C
Cr122
Guest
Updated: October 20, 2010, 5:31 PM
Just Win, Baby
Monday's Game Close To Must-Win
Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
Email | Follow DCStarJEllis on Twitter
EmailPrintFacebookShareThis
Wade Phillips says everyone has accepted a one-game-at-a-time approach.
IRVING, Texas - As the Cowboys' fall from grace over the first six weeks of the season proves, things change quickly in the NFL. The team knows its situation may look quite different in a month or two.
This is why they say they're still confident. This is why Jerry Jones can do a 180 on his statement from Sunday evening, when he said he is not optimistic. This was the overall point of Jones' message when he spoke to the team Monday. It was a pep talk of sorts, but there's truth in the owner's point that things are not over yet.
There are a lot of games left, and even if the Cowboys continue to lose, even if they're mathematically eliminated from playoff contention earlier than anyone could've anticipated, they've still got to play those games.
The show must go on.
"Everybody's been asking for answers," said linebacker Bradie James, who sat out Wednesday's first practice of the week to rest a knee injury. "You can't really put your hand on one or two things, you've just got to go out there and play."
The first chance to do that is Monday night, against the division rival New York Giants. So never mind the fact that New York and Philadelphia are already 2.5 games ahead or, looking at things optimistically, that the Cowboys are only 2.5 back. Some would say it is the big picture, in part, that has gotten the club into this mess.
In response, they're narrowing their focus.
"We've got some areas, certainly, that we need to work on," head coach Wade Phillips said. "But it's one game at a time. It's this game that is most important. And everybody's got to feel that way, and I know we do."
If any extra motivation is needed, consider it's these Giants who eliminated the Cowboys from the playoffs in 2007. They notched a November win against the Cowboys in 2008, when the Cowboys missed the postseason by a single game.
Last year the Giants swept the home-and-home, including their win in the inaugural game at Cowboys Stadium, which ended on a last-second field goal. New York quarterback Eli Manning commemorated the event by autographing a beam in the visitors' locker room, and, allegedly, his teammates celebrated by spitting on the mirrors.
In addition to the fact they really need a win, the Cowboys want to beat the Giants in particular.
"When we play these guys it's always a battle," James said. "A 60 minute, all-day sucker. It's a good old-fashioned football game, and we're looking forward to it, regardless. It really doesn't matter when we face them, it's just we've got to be ready to play. It doesn't matter if you're 12-0, 1-4, it's a team that we know real well, they know us real well, and we've got to be ready to go play them."
Though the series has been on the Giants' side of late, the Cowboys can give themselves a huge boost should they win on Monday night, not to mention staving off an even larger crisis.
Considered a strike against them at the beginning of the season, the Cowboys' schedule is now somewhat fortuitous, because it is back loaded with divisional opponents.
"This is a two-game swing right here," Phillips said. "Division games are two-game swings. So that's why this is game is really, really important for us."
The Cowboys play the Giants again in a month, at New Meadowlands Stadium. The players say they aren't concerned with their place in the standings in the long term, but the fact is they have in front of them every opportunity to make up ground.
The players say they aren't worried about the final standings just yet, only the game in front of them, which happens to be against one of the teams they are chasing.
"I'm not worried about the division or nothing else," Gerald Sensabaugh said. "We've just got to control ourselves and go out there and play and win."
Just Win, Baby
Monday's Game Close To Must-Win
Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
Email | Follow DCStarJEllis on Twitter
EmailPrintFacebookShareThis
Wade Phillips says everyone has accepted a one-game-at-a-time approach.
IRVING, Texas - As the Cowboys' fall from grace over the first six weeks of the season proves, things change quickly in the NFL. The team knows its situation may look quite different in a month or two.
This is why they say they're still confident. This is why Jerry Jones can do a 180 on his statement from Sunday evening, when he said he is not optimistic. This was the overall point of Jones' message when he spoke to the team Monday. It was a pep talk of sorts, but there's truth in the owner's point that things are not over yet.
There are a lot of games left, and even if the Cowboys continue to lose, even if they're mathematically eliminated from playoff contention earlier than anyone could've anticipated, they've still got to play those games.
The show must go on.
"Everybody's been asking for answers," said linebacker Bradie James, who sat out Wednesday's first practice of the week to rest a knee injury. "You can't really put your hand on one or two things, you've just got to go out there and play."
The first chance to do that is Monday night, against the division rival New York Giants. So never mind the fact that New York and Philadelphia are already 2.5 games ahead or, looking at things optimistically, that the Cowboys are only 2.5 back. Some would say it is the big picture, in part, that has gotten the club into this mess.
In response, they're narrowing their focus.
"We've got some areas, certainly, that we need to work on," head coach Wade Phillips said. "But it's one game at a time. It's this game that is most important. And everybody's got to feel that way, and I know we do."
If any extra motivation is needed, consider it's these Giants who eliminated the Cowboys from the playoffs in 2007. They notched a November win against the Cowboys in 2008, when the Cowboys missed the postseason by a single game.
Last year the Giants swept the home-and-home, including their win in the inaugural game at Cowboys Stadium, which ended on a last-second field goal. New York quarterback Eli Manning commemorated the event by autographing a beam in the visitors' locker room, and, allegedly, his teammates celebrated by spitting on the mirrors.
In addition to the fact they really need a win, the Cowboys want to beat the Giants in particular.
"When we play these guys it's always a battle," James said. "A 60 minute, all-day sucker. It's a good old-fashioned football game, and we're looking forward to it, regardless. It really doesn't matter when we face them, it's just we've got to be ready to play. It doesn't matter if you're 12-0, 1-4, it's a team that we know real well, they know us real well, and we've got to be ready to go play them."
Though the series has been on the Giants' side of late, the Cowboys can give themselves a huge boost should they win on Monday night, not to mention staving off an even larger crisis.
Considered a strike against them at the beginning of the season, the Cowboys' schedule is now somewhat fortuitous, because it is back loaded with divisional opponents.
"This is a two-game swing right here," Phillips said. "Division games are two-game swings. So that's why this is game is really, really important for us."
The Cowboys play the Giants again in a month, at New Meadowlands Stadium. The players say they aren't concerned with their place in the standings in the long term, but the fact is they have in front of them every opportunity to make up ground.
The players say they aren't worried about the final standings just yet, only the game in front of them, which happens to be against one of the teams they are chasing.
"I'm not worried about the division or nothing else," Gerald Sensabaugh said. "We've just got to control ourselves and go out there and play and win."