For Cowboys, a slow start but faster finish
FRISCO, Texas — Jerry Jones says the Dallas Cowboys could be on to something after the owner persuaded his players to kneel together before the national anthem and stand during the song when the flag was displayed.
What the Cowboys did once the game against Arizona started could reverberate for them on and off the field.
Dallas recovered from a slow start after the unique display among many NFL responses to President Donald Trump’s criticism and beat the Cardinals 28-17 on Monday. It was a week after another sluggish first half for the defending NFC East champs in a 42-17 loss to Denver.
Speaking on his radio show Tuesday, Jones said he told his players to trust him that such an approach could work as a way to avoid criticism for what some see as disrespect for the flag and the country.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if the participation and the recognition of unity and recognition of equality, it wouldn’t surprise me if that were a template going forward in the NFL,” Jones said.
Coach Jason Garrett said the Cowboys have to figure out how much of their latest slow start had to do with them spending the 48 hours before the game deciding how to respond to Trump’s suggestion that NFL players who kneel during the anthem should be fired.
Players, coaches and staff held several meetings, and many of those people joined in the display. That included Jones and members of his family arm-in-arm with players in the middle of the field near the 50-yard line as boos rang out across the stadium.
The Cowboys rose, still armin-arm, and stepped back to the sideline as the flag was unfurled across the field, followed by Jordin Sparks singing the anthem.
“I do think there was really good intensity and a really good look in the eyes of our players,” Garrett said . “They did not seem distracted to me.”
“Our team just became closer,” said 15th-year tight end Jason Witten, a staunch supporter of standing for the anthem.
Garrett sidestepped a question on whether the Cowboys would do something similar Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams in their first home game since the display.
GIANTS: Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.’s antics after scoring his first touchdown of the season on Sunday have drawn the scorn of the team’s most powerful patriarch, CEO and co-owner John Mara.
“I do not want to get into a discussion about this, but I will say that I am very unhappy with Odell’s behavior on Sunday and we intend to deal with it internally,” Mara said in a statement the team released on Tuesday.
It is the first indication that the team is disturbed not just by the immediate result of Beckham’s actions — a 15-yard penalty that forced the Giants to kick off from deep in their own territory on the ensuing play — but the optics of them.
The sideshow stems from Beckham crawling on the ground like a dog and then lifting his leg in the back of the end zone following a touchdown catch in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss at Philadelphia.
AP POLL: Kansas City is the No. 1 team in the latest AP Pro32 poll, receiving 11 of 12 first-place votes for 383 points Tuesday in balloting by media members who cover the NFL.
Atlanta remains at No. 2 and received the other first-place vote for 370 points. New England moved up two spots to No. 3, Green Bay is fourth and Dallas at No. 5. Oakland, Denver and Detroit are tied at No. 6.
DOLPHINS: Prosecutors have decided not to file charges against receiver Jarvis Landry over allegations of domestic violence.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office said an investigation determined there was “no reasonable likelihood” of a conviction. The case involved an April 1 “vocal disagreement” between Landry and Estrella Cerqueira, the mother of their daughter, Cerqueira said.
Cerqueira maintained Landry did not intend to touch her or strike her, but accidentally did so.