Everything the Dallas Cowboys said after beating the Minnesota Vikings

Everything the Dallas Cowboys said after their 40-3 beating of the Minnesota Vikings. All quotes are courtesy of the Cowboys and Vikings public relations staffs.

Cowboys Head Coach Mike McCarthy

Q. Can you just talk about how the team overall, across the board, responded to that loss to Green Bay coming in here today?

A. I think like anything, you have a chance on Monday to correct it, and I think the reduced work and just really focusing on the little things. We had a really good week. I think it’s always rewarding as a football team when your process lines up with your performance. So we wanted to come in here and play a complete game. Obviously we had a lot of respect for these guys. Extremely productive on film. And we knew we could play at a high level today, and we did.

Q. The combo of Tony and Zeke, how they worked. Tony was still a big part of it. Zeke was a short yardage guy. Could you talk about that?

A. Definitely. Really just the ability to stay in and out of concepts and not worry about who (inaudible), it’s a tremendous advantage for us. And we came in here obviously with an ability to focus on the run and then play the pass off of that just because of having both Tony and Zeke. And honestly, I thought Malik gave us some excellent, excellent carries there in the third and fourth quarter. The run game was a priority today.And I thought our men up front, I mean, particularly the inside runs, I thought they did a really good job of knocking them back and giving our runners some space today.

Q. On the passing game…

A. Dak, just visiting with him before game, just the last thing we talk about is just the completions. This is a better defense, a lot of experience. They do an excellent job taking the ball away. You can see that all week on video. This is probably the most zone we knew we were going to see going in. I think they do a really good job with their eyes and playing your eyes and so forth. And I thought Dak was extremely, extremely patient. Going back to the touchdown on Tony. He goes all the way through his progression. Tony is the last option. And that’s the way you’ve got to play against these guys.

Q. First time Cousins goes back to pass he gets strip sacked by Micah. Seemed like you guys had consistent pressure on him all game. He didn’t even finish the game. How important was that aspect of your game on defense?

A. I mean, let’s be honest, the MO is going to be people are going to try to run the ball on us. And then we’re going to have -- they’ve got their hands full when they try to throw it. And that’s how we felt coming in. We felt that just coming in here, stop the run and let our pass rush have some opportunities. We felt like we were successful. And Micah definitely got us started.

Q. Micah last week was talking about how he was disgusted by his play and the defense letting that lead slip away. Just how he played individually today and him kind of taking that on himself and kind of stepping out and saying we’ve got to stop this fire.

A. Micah was extremely productive today. His urgency was at a different level. So I just think, like anything,he’s still young. He has the ability to be elite and this is another standard type game for him that he’ll need to continue to play to.

Q. Have you had a team that had a better response to an emotional loss like you had last week,looking at the way you played today?

A. No, this team has got the work ethic. It’s got the attitude. They’ve got a hard mindset, which you have to have. Frankly, seven days ago, just like I told them in the locker room, this game is going to help us because for as much as you have a certain thing in this game, whether it’s third down or adversity football, adversity advancement, the time that we spent, if it doesn’t quite work out at the end of the game, that stings you a little more. For as good as we’ve been, particularly about midway through last year, this team does a really good job of situational football. I think we’re clearly better this year than last year. And I think we’ve grown in that way. So to have the opportunity to have the lead and put it away, I’m glad we were able to get that seven days from last week. But, like I said, seven days in that locker room we talked about, “Hey, this game will help us in the long run. Let it go and just learn from it.” And I think that’s clearly just part of our lesson.

Q. What’s it say about Maher to come back and nail it?

A. I thought Brett stroked the ball…I thought he had an excellent day.

Q. The pass to Dak to CeeDee to set that up, did it look kind of Aaron Rodgers-esque that you saw in 2016?

A. Dak, his ability to extend plays, he needs to keep doing it because he’s good at it. Scramble drill is something we put time into. And when that was a (indiscernible) situation and his play extension, and CeeDee’s patience on the sideline, to get his feet down, that’s a great teaching tape. Two guys making big plays. Awesome.

Q. Like you said, this was a total response. But having Dak on one side of the ball and Micah on the other, who are willing to kind of stand up and take some of the heat coming off of a game like that,just how important is that when you can have that shared leadership on both units like that?

A. I speak on this a lot. I just can’t say it enough. I really love this locker room. And we’re definitely not short in the area of veteran leadership. We had a chance to visit our leadership council, I think, on Tuesday or Wednesday. And I am just so impressed with the way these guys open up their hearts and really challenge each other. And I think all that is part of this championship formula that you have to have. You have to go through adversity moments. You have you to have moments like last week. And you definitely have to respond like we did this week. So reality of it is we’re up in four days. This will be a quick flight home. But I’m proud of our guys. But the leadership group and the young guys buying in, Micah, the older guys putting their hands around him and helping him grow in that area. So we’ve got a lot of good things going on right now.

