Everything the Dallas Cowboys said after beating the Chicago Bears

Everything the Dallas Cowboys had to say about their 49-29 win over the visiting Chicago Bears at AT&T Stadium on Sunday.

Quotes are courtesy of the Dallas Cowboy media relations staff.

Coach Mike McCarthy

On the offense coming out strong today

“Really as a whole football team I was so happy to see the production today because this team has been practicing very well and that’s something as a head coach you want to see, you obviously want to have success every Sunday, but you definitely want to see them rewarded for doing the extra and we have. We’ve been really focused on third down offensively. I think you get what you emphasize in this league and had a good day on third down. We knew we had to run the ball today. [We have] respect for their defense and how they play. We definitely hit that; I think we had 200 yards rushing. It’s nice to see these guys rewarded. Lot of positive things here. We had the ball out a number of times, defensively. Obviously the run defense will…we know that’s the way people are going to continue to really come after us. I thought the Bears had a really good plan playing a lot of scheme, lot of different things, lot of misdirection. I think that the new direction that they established Monday night against New England, we saw the second version of it. This is definitely a game we could be better for. I was just happy with the way the game started because that’s what the preparation looked like. I think that’s always a sign of a team you know hopefully starting to catch a little bit of their groove. It’s just like anything, to win in this league you have to have it in all three phases. Frankly we haven’t done that yet this year. Today is as close as we’ve gotten to it.”

On Tony Pollard

“We look at Tony as a one and Zeke (Ezekiel Elliott) as a one. We’re very fortunate to have this duo of backs. We prepare that way, we scheme that way. Tony just took the lead spot and we planned on, the goal was to get him around 20 carries. Frankly if the game would have gone a different direction, he could’ve gone to 30. The outlook is you prepare to play an opponent each and every week. Tony is a very disciplined runner and he’s got the home-run speed. His ability to run inside the tackles but then when he gets on the perimeter he’s dangerous because he breaks tackles and he can finish the run. I thought Tony Pollard played the way he always does, he just had more opportunities today.”

On Micah Parsons’ fumble return

“Micah is such a dynamic player. Those are game-changing type plays. Not only to create the takeaway but to be able to finish it. Obviously very excited but part of me is annoyed because he wants to be on offense already now, I’m going to have a hard time keeping him out of my office. His ball security is awful, so he still needs to focus on defense.”

On what he’s looking forward to in the bye week

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m just looking for these guys to spend as much time as they can with their family and their friends and get away from it. This NFL season is a grind, 17 games is real and that’s the way we approach it. I think like anything as a head coach, as a younger head coach do you give them the schedule early do you let them plan and so forth. I gave this team the schedule last Monday. With that, I think it’s a great opportunity to give them some type of responsibility to make sure they took care of business today. We talked about 54 percent of the teams win going into the bye. That’s not cutting it. We don’t want to be a part of that group. We want to be in the higher group. We average 72 plus win percentage in the last two years. I think things like that because you know anytime you give a group of people more responsibility it’s the levels of trust you continue to do. This team, it’s built the right way and it starts in the locker room. I just like their maturity of how we worked this week. This was a good work week and I think when you have a good work week and you’re rewarded, that’s obviously what I’m looking for. So, these guys deserve this time that they have off, we give them instruction and reminders of things like that, as far as the nutritionist talking to them, the strength and conditioning. This is important for them to get away from it a little bit. The reality of it is a lot of them won’t. They’ll be in here, in the facility, that’s kind of the way this group is wired. It’s a good time for us as a football team to have a bye week.”

On going back to Green Bay for the next game

“We’re going to have a lot of time to talk about it. We’re not going to talk about it today. Obviously, it’s a special place. I’m going to enjoy the bye week too.”

On the team’s record being 6-2

“I think you got to keep things in perspective and that’s something that we really always have to do for one another. I tell our defense every week if I was building a gameplan offensively against you, I’d try to run it every which way I can. And we saw some of that today. They ran too many designed runs, hardball runs, tight inside zones, outside zones, they must’ve ran toss crack five or six times. Those are the things that once you get to this point in the season, because you know September football is what it is, teams are just trying to get going. October football is when teams start to separate a little bit, and what you do well and what you don’t do so well is fairly evident to everybody. So that’s really where my mind’s at. That’s where we will be at as a staff in the first part of the week. Just to make sure we have a good healthy self-scout, and we have what we call our cross-the-hall session, we’ll do that Monday when we get back to work. Where our offensive coaches coach the defensive players, and vice-versa. Break them down. I think it’s just like anything, you got to know who you are. You got to know who you are and know how they are going to come at you. I think we’ve done an excellent job of that because it gives us a chance to grow as we go into the third quarter of the season.”

On Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb today

“I mean CeeDee is our number one and he played like it today. Really as he’s been all year, he hasn’t been given a lot of opportunities. I thought Dak we gave him more opportunities today. That’s how we want to play. We want to be in and out of runs. We want to play up-tempo. We rolled a couple new personnel groups in there. We got to some things we just didn’t do so far this year, Jalen (Tolbert) got some time in there. Noah (Brown) was down so, a lot of young players got to play a lot today. That’s a very good thing for our football team because our young guys will continue to factor as we move forward.”

On the value of going up-tempo from the start of the game

“It was more about how we want to play. There was nothing where we said, oh they can’t handle it, it was just really we’ve been averaging what 58 plays a game, so we wanted to get up and get as many punches as possible regardless of who the opponent was. I think it speaks to the confidence that we have as an offense. The reality is how we want to grow as an offense. We’re not trying to slow the game down not to win, that’s just never been my thing. I’ve had to do it a time or two in the past but that’s not our thought process right now.”

On how important it was to get the offense going

“I think we clearly built off of some of the things we accomplished last week. I thought we improved as a football team last week coming out of Philadelphia. These uncommon opponents, there’s some different things there. These are players that haven’t really competed against one another. Their scheme, they have a new offensive coordinator that had a hell of a plan against us today. All those things factor. The reality is, we performed we had a three-score victory today. That’s the facts and I recognize that, but it’s all about getting better. It’s about winning, don’t get me wrong you got to win I don’t care how you get there, you just got to get it done. You do want to improve in the areas that you really focus on. I said it earlier about our third-down, we’ve been really working on third-down, we had a good day.”

On if Tony Pollard is running stronger

“That’s a great observation, he runs with a lot of power. He breaks tackles in line and in second level. He’s not an easy guy to get down. I agree with your assessment.”

On the depth on defense with young guys stepping up

“It’s outstanding, especially you want your young guys to get reps and grow and so forth. Because the reality in my experience has been you know some of the biggest games of the year are going to be in November and December. You don’t really want those guys going out there for their first time in November and December. It’s always great to get young guys involved.”

On Tony Pollard’s mentality

“I mean Tony is extremely confident, that’s been my experience since I arrived here. He doesn’t blink. He works the same every day, practices hard. He’s an extremely consistent player and person. I think it obviously plays well for the way he performs

QB, Dak Prescott

On how it felt to get the offense going

“It felt great. That’s something that we talked about during the week…just understanding the team and the defense we have. We have to reward these guys and go get some touchdowns. We have to set our standards, know our expectations, know who we are and who we can be. We had to go put it out there and I think we owed it to ourselves, more importantly. From the work and everything we’ve put into winning some of these games and grinding them out. It was important for us to go out there and start fast.”

On how he thought he played

“I felt great, and it felt great. As I’ve told y’all, I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself and this team and what we are capable of doing. Other than the interception, which I put on me, and that’s just over confidence, honestly; believing I can’t miss. Once again, that’s communication and I’ll go back to CeeDee (Lamb) and say, ‘hey I trust you, I know it’s a dangerous throw and I know it honestly ended up in an interception.’ I think you’ll see we will make that play later in the year. I’m sure people will say that’s a dangerous throw and its aggressive but that’s the way I’m going to play.”

On his run game today

“I’m feeling well and I’m feeling healthy. I know that I can run the ball which is just going to open up the offense and the running game more. It was a great play call by Kellen, just great with the timing of it. When I stuck my arms out, that was for Jerry; here you go, you asked for it and you got it.”

On what he would say to people who don’t find him capable of running

“I know who I am, and I know what I am capable of. I’m not necessarily worried about sending messages to these guys. I think I more importantly credit that QB sneak to our offensive line. I had my head down, just trying to get the first down. I was just moving my feet and I’m like, ‘wait a minute, nobody’s touched me yet,’ and I looked up and it was just me and the safety. Going for a QB sneak untouched, 20 yards down the field, is a credit to those guys and everybody. As I talked about earlier in the week, making sure we finish plays and making sure that we have more bodies and jerseys in the cameras then they do.”

