Cowboys’ risk-taking paid off against Eagles. Did it also help save coaching jobs?

There was a tendency, understandably, to assume Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan were coaching to save their jobs Sunday night in Philadelphia.

Whether that’s reality or not (and owner and general manager Jerry Jones says it’s not) doesn’t matter for the overwhelming narrative that started to build as the Cowboys pulled off the 27-20 upset.

Was it the 4th-and-1 the Cowboys were going for from their own 40 in the second quarter before a false start penalty forced a punt? Or was it the direct snap to Jeff Heath on a 4th-and-2 from their own 31 on a fake punt that kept their next drive alive that eventually netted a field goal and 6-0 lead?

Garrett dismissed it all as any indication of a change inside the Cowboys’ headsets.

“A lot of people make a big deal out of fourth downs,” he said. “We felt good about where we were in the ballgame there. We’ve gone for it on a lot of fourth downs. We liked the play we had and felt like it was a good opportunity for us to extend the drive.”

Garrett denied that the Cowboys’ record played any factor in the decision-making. And he’s not interested in earning an “aggressive” label for the sake of reputation. The Cowboys (4-5) play the Falcons (4-5) at Atlanta at noon Sunday.

“We always want to be aggressive. That’s a mantra that we have as a coaching staff and a football team to attack and stay aggressive,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you’re going to go for every fourth down. You have to factor in the game situation, how you’re playing, how your defense is playing, where you are in the game, where you are on the field, how long it is.”

Garrett made it a point to praise Linehan’s play-calling both after the game and during Monday’s press conference. Is it just a coincidence or is Garrett making a point of defending his offensive coordinator after being asked in recent weeks whether he’d consider taking over play-calling duties.

He bristled at the notion and Sunday’s performance, he seemed to convey, served as another vote of confidence for Linehan.

Jones praised the risk-taking Sunday night. He had been candidly critical of a conservative approach after a loss last month.

“I love that,” he 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.”

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said Linehan’s play-calling role hasn’t been discussed. The nature of the play-calling, however, was discussed in meetings with Garrett that perhaps a more aggressive offensive approach would be advantageous.

“I don’t think we had to press it as much as talk about it in meetings. ‘Hey, we’re not going to be able to be just conservative here and hand the ball off and play some good defense,’” Jones said on KRLD/105.3 The Fan. “I think if you do that in this league, you’re going to come up short most of the time.

“Boy, I really like the way Scott and Jason made decisions last night. Certainly Kris [Richard] is doing a great job on the defensive side dialing up some different looks and blitzing. I do feel like it’s been something that has been a growing process in terms of figuring out how to manage this football team.”