Q. On Elliott’s running style…

A. He runs behind his pads. If you want to teach a runner, the ability to get behind his pads and picks his knees up. He just runs with such power and force. But also he’s illusive, very instinctive. He’s smart. Zeke’s very intelligent and an instinctive, aware player.

Q. I know these are hard to come up with off the top of your head in the moment, but you scored on your first seven possessions to the start the game tonight. While it’s very rare, do you ever remember being a part of a game like where you scored on the first seven?

A. I’ve been fortunate where part of games where there aren’t any punts, and you love it when you roll like that, too. Keeps your defense off the field. Obviously when you’re north of 10-play drives, anything above seven is exceptional. We had the 19-play drive last week, too, that you never mentioned (laughter). But our efficiency has been pretty good the last month.

Q. The short week, the Wednesday practice for you all -- you play Thursday. Don’t you have a Wednesday practice on Monday or how do you schedule the week?

A. We have a Thanksgiving week schedule because we play on Thanksgiving every year. And the practice,the main schedule is specific to the Thanksgiving week, so it’s not an opponent Wednesday or work(indiscernible) Thursday. Saturday will be on Wednesday, if you’re looking for a nugget.

Q. 3-1 against the NFC North. Feel like home?

A. 4-0 would be better, but feels good. Feels good.

Cowboys Quarterback Dak Prescott

Q. Please talk about tonight scoring your first seven possessions to start the game, just the level you and the offense were playing coming into this game.

A. Yeah, just focused. Obviously after last week I had a good week of prep, and just wanted to come in and set the standard and expectation that I talked about that we have for ourselves. And just as you said, being able to go get points on the first seven drives honestly was just staying in the moment as all the guys were.I honestly couldn’t have told you that. And I think just credit to us being dialed in and staying within each play, taking it play-by-play, giving our best. And it resulted in points on those drives that obviously gives us a lead and allows the defense to go hunt.

Q. You guys leaned on Ezekiel Elliott real heavily on that first offensive drive. Could you talk about how you guys use as an identity establishing running the ball and it just went from there?

A. Physical running. Obviously starts up front. As we’ve talked about getting double teams around Zack (Martin), Terence (Steele), Tyler (Smith), Connor (McGovern) and Tyler (Biadasz) to keep their shoulder squared. And Zeke -- and to do the rest. And to make those guys, those double teams work. He’s a physical runner. Obviously having him back, being able to set that tone early just gives us the attitude we wanted,how the game’s going to go. Just being able to do that, I think defense understood what kind of game it was, and we were just able to continue to build off of that.

Q. You said this week that you thought maybe you should get out of the pocket more and bring your mobility into play. You did that seemed like tonight. What kind of factor is that?

A. Yeah, I do. And as I said, it’s just about knowing that I can go get three or four just stay ahead of the chains, even get back to the line of scrimmage on the first one. It’s huge not putting us in negative situations,making it easier on the play caller just us as an offense continuing to move forward. That’s better than an incompletion. So just being able to do that I think is going to pay off big for us.

Q. You know how fast Tony is --

A. For sure.

Q. How do defenses not seem to know how fast Tony is?

A. It’s not my problem (laughter). They should turn on the tape and check him out. Obviously if it’s him breaking runs in the backfield or him catching the ball on swing routes or go balls, I continue to say the guy’s special. He can do a lot of different things to help this offense on this team day in and day out.

Q. On the long touchdown, did you know you’re going to him, or Mike McCarthy said that was your last read on the play?

A. Let’s give credit to Kellen (Moore) there. It was a great play call by Kellen. Saw exactly what we wanted.That’s the matchup we wanted when we saw him on that defense. That touchdown is pretty much all Kellen as much as it is the pass and Tony and the catch and the run. It was perfect timing. Got the look we wanted.We were just able to execute it at that level.

Q. Can you speak to just how different the noise level was in the stadium from the beginning of the game to the middle of the second quarter? It seemed like one of the loudest we’ve seen to just silent. Did you feel that?

A. Yeah, definitely. Obviously knowing coming in we knew the type of environment this place can have.Calls in ruckus with the sound, just with the way the fans get into it, the Skol chant, it sets up for a great atmosphere. But credit to the guys in that huddle. Different guys were saying different things on different drives about getting us going and staying focused. One of the guys says, hey, let’s send some fans home early, early in the second half. And I think that’s to your point. Those guys felt that whether they got up and left, it definitely got quiet, and just allowed us to play to our tempo and just to play to our standard. And it was great.

Q. And that catch by CeeDee just before the half along the lines, that was huge seemed like to make it a three-score game at that point. What did you see on that play and what did you see from his catch? Just an outstanding moment for him.