On what happened with his other thumb

“Yeah, just my luck right now. It’s alright, we were going down and I guess he stepped on my hand or something. He had just scraped right there by the nail, and it was just bleeding a lot but it’s not painful, it was just skin.”

On what the tempo does for the game

“Tempo is huge because just the pace of operation puts pressure on the defense. It makes them make more simple calls, I guess you can say, and puts pressure on the defensive coordinator. For us, we know what we are trying to get to, and we can communicate well. We can muddle huddle as you want to say. When we are great on the ball, as well in our communications, changing that up and being able to get into turbos. When we are able to stay on the ball and huddle up, the defense doesn’t know what to expect. When you are able to start a drive and bounce in and out of it like that, it’s great. I think that’s going to be huge for us moving forward.”

On what Tony (Pollard) allows the team to do offensively

“He said it earlier in the week, we call it and he’s going to haul it. He went out there, backed those words up and that’s who he is honestly. Him saying that statement is not about hey give me 30 carries so I can show you. It’s hey whatever coach calls for me to do, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability for this team. Whether that’s sparing Zeke in the run game or going out there and taking the starting role and going for 130 and three touchdowns, or lining up in the slot, or coming out of the backfield for passes. He’s talented as hell and he’s not just another back for us. He’s a playmaker and a weapon that we will continue to use. He’s just great for the offense and this team.”

On importance of his big performance today

“It was a huge step. As coach just said, especially going into the bye week, honestly. Making sure that we have that confidence heading into the bye week that we can win in any way that we need to, whether it’s the defense going out there winning the games whether it’s us running or throwing the ball or playing a damn close to complete game like we did today, that’s important. That’s huge because it gives the whole team confidence, as I said. We are going into this bye week making sure that we stay focused on this bye week and coming out of it. We’ve got a big one on the road that we are excited for.”

On the offensive line combo blocks

“You are putting, as coach Philbin says, 600 pounds on a guy. When you are able to get those double teams going and get vertical, that’s when we have our success. If you ask the running backs, that’s what they like, they are able to set the linebackers up, put them on that double team as well and make cuts off of that which is huge. From there you can open up the play action game.”

On the impact of Michael (Gallup) on the offense

“Michael is huge for this offense. Let’s not be mistaken for one second what he means to this offense and the passing games success. Yeah, it was important to make sure we got the ball in his hands, especially coming out of last week. He has high expectations for himself, as everybody does for him. He was a little upset about last week, but he was able to bounce back and respond. He did a great job in practice all week responding but being able to come out and continue that on Sunday is huge. He is a guy that I’ve had now for five years. It’s only been two weeks that we’ve been back working together. He was injured in camp and then obviously I get hurt. It will only get better and continue to improve and he’s going to be huge for us and continue to make more and more plays as we get going and get this thing rolling.”

On teams third down conversion today

“We were better on first and second down. When you are better on first and second down, you are making third down easier for you because of short yardage. We were able to convert even on some longer ones today. Kellen, in a sense, called us out earlier in the week especially after last weekend. As you said in the past that if we want to be an offense and the team that we are capable of being, we’ve got to convert on third downs. Other than the first one coming out of the second half and right there to end the game, that’s 9 for 9 if you take those two away, that usually leads to 42 points. That’s going to be huge for us to move forward and to make sure that we hold ourselves accountable to that standard. We need to be able to communicate and make good plays and the receivers did that when their numbers were called.”

On Kellen calling out in meetings

“Yeah, that’s just in meetings when you’re going back and you’re looking at the past game and our numbers were terrible last week. That’s not who we are, and everyone took accountability for it. Moving forward, we focused more on it in practice a little bit and locked in. We knew how important it was translating it to here.”

On what the season can become

“You have to stay in the moment. When you play for this organization, you know what the ultimate goal is so let’s not be mistaken about that. You can’t get ahead of yourself and it’s about taking it one day at a time, one game at a time and one week at a time. Right now, we are going to go and enjoy this bye week. We are going to take care of ourselves this week and then after that, get right back to it, put our heads down, as I said last week, and grind. As I complimented the men we have in our locker room, that’s who we have and the culture we have built. We are going to continue to grow and take it one game at a time and stay within the moment. We are going to try to be the team, man, and unit we were the day before. I know we can get to where we want as long as we do that.

