Cowboys Celebrate 'There-Will-Be-Blood' Win At NY
NEWARK, N.J. (105.3 THE FAN) — It was late into the icy night when the often-stoic Jason Witten strutted down the aisle of the Dallas Cowboys' chartered plane to serve as the opening act for a victorious ride home.
"Keep it crankin', baby!'' Witten shouted, and then down the aisle danced his buddy, quarterback Tony Romo…carrying a boom box. And it was loud. It was "crankin'.
One-hundred percent of the noise leading up to Sunday's 24-21 Cowboys win at New York was generated by the Giants, who came into the meeting having already lost once to Dallas and having won just four of their 10 games – though the wins had come consecutively and had led up to this NFC East showdown in a way that apparently allowed them mouthy confidence.
New York cornerback Terrell Thomas had guaranteed a Giants victory, adding, "You can tell 'em put it on the bulletin board, it doesn't matter.''
Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul was more colorful, declaring that "there would be a lot of blood spilled."
"If JPP says there will be blood,'' safety Antrel Rolle said, "then there will be blood.''
The Giants were right. Immediately after the game, Cowboys veteran Jason Hatcher appeared in the locker room with his face smeared with eye black and … something red.
"What's that?'' I asked.
"I ate Giants for dinner!'' said Hatcher, who recorded two sacks in the game. "I just finished feasting on Giants! I'm gonna be full for three days!''
Good timing, because Thanksgiving tradition has Dallas facing a quick turnaround with a Thursday home game against Oakland. The Cowboys are back to work Monday, but only after a few well-deserved hours of celebration.
This win puts Dallas back in control of its playoff destiny, essentially eliminates archrival New York from contention, maybe leads to saving some coaching-staff jobs, and certainly justifies coach Jason Garrett's week-long "stay classy'' preaching about not responding to the Giants' verbal bait.
"We talked about it again (Sunday morning),'' tackle Tyron Smith told me after having completely stonewalled JPP and company. "Not to be the team that does the talking. Be the team that does its job.''
Added Witten, who caught two TD passes: "'It says a lot about our head coach, our leaders and our football team. (Talking trash) doesn't do any good. That's now how you play at this level. This is a show-me league.''
What is showing for Dallas: A first-place tie with Philadelphia. A 4-0 record in the division. A clutch game-winning drive featuring a trio of third-down conversions for an offense that fed Dez Bryant (16 targets) and overcame some cold-weather sloppiness. A resourceful defense coordinated by Monte Kiffin that got gashed in the running game but limited Eli Manning to 174 passing yards, posted a pair of red-zone stands to allow field goals, and notched a 50-yard fumble return for a TD by rookie safety Jeff Heath.
Oh, and completely shut down receiver Victor Cruz, who had just two catches for 27 yards and was the victim on the TD return.
The Cowboys, holed up all morning in their Morristown, N.J., hotel, spent some time watching an NFL pregame show featuring Mike Ditka, who predicted a Giants win because he said Dallas doesn't employ a DB who can cover him.
Orlando Scandrick – who knew all week that Cruz would be his assignment – stacked that log of information atop all the other Giants-related smack.
"They said we don't have a chance because we can't cover Cruz,'' said Scandrick. "Who's Ditka? Isn't he the guy who traded away an entire draft for a running back?''
No joke: Scandrick is demanding that Mike Ditka recognize him while not fully recognizing Ditka as anything but the failed Saints coach of Ricky Williams.
But, at least the Cowboys' victorious-sounding talk – unlike the Giants' – comes after an actual victory.
"We're class,'' Hatcher told me. "They've got guys jumping in our faces, hitting guys out of bounds. … Let them do it. We don't do it. We showed it. We've got class.''
And then Hatcher paused.
"We do have class,'' he laughed loudly in a moment of self-depreciating humor, "but I guess I'm not showing too much class right now.''
The locker room was loud. The bus ride to the airport was loud. The plane ride home was loud.
The Cowboys are "crankin'.''
(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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