Is Jerry Jones talking Super Bowl? Says Cowboys are now thinking ‘why not us?’
After Thursday night’s shockingly profane, statement-making 13-10 victory against the New Orleans Saints at AT&T Stadium, owner Jerry Jones said the Dallas Cowboys won’t be the same when they wake up Friday morning.
Jones said a victory like that against a team with the stature of the Saints, who had been riding a 10-game winning streak and is still considered the Super Bowl favorite at 10-2, makes the Cowboys look at themselves a little differently.
And given that theme, it was Jones who said Friday morning that the Cowboys’ outlook on the season is now different following the game-changing victory that has them thinking about their own postseason possibilities.
He didn’t say Super Bowl but allowed that everything is on the table for a Cowboys team that was once left for dead at 3-5 and is now riding its own four-game winning streak, in sole possession of first place in the NFC East at 7-5 and suddenly feeling they can compete with anyone in the NFL.
That’s certainly impression he got in the post-game locker-room celebration that had them jumping two-feet in the air as a group.
“Well, you’ve got a young group of players in the dressing room. I’ve never seen anything like it,” a still euphoric Jones said on his radio show Friday on 105.3 The Fan. ”Everybody had their arms around each other almost as a group picture, a giant huddle. And together they were jumping two or three feet off the floor and wouldn’t stop. They were just that excited. That had left a lot of it. They had left it out on the field. There’s no question. We all know what an opponent we were faced with. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re an improved team just the winning a game against a team like that with frankly real odds.
“You just are better when you look in the mirror. I know people are tired of hearing me say that, but this game is about transforming positively or negatively. And when you have a young team you see you can have that kind of success and do it, you’ll build off of that going forward. This is a changer for us.”
“You kind of start thinking, ‘Maybe us. Why not?’”
Well, why not the Cowboys?
The Cowboys are one of the league’s youngest teams and still has room to improve over the final month of the season in terms of personal growth and the return of reinforcements.
The Cowboys beat the Saints without left tackle Tyron Smith (neck), linebacker Sean Lee (hamstring), receiver Tavon Austin (hamstring) and defensive tackle David Irving (ankle).
All are expected to return for the Dec. 9 game against the Philadelphia Eagles after a 10-day layoff.
“I want to give Sean Lee a lot of credit for the success we’re having with our linebacking group in general. If anybody’s been around Sean Lee, he’s just so intense. He exudes intenseness and preparation. Boy, I just can’t believe we’re going to get him back and work him in. I do think we’ll get [David] Irving back. I really see improvement on the way. We’ll have [Tavon] Austin back here. I don’t know if we’ll have him against Philadelphia, but it will be real close. We’ll have Tyron Smith. Can you imagine having a win like this without Tyron Smith being on the field?
“I couldn’t as we would look at this thing, let’s say in training camp looking forward. So, all of this bodes well, I think, for this team improving. I see guys that are better and going to be better in mid-December than they were last night.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2018 at 2:42 PM.