On excitement of the second half

“A lot of excitement. I think it just speaks on the resiliency again. I’ve talked to y’all about that over and over about it just being our mantra of this team. How ironic that it’s what [Coach McCarthy] chose for the mantra this year. We’ve had enough things to be resilient about earlier this year. To pick up and move forward to have a game and performance like we did without our starting running back today is just another example of that. We are just going to stay focused as long as we can keep our culture, our brotherhood, and our unity like that. If we can trust on one another, this team can be dangerous.”

On his impression of Micah (Parson’s) first touchdown

“Honestly, I’m like jeeze. I’m going to hear this for a while about how he needs to run the ball and be on offense. I saw the fumble happen, thought it was down and I was running to talk to Kellen to figure out what was coming up. We looked at each other like I guess we were staying on the sidelines. That guy is an athlete and a hell of a player, one of the best in the league. For him to be able to get that touchdown and trust me many more are going to come in his career, hopefully a few more this year. He is a very special player, and we are blessed to have him honestly.

RB, Tony Pollard

On balance of the offense…

It felt like we had pretty good success with running and throwing the ball today. We wanted to keep the defense guessing and switch up the tempo. Go fast, go slow and just keep them on their toes.

On the performance by the Dallas defense…

I feel like our defense did a good job battling. Other teams are going to make plays. They did a good job of making plays that were there. We did a good job of sticking in there and getting turnovers at the end and just finishing.

On the excitement in the locker room and next week’s bye week…

A little bit of that and a little bit of it being an early game and early finish. So you add it up and it’s a lot of excitement.

On his performance…

I would say I had a pretty good performance.

On the offense’s performance…

I think we did a good job with the runs that we had today. Getting different backs in there and keeping guys fresh. Getting carries, throwing the ball around when we needed to.

On the back-and-forth nature of the game…

It was big for the offense. We needed a game like this. We’ve been settling. When we get into the red zone, we can get seven instead of finishing with three. Just finishing with scores and points, it added up at the end.

WR, CeeDee Lamb

On what it felt like in the first half…

It felt surreal almost. It felt like we were where we needed to be as a collective group and as a unit. We were clicking and executing. Once you do that and you put all of the pieces together and everybody working together, all 11 together and that’s what it looks like.

On the game that Tony Pollard had…

It didn’t surprise me a bit. He knew he had a bigger role in this game and understanding that he’s going to have a lot more carries than normal.

On if there is a feeling of relief after scoring more…

Yeah. Just seeing different people in the end zone, touch the end zone, smiles everywhere, celebrations. I mean it doesn’t get any better than that as a unit and as a team. We just keep winning.

On how close the team is to where they want to be…

That was a great start. Honestly, we’re taking steps forward. We’re almost right where we want to be.

On the confidence going into the bye week…

Most definitely building the confidence. You’ve got to cherish this moment. Enjoy this moment, enjoy the locker room, enjoy the teammates. While we catch the dub, soak it all in. We’ve got another week to recover, rest and recover and be back at it the following week.

On how it felt to find a way to win this game on offense…

It felt needed. The defense had our back up until this point. They’re not going to stop every offense to 17 points, which we would love. Don’t get me wrong, we would love that but the reality of it. Just being able to have each other’s back as a unit and as a team, it builds confidence.

On Dak running around and throwing stiff arms…

I’m not a fan of that. I’m not and I’ll be the first to say that. I mean that was great that we got the first down etc. but I’m not…

Does that make you nervous…

Not really nervous. I just don’t know what’s going to happen. I have all of the faith in my quarterback, I’m sure no one else is a fan of that either.

TE, Dalton Schultz

On is it the best he’s felt…

It’s the best I’ve felt so far. I’m still working through some stuff. This bye week came at a really good time for me. I’m hoping the week off is going to help.

On if the group is still working towards where it can be as a group…

Yeah, for sure. I think one of the best things that we did today was we just didn’t have any crazy self-inflicted penalties. Staying away from the false-starts, those things are drive-killers. When we did have them, we were able to overcome them and bounce back. That was a good step in the right direction for the offense. Just proving that we can be efficient. The running game was on fire today, that’s something that we all like to hang our hat on.