A. Framed it. I don’t understand why there was a review. But that happens. But he got out and got open,found a zone. Just sat in it. And just were able to give him a chance. From the moment he framed it up, two feet down, incredible concentration and catch by him that set up for a huge two-attempt, two field attempts for Brett (Maher) there. Continue to be money.

Q. When you were out, you said while watching the game you could see how simple it could become. Was tonight a good example of what you were talking about?

A. Yes, sure. And just going along with obviously being able to use my feet just to stay ahead of the chains when things aren’t there. Everybody just played well tonight. And it starts with the focus and our preparation throughout the week and just how we came in. As I said taking it play-by-play, heightening the focus and then the finish -- you can take over (laughter) -- and the finish from each and every guy was just outstanding.That’s our standard and expectations. We’ve got to continue to build on that, understanding that this is one game. We’ve got a quick turnaround coming Thanksgiving. We’ve got to get in tomorrow, make sure we build off of this, learn from this, in every way that we can, the good, the bad and everything in between and go out and put another performance together similar to this on Thursday.

Q. Has your team had a better response to a loss, the way you all responded, the bitter angst of last week to come back and have performance like this?

A. That’s a great question. I don’t know if we have, honestly, in my time. But I can tell you I knew that this was coming just in the fact of the preparation and the focus and honestly the way that the defense -- I saw at practice, those guys, 100 miles per hour. I said this is going to be tough for the guys on the other side.The way they were attacking the way their focus was, obviously talking to them and communicating with them. And, yeah, this is a good group. And when we were able to just continue to keep our focus. As I say,we’ve got to take it one game at a time. Right now the challenge is handling success. Having a game like this in the NFL is tough to do. To be able to do that, we’ve got to put this behind us and know that we’ve got to go out there -- we’re as good as our last game. We’ve got to turn the page and go put another one together on Thursday.

Q. How good were you feeling today? The throw to CeeDee. You talk about your frame, the throw had to be perfect. And the one to Tony, you couldn’t have handed it to him better than. How good did you have it going with your passing today?

A. I felt good. It just goes into preparation. It’s a tough game. I’m not going to say I didn’t feel good last week. So that’s just part of it, just being able to go out there, put a good performance together. As I said,it’s about turning the page and learning from the good, the bad, everything about this game and building off of this, make sure we continue to stack.

Q. Question Regarding Micah Parsons:

A. He’s a special player. Obviously talking to him last night, I knew he was going to have a game like he did tonight. That’s the mentality. That’s the mentality that you want in these guys. That’s what we’ve got to continue to communicate and pull from each other and hold each other accountable. We’ve got guys that are able to go do the things they want to do. And he’s special. And we have to make sure we’re accountable to one another, holding the guys to the standard, holding our team to the standard and continuing to chase our own expectations and we’ll just be fine.

Q. Was it anything Micah said last night or just his overall demeanor?

A. Just a little bit of both, a little bit of both. Just chasing greatness, honestly. It was one of those conversations, chasing greatness. He has an opportunity to be one of the best to play this game. It was a conversation with me and him and a couple of other guys, just challenging him to do that. And that’s obviously what he wants to do. And we weren’t challenging him to do anything that he doesn’t believe in and has that mentality. It was just something that was brought up that I took the analogy of, yeah, he’s going to have a big day.

Q. You got to experience this quick turnaround several times now. What have you learned most about handling this week that you will do this week?

A. This one is done. This one is done. Huge win. And celebrate for a couple hours, but we’ve got to get up in the morning and get in and get our walk-through in and get whatever the schedule is. Be locked in on the New York Giants and understanding that this is a good team. It’s a good team that -- don’t know what happened today, but they’re winning. They’re a winning team in our division. So gotta turn the page, come in with the same focus we did on this game. As I said, continue to stack and we’ll be fine.

Q. So what happened to them was you guys. You mentioned coming into this game it was going to be a playoff environment. 8-1 team. Could you talk about what’s the statement? It’s a statement one for you guys. What do you feel is the statement you feel coming out of this game?

A. As I said, we’ve got to hold each other accountable. Understanding that the defense, the offense, the playmakers that we have, the special teams, this team can be special. But we’ve got to take it one game at a time. And I said, we can’t have a winning hangover, start smelling ourselves after this win. It’s about turning the page, getting in tomorrow, being our best tomorrow, staying in the moment, the preparation. JK (Jayron Kearse) said it the best, dominating. That’s going to be the mindset as we move forward tomorrow and preparing for Thursday.

Q. You have criticism after last week’s game. Your brother gets involved in Twitter and all that stuff.Can you put that out of your mind? How do you handle that, and is that in your motivation factor before you go bouncing back like that?

