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At 7-3, Cowboys in position to make a run
November, 10, 2014
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com
LONDON -- The Dallas Cowboys didn’t just need to win Sunday. They really needed to win Sunday. And they knew it.
With a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cowboys would have had their first three-game losing streak of the Jason Garrett era. They would have fallen to 6-4 and been in a freefall with four of their final six games on the road.
Now they enter their final six games with some cushion thanks to their 31-17 win against the Jaguars.
"I think for all of us, we’re coming off two tough losses, so we knew we had to get back on the winning side of things before the bye and get to 7-3," Jason Witten said. "Give ourselves a chance."
That is where they stand with six games to go. Depending on what happens tonight with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys will either remain a half-game behind the Eagles in the NFC East or move a half-game ahead.
Garrett was even able to briefly step out and take a 10-game view of the Cowboys while also thinking only of the Nov. 23 meeting against the New York Giants.
"For the most part, over the course of the first 10 weeks we feel good about the position we’re in," Garrett said. "But we talked to our team after the game, the only easy day was yesterday. Fortunately, there’s time for us to get healed up a little bit. We go back to Texas and get some guys back feeling 100 percent and get ready for the next challenge of beating New York in a couple of weeks."
Mostly Garrett lives in a day-to-day world, so he will not take a true big-picture view of what lies ahead for the Cowboys.
For a team that has had three straight 8-8 finishes and lost three straight winner-take-all season finales, the Cowboys are in position to be in position, just like in 2011, Garrett’s first year as the full-time coach. They were 7-4 after beating the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving, but lost four of their final five games and missed the playoffs.
Down the stretch, the Cowboys plays as many teams with six losses (Giants, Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins) as they do six wins (Philadelphia Eagles twice, Indianapolis Colts).
The only team with more wins in the NFC is the 8-1 Arizona Cardinals, and they lost quarterback Carson Palmer to a serious knee injury. The only other team in the conference with as many wins as the Cowboys is the Detroit Lions (7-2).
"You obviously want to have a chance to control your destiny and go out and do that," quarterback Tony Romo said. "And we have that ability, and guys have played hard and they put forth a lot of work and commitment to get to this point. And I’m proud that they have got ... themselves and ourselves in this position. But no one has won anything yet. It’s all in front of you. You got to take it and move forward and get better."
November, 10, 2014
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com
LONDON -- The Dallas Cowboys didn’t just need to win Sunday. They really needed to win Sunday. And they knew it.
With a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cowboys would have had their first three-game losing streak of the Jason Garrett era. They would have fallen to 6-4 and been in a freefall with four of their final six games on the road.
Now they enter their final six games with some cushion thanks to their 31-17 win against the Jaguars.
"I think for all of us, we’re coming off two tough losses, so we knew we had to get back on the winning side of things before the bye and get to 7-3," Jason Witten said. "Give ourselves a chance."
That is where they stand with six games to go. Depending on what happens tonight with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys will either remain a half-game behind the Eagles in the NFC East or move a half-game ahead.
Garrett was even able to briefly step out and take a 10-game view of the Cowboys while also thinking only of the Nov. 23 meeting against the New York Giants.
"For the most part, over the course of the first 10 weeks we feel good about the position we’re in," Garrett said. "But we talked to our team after the game, the only easy day was yesterday. Fortunately, there’s time for us to get healed up a little bit. We go back to Texas and get some guys back feeling 100 percent and get ready for the next challenge of beating New York in a couple of weeks."
Mostly Garrett lives in a day-to-day world, so he will not take a true big-picture view of what lies ahead for the Cowboys.
For a team that has had three straight 8-8 finishes and lost three straight winner-take-all season finales, the Cowboys are in position to be in position, just like in 2011, Garrett’s first year as the full-time coach. They were 7-4 after beating the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving, but lost four of their final five games and missed the playoffs.
Down the stretch, the Cowboys plays as many teams with six losses (Giants, Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins) as they do six wins (Philadelphia Eagles twice, Indianapolis Colts).
The only team with more wins in the NFC is the 8-1 Arizona Cardinals, and they lost quarterback Carson Palmer to a serious knee injury. The only other team in the conference with as many wins as the Cowboys is the Detroit Lions (7-2).
"You obviously want to have a chance to control your destiny and go out and do that," quarterback Tony Romo said. "And we have that ability, and guys have played hard and they put forth a lot of work and commitment to get to this point. And I’m proud that they have got ... themselves and ourselves in this position. But no one has won anything yet. It’s all in front of you. You got to take it and move forward and get better."