On if the offense felt they needed to continue to score when it got closer…

I mean that’s how we execute. Whether we are down 14 or down by three scores or up three scores, we’re trying to be the best offense that we can be and trying to execute at the highest level that we can. That’s the challenge on a week-by-week basis.

On the best-passing game so far this season…

Yeah we knew early they kind of sat back in shell and we knew the underneath stuff so you saw the quick game today. As the game progressed, they kind of switched to a single-high mindset and we knew we had some shots. And so we did a great job of executing to capitalize on it.

OL Zack Martin

On how excited the offense got when Dak scored…

Yeah, it was great. We were in rhythm today offensively. That was the best thing we did.

On Tony Pollard’s performance…

He did a great job. Nothing that we didn’t expect. He’s been great for us all year so when his number is called we know it’s big play potential at any time.

On what does this mean for the offense when Zeke gets healthy…

Yeah it’s great we have two backs that can do it all and it makes the defense think and worry about all of the other stuff going on. We took a step today offensively, we still have a lot of stuff to work on but we did take a step offensively.

On how it feels after the win…

It feels great. It’s hard to win in this league, so any time we do… It’s hard to explain to people. It’s just such a great feeling with all of the work that we put in during the week to prepare for these guys and for it to come to life out on the field and then to have a week off to get our bodies right and everything. A lot of joy in this locker room today.

Defensive End, DeMarcus Lawrence

On how much better you can be as a defense..

We can get a whole lot better. The ball was allowed today. I feel like we could have had more turnovers. It’s something that we can hone in on and try to pursue and get better over the bye week.

What frustrate you the most in the run stop?

What frustrates me the most? That I missed two sacks today. That’s what frustrates me.

On the challenges ahead…

The challenge is now.

Do you think that helps you moving forward facing other mobile quarterbacks?

Yeah, I do. You know, each and every week we try to get better. Especially in our job category. I feel like he exposed some areas where I can get better at. Glad he did, so now I know, and if anybody else tries to try it; we’ll see what happens.

On your excitement level for the rest of the season…

The sky is not the limit. I feel like, especially with our coaching staff and how our coaches take care of us and put us in the right position to make plays, it’s going to be a helluva season boys.

Linebacker, Micah Parsons

On tweeting about your running back skills and having the ability to show the guys what you can do with the ball in your hands…

Yeah. Zeke said I looked just like him. I think I definitely deserve a rep now. They can’t say that they haven’t seen it in a game, so hopefully I get thrown into a goal line package or redzone package. Hey, who knows?

On your play and dogged pursuit to the football no matter what happens on any given play…

It just shows effort. You can’t teach effort. Coach has been hounding on me about my superpower; like I told you guys’ last week, and just running to the ball regardless of if you make the play or don’t make the play. You just never know what happens on the football field. Kids out there, who may like ‘Hmmm I’m running to the ball, but it’s not turning out.’ Man, it took me a year and a half before I finally got lucky. So, sometimes it’s just consistency. Just keep running to the ball and keep striving; eventually the ball is going to come your way, you know. That’s just the football Gods.

On being six and two and a winning streak of two straight…

Six-and-two is okay. You know, I prefer eight-and-[zero]. That’s just me. I don’t know who else agrees with that. It’s cool, but like we just have to keep going. There’s so much football left. We’ve got to take this bye, but we’ve got to take care it seriously, we’ve got to take care of our bodies, take care, get rest so that that way….We’ve got a tough NFC stretch coming in here. So, we’ve got to be prepared for that. We’ve got to make sure we continue winning in that stretch.

Linebacker, Damone Clark

On your brotherhood with Parsons and L.V.E. (Leighton Vander Esch) and their support…

I wouldn’t say just Micah, but I’ll start with Micah. Micah, that’s my brother. I can’t even explain it. I clicked with him after I got drafted. That was a guy that I talked to every day, no matter what. If I had a question with anything, he was always there. He told me ‘Hit me up, hit me up whenever.’ To switch over to the linebackers; those guys were right there by my side too. I got through the fire. I had to step up, I had to help the team win. Those guys, even Leighton, still Leighton communicated with me on the field, J.K. communicating…. everybody in general. Those guys told me, ‘Come on, just fly around, fly around and make plays.’ That just speaks to the resiliency of this team.

This story was originally published October 30, 2022 at 5:21 PM.