A. I’m not necessarily active on Twitter. Yes, so I can’t tell you what’s going on on Twitter with you and my brother or whatever my brother may be saying (laughter). I’ll leave that to him. Obviously I know he’s passionate about his little brother. He’s going to support him, and I appreciate that. But I don’t usually get motivation from what other people say. I’m very intrinsically inspired. A lot of things people in my life have moved me and a great team in there, guys I don’t want to let down each and every day that make me the man that I am. But, yeah, when you hear some things about your performance, all right, it comes from you guys, yeah. Things can stay. So it’s about as here is as good as your last game. For me, it’s about keeping it in forefront of my mind, knowing the people in the locker room, knowing that being accountable, building off how great we can be.

Cowboys Running Back Ezekiel Elliott

Q. How did it feel to be back?

A. It felt good to get back out there. Definitely felt good to get back out there, especially on a win like this.

Q. How important was this win for you guys? How much did you guys need to have this one?

A. We definitely needed this one. We needed this win after last week, especially versus a good team,coming into another hostile environment. Minnesota’s been one of the loudest stadiums I’ve played in in my entire NFL career, so for us to come in here and dominate and get a win in this type of fashion, it means a lot for this team and always looking to keep the ball rolling.

Q. Can you talk about this team offensively? What does this game mean for the offensive moving forward?

A. We know what our identity is. We know we want to go out there and run the football. Minnesota likes to run a lot of two deep, so that gives us good numbers inside the box. Definitely was a good day to go out there and pound it, as we did.

Q. You had two rushing touchdowns, Tony Pollard had two receiving touchdowns. Talk about the tandem of you guys and what a force you were together today.

A. When this offense is rolling, we’re rolling. I think it’s tough for those defenses to stop us, always having two fresh backs. It definitely puts a lot of stress on those defenses.

Q. How did the knee feel?

A. It felt good. I wouldn’t say I really felt it too much out there today. I kind of felt a little rusty, had a coupleof runs I wish I could get back, but that’s just part of it. That’s part of getting back in there. We’ll keep building on that.

Q. You’ve done it so many times, but with the quick turnaround for the Thanksgiving day games,what do these next few days look like?

Honestly, this is a fun time of year for me. Who doesn’t love to go out there and play?

A lot of these next few days is just mental work. Obviously, we’re not going to get much time to practice. I don’t even know if we’ll get one practice in. It might be all walkthroughs, so just locking in on the film and doing whatever we have to do to get ready for Thanksgiving day.

Q. Especially after what happened in Green Bay, what kind of statement do you think this win makes for the Cowboys?

A. I think it makes a big statement. Michael [Gallup] was pissed off going into the game. He said he was going to make one, and that’s what he did. Started with the first drive, and he got us going. Defense did their thing. They gave the boys hell. Just have to keep working and keep this ball rolling.

Cowboys Safety Jayron Kearse

Q. Is this the quietest you have heard this building?

A. Yes, it definitely is the quietest. I am happy I am on the other side. I mean it was a great showing from all three phases: special teams, defense, and offense. From all three phases we did our job.

Q. How big was the sack fumble three plays into the game? How big do you think that play was for you guys?

A. It was huge for us. You cannot just put everything on that first drive. You have to continue to do the same thing drive after drive, series after series. We just stayed right in our lane and continued in that for the next three quarters.

Q. Which team are you? The one that lost to Green Bay last week or the one that dominated today against the Vikings?

A. We are both teams. If we play that on film that is who we are. What we showed tonight is who we are trying to become week in and week out. Without last week we may not have this week. We just continue to build on things. When we make a mistake, we try and get better at that certain thing. I mean we showed that tonight. We see the end result when we continue to do the things we are supposed to do.

Q. Last week there were people in the locker room that were mad against the Packers, and you said that you will see on Sunday. Is this what you were expecting to see today?

A. This is exactly what I expected. We felt like it was a gut check against the Packers letting them run up and down the field. The Vikings were also coming off of a high against the Bills. We knew we were going to come in here and knock them down. We showed them who the tougher team is, and it is us. That is the type of football that we can play week in and week out if we continue to stay together and do our job.

Q. Did you have your celebration planned out because you have played here before?

A. I did not have it planned, but as the game went on, I knew the next play I made I was going to do it.

Q. Have you ever been a part of a game that was so complete like this?

A. We were part of a game like this last year against the Broncos. The Broncos ran up and down the field on us. It came down to a point where we had to look in the mirror because that was not our brand of football.We had to come out next week and correct those mistakes. We have guys that are able to respond which is huge for us this season. Tonight, meant a whole lot more to us knowing that this is one of the best teams in the NFC. We were able to go out there and play a complete game. These are guys that you want to see in the postseason. We just want to continue to take the next steps. When things do not go well it is all about how you respond. And I think we responded great tonight.