbed in it pretty good Thanksgiving. Certainly, we were a team that understood how important this one. Tonight we played like it was important.
"I can't even fathom a Cowboy team that isn't ready or inspired to go back and play in our stadium the last game of the year. That's the good thing that's happened here, and I'm talking in general about the NFL and the schedule. You don't have anyone taking the foot off the gas. As a matter of fact, they're pushing it through the fuel board, because these are all like playoff games."
This is an uncharacteristic Dallas team, as opposed to those in the recent past. Those teams faltered in November and December. This team hasn't.
"This team don't know that they can't do it," Jones said. "What is that? They just feel if they prepare and listen to these coaches, and it's a seasoned coaching staff, they have the confidence of these players, and a part from having some young players that have evolved. This bunch has gotten better—and that was significant tonight."
The Eagles, however, have to start wondering if their young players have evolved and gotten better. It seems the one glaring difference why Dallas appears heading to the playoffs and the Eagles are not.
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