Dallas drives to finish:
A convincing win inspired by their coach gives the Cowboys a chance to take off.
ARLINGTON, Texas – Sean Lee said his coach’s pregame hype speech was “one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard from him.”
Dak Prescott said Jason Garrett’s message before Week 15 elicited visible response from Cowboys players anxious to emerge from a three-game skid.
Players didn’t just listen to their coach’s story about Garrett playing baseball, Prescott said. They didn’t sit passively as Garrett reminded a team struggling in all three phases of the game that on great teams the offense complements the defense. The defense complements the offense. And no unit begrudges the responsibility – they cherish the opportunity.
“A bunch of guys voiced it,” Prescott said after the Cowboys’ 44-21 win over the Rams. “Looked at each other and said: ‘I got you. I’m going to pick you up.’
“We were able to do that tonight, and that’s something we’ve got to continue to build on it. That’s what we did tonight through adversity and through success.”
Complementary football within and across all phases of the game powered Dallas to its first victory all season over a team with a winning record. Dallas embodied complementary football to beat the Rams using the same strengths Los Angeles had powered to a 30-22 playoff win in January.
Take the run game. In January, Todd Gurley and C.J. Anderson mauled Dallas’ defense for a 273-yard, three-touchdown rushing attack. Ezekiel Elliott and Co. were held to 50.
Against the Rams, as the Cowboys improved to 7-7 and the Rams fell to 8-6, Dallas allowed 22 rushing yards and 1.6 yards per carry. Conversely, Elliott and rookie Tony Pollard championed a run game that netted 5.8 yards per carry en route to 263 yards and three touchdowns.
No Cowboys player posted 60 receiving yards but eight had at least one catch.
The Rams’ defense was left on its toes as two running backs rushed for touchdowns after a tight end and a receiver caught touchdowns to establish a lead the Cowboys would never relinquish.
The defense was psyched. “You feed off each other,” defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said. “When the offense is doing good, they’re scoring points, the defense is happy and ready to take the ball away so the offense can score more points. We’re just feeding off their energy.”
Teammates agreed. Thirtythree-year-old Lee posted his first interception in two years and his first solo sack in four years. He said he wanted to respond emphatically after 37year-old Jason Witten rode a one-handed catch into the end zone for the Cowboys’ first score.
“I saw that and said, ‘I better pick my stuff up,’ ” Lee said. “‘I can’t let him one-up me.’ That was an unbelievable catch and really it got us all fired up on the sideline.”
So, too, did Lee’s interception and sack. Teammates raced onto the field to celebrate with the veteran who wasn’t sure whether trainers would deem him healthy enough to play. Lee stepped up on a day the Cowboys had lost three other linebackers before halftime. He was among Cowboys defenders leading a game of much surer tackling than Dallas showed in losses to the Bills and the Bears.
“One side’s not playing well, we have to not overthink that and not see it as a negative but see it as a positive to pick your brother up,” Lee said. “We care about each other as a team and we love being around each other, but I think that was something we hadn’t had, being able to rally defensively when the offense wasn’t playing well, or when the offense was playing well, we didn’t go both ways. That’s something great football teams have to do.
“We needed that.”
The defense stopped the Rams on their first drive and ultimately limited Los Angeles to 4 of 12 on third down, creating pressure to the tune of five quarterback hits and six pass breakups.
The offense scored first, and continuously, on drives ranging from 9 yards to 97.
“The thing that stands out to me the most about tonight is how physical we were,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “Their theme this week was physical. Be physical. And boy, they were physical.”
Jones said Garrett deserves credit for the physicality the Cowboys showed against the Rams, too. He reiterated his belief that Garrett “checks a lot of boxes” for the Cowboys and NFL head coaching qualifications. With the Cowboys still atop the NFC East and a win over the Eagles away from hosting a playoff game, “nothing I’d like better than to ride his coattail into a fairy tale here,” Jones said.
But Jones dismissed the notion that the 23-point win caused him to reassess extending Garrett for 2020.
“That implies that I’d concluded and had assessed the future, and that’s not correct,” Jones said. “I had not reached that point, and wouldn’t under any circumstances until this season is over. What it does remind me is the season’s not over.
“But this is what the doctor ordered to go get ready to play the Eagles.”