After consecutive road wins, is it time to believe in the Dallas Cowboys again?
Is it time to believe in the Dallas Cowboys?
After winning consecutive road games to pull back to .500 at 5-5 and a share of first place in the NFC East on the line on Thursday against the Washington Redskins, perhaps Cowboys’ players and coaches were right all along.
They calmly claimed that they were better than their losing indicated early in the season. Two weeks ago, after their worst performance of the season in a Monday night home loss to the Tennessee Titans, head coach Jason Garrett’s job felt on the line, Dak Prescott’s role as the now and future Cowboys’ quarterback seemed precarious and the team looked destined for another season without the playoffs.
Oh, how things have changed.
Brett Maher’s game-winning 23-yard field goal as time expired gave the Cowboys a 22-19 win over the Atlanta Falcons Sunday and consecutive wins for the first time since December.
“We’re a mentally tough team through it all. Through the ups, through the downs. We’re really just getting started putting this thing together,” said offensive tackle La’el Collins, who scooped an Ezekiel Elliott fumble for a first down that eventually led to a field goal that gave Dallas a 12-9 lead early in the fourth quarter. “It was meant to be. Our offense responded after that so it was great. That’s all that matters, how we responded after that and putting it in. That was big time.”
Elliott rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. It’s his fifth game with 100 or more yards. He also led the Cowboys with 79 receiving yards on seven catches.
“It’s a good thing we took care of our business the past two weeks. I think we’re finally hitting a rhythm, finally hitting our stride on offense and defense,” Elliott said. “We can’t lose this grip, we can’t lose the way we’re going out there and working. We have to get even better so we can hopefully try to get in the playoffs.”
Now, back at .500, the playoffs are no longer a stretch and Thursday’s game is huge.
“It’s for first place in the division. It means so much,” Elliott said with a grin. “I think you guys know how important it is.”