Jerry Jones finds vindication after a week of staring at ‘Grim Reaper’
Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones asked Jason Garrett before Sunday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles whether he felt any pressure.
“It just makes me want to go out and do even more to turn this thing,” Garrett told Jones.
With their season on the line and a wave of criticism seldom seen in recent years, the Cowboys snagged a truly impressive 27-20 win over the Eagles in an NFC East showdown at Lincoln Financial Field.
Six days after being roughed up on Monday night by the Tennessee Titans and falling to 3-5, Jones was beaming with pride for those most maligned in his organization, not the least of which himself, head coach and his quarterback Dak Prescott.
“When you have those questions all around you and you play through that, then that just reinforces my support of Dak,” said Jones, who talked of giving Prescott a contract extension earlier in the week. “We were reeling when we came to Philadelphia, so I’m just proud for them that we came out of here with this win. We know we beat a good football team tonight.”
Jones is most proud that the ones he’s backed showed something they had seldom showed in 2018: a viable, dangerous offense. Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 151 yards, Prescott threw for 270 yards and receiver Amari Cooper caught six passes for 76 yards in his second game with the team. The 27 points are the most on the road for Dallas this year and second most points this season. The play-calling, including a fourth-down conversion, seemed to open up for the first time.
“I like going for it on 4th down. I love that,” Jones said. “These games are so close some of that is called for. Not every time, but some of that risk-taking, if you will, that we did in our play-calling tonight I think made a big difference out there. I think if we don’t take some of those risks we don’t come out of here with a win.”
After Dallas laid an egg on Monday night, Jones called it one of the more surprising and disappointing performances he could recall. Sunday night’s rebound was the opposite.
“In light of last week, this becomes one of the real, for me, memorable games,” he said before reminiscing about his first few years owning the Cowboys and going from the bottom to Super Bowl champs. “So when you’re feeling low and seeing the Grim Reaper and then come in and have your team perform the way these guys are, I promise you it is a special feeling. It is a lift and you are absolutely right, I won’t need any wings on that airplane getting back to Dallas tonight.”
The Cowboys play at Atlanta next week. The Falcons drubbed them a year ago.
“Wouldn’t it be something if we could come home with the same feeling after we play Atlanta. We’ll be trying …it’s beginning to be Christmas time,” Jones said. “When you’re being called to task and we are, and we still are, by the way, as rewarding as this is, we’ve still have a lot of accountability to do here.”