HUGE win in Philadelphia

You could argue that Tony Romo was largely responsible for the Cowboys win last night. He threw for 307 yards and a touchdown. Although he threw his first interception in more than three games, he also played the way Cowboys fans have wanted him to play for about three years now. He looked confident. He played smart, opting to take a sack in multiple instances instead of forcing passes that weren’t there, risking more interceptions. And he hit the open man when he needed to.

You could argue that Roy Williams was largely responsible. For the first time as a Cowboy he caught five passes. Many are considering it his “coming out party” of sorts. He’s obviously a long way from the #1 wideout that Jerry Jones gave up half of Texas for, but he made his biggest impact yet as a Cowboy.

You could argue the Cowboys defense was largely responsible. DeMarcus Ware disrupted the Eagles passing game all night. Jay Ratliff had two huge sacks of Donovan McNabb. Marcus Spears and the rest of the defensive line stopped Philadelphia cold on several important 3^rd- and 4^th-and-1 situations. Mike Jenkins and Gerald Sensabaugh each had an interception. The linebackers and the Dallas secondary all but shut down the big-play threats Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson.

I might be in the huge minority, but I would argue that (among a couple of the others above) Marion Barber was largely responsible for the Cowboys win. The guy didn’t do anything terribly impressive most of the game. But with something like four and a half minutes left, the Cowboys started a drive with a 4-point lead and the Eagles had no timeouts. Everyone in the WORLD who was watching the game knew that what was coming next was a heavy dose of Marion Barber. The Eagles could have left every tight-end and widereceiver uncovered and stacked all 11 defenders in the box to keep Barber from getting 1^st downs… and they couldn’t do it. Somehow the machine that is Marion Barber actually gets fresher, stronger, and better as games wear on, and when it’s time to run out the clock I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team stop him. The guy’s unreal.

There is a bigger, more convincing argument for the success of these Cowboys, however, and here it is: The Dallas Cowboys as a team were responsible for maybe their biggest win since 2007.

After getting clobbered 44-6 in Philadelphia in Week 17 last season, in a game with the NFC’s last playoff spot on the line, the Cowboys were in a pit. Jerry Jones then made some of the best decisions he could possibly have made. He released T.O. He released Tank Johnson. He released Pacman Jones. These moves suggested that he wished to create a more team-oriented atmosphere than the me-first teams of the past few years. This year, I believe we’re watching the Cowboys grow up before our eyes. Roy Williams thinks winning is more important than whether or not he’s getting 100-yard games. Miles Austin had only one catch last night (for what ended up being the winning touchdown) and it came midway through the final quarter. After the game SI’s Peter King asked him if he was a little testy having had such huge games in the last month and then not contributing 50 minutes into such a big game last night. Austin responded (I’m paraphrasing from memory), “There are times when I think I’m open and I want the ball, but I’m not Tony and I don’t know what Tony’s going through back there. A lot of times he’s got a 300 pound defensive lineman coming after him and trying to rip his head off, so no, it doesn’t upset me when I don’t always get the ball.”

These are the kinds of quotations you hear from TEAM-oriented players.

The Cowboys next three games are Green Bay, Washington, and Oakland. None of those are gimmes, but they’ll likely be favored in each of them. Although I would argue that this year’s team looks different from the December-collapsing Cowboys teams of the last several years, it would be nice to come out of Thanksgiving at 9-2, needing only a couple of wins out of the last five (which I think are New York, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans, and San Diego – not in that order) to make the playoffs.

This is a new and different team. Watch out.