McCarthy’s Cowboys primed for home stretch: ‘This is the team we’ve been trying to build’
The relief in Ezekiel Elliott’s voice was palpable as he spoke virtually with reporters following the Cowboys’ 31-28 win in Minnesota.
“It was definitely a win we needed,” Elliott said. “Can’t even remember how long it’s been since our last win.”
Forty-two days. That’s how long it had been. The team’s last victory technically came on October 11, but that day was irretrievably marred by the season-ending injury to quarterback Dak Prescott. So Elliott and the Cowboys can perhaps be forgiven if it felt like their losing streak had lasted much longer than four games.
“It’s been a year through a lot of ups and downs,” head coach Mike McCarthy reflected afterward in his press conference. “So gratifying to see these men get the victory today, because they damn well earned it, that’s for sure.”
True enough, the win did not come easily. The Dallas defense gave up over 400 yards of offense, letting Vikings running back Dalvin Cook surpass 100 yards on the ground and allowing Kirk Cousins to top 300 yards on a day where he maintained a perfect passer rating into the fourth quarter.
After leading for most of the contest, the Cowboys fell behind twice in the final fifteen minutes, but managed to come back both times. They took the lead for good with under two minutes to play, and the oft-maligned Cowboys defense sealed the win with a four-play stand against Cousins and Company.
It was a glimpse of the Cowboys squad that everyone thought they’d see back in September.
“This is the team we’ve been trying to build,” McCarthy said.
But the coach- along with the rest of the Cowboys roster- was already looking ahead to their Thanksgiving Day date with Washington.
“This is clearly the most rounded performance- victory- that we’ve had this year,” McCarthy offered. “Took us a little longer to get here today, but I clearly think the journey will make us stronger. We need to do something with this win. We need to build off this win. It needs to mean something.”
No, moving to 3-7 isn’t just a feel-good bit of character-building for the Cowboys. Thanks to the nearly inconceivable ineptitude of the entire NFC East, Dallas woke up on Victory Monday in a three-way tie for second place in the division, and only half a game out of the lead.
“There’s a lot of football left to be played, and history will tell you you have to play your best football in November and December. So obviously, with the state of our division, that focus is ours. We need to win Thursday. This will be our first opportunity to really stack success.”
The players are also acutely aware that a postseason berth is still, almost inexplicably, within their reach.
“We never thought that we were out of it,” Elliott pointed out. “Our division is struggling this year, and we’re right there where we need to be. We’re right there to go win the division. We’ve got to build on this success; we can’t come out on a short week and take a step back, especially against a division opponent.”
“We’re very hungry. We’re looking forward to the next game,” said rookie wideout CeeDee Lamb. “It’s a division game, so we’re looking forward to putting our best foot forward.”
Washington trounced Dallas 25-3 less than a month ago. Now the Cowboys will look for payback in front of their annual holiday audience.
Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch admitted that he had held a grudge against Minnesota after last season’s 28-24 loss, and he plans to carry that same mentality into Thanksgiving Day and beyond.
“It’s big for us,” Vander Esch told media members. “I’ve got a chip on my shoulder for this week, too. But we’ve got to go 1-0 every single week, and it starts right now.”
The week off certainly seems to have paid off for the Cowboys, who came out healthy, rested, and fired up after their bye. They won’t have that same advantage moving forward, so hopefully Sunday’s dramatic win- to break the team’s first four-game losing streak since the disaster season of 2015- will prove to be enough for them to build on.
It might even be for the foundation for an improbable playoff run.
“We knew when we came off the bye that everything was in front of us,” quarterback Andy Dalton said following his first game back after a concussion and COVID-19. “It doesn’t matter what we’ve done up to this point. It’s all about these next seven games.”
Six, actually.
Or perhaps that’s the most optimistic quote ever, to automatically forecast a Cowboys playoff game after a badly-needed midseason win just to keep a flicker of hope alive.
Elliott didn’t know how long it had been since they last won; Dalton doesn’t know how many games are left. Maybe neither matters. If the Cowboys can keep playing the way they did in Minneapolis, Dalton’s count may end up being right.
And based on Sunday’s performance, it’s clear that Dallas can be good enough to do some damage if they get there.
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