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| Cowboys Player Quotes |
Scandrick, you almost killed Bradford. ‘I mean, I’m just playing hard, man. That’s how you get balls out. That’s how you slow teams down.’
— Carlos A. Mendez (@calexmendez) September 22, 2013
The significance of the Cowboys' blowout win over the Rams - David Moore, DMN
Barry Church reflects on the difference between the Rams game and last week's loss against the Chiefs:
"Kansas City, we felt like we didn’t step on their throats and we gave them a chance to come back,’’ safety Barry Church said. "This game, we were up early and we just felt like, ‘hey, we’ve got to step on these guys throats and not let them come back like they did against Atlanta because they came back from 24-down.’
"We were able to do that.’’
Cowboys looking down on NFC East - Todd Archer, ESPN Dallas
The Cowboys may have a one-game lead in the NFC East, but that's no reason to take the foot off the pedal according to DeMarcus Ware:
"We needed this type of game," said defensive end DeMarcus Ware. "Coming off the loss we just had to Kansas City this sort of puts us back on track."
"We can’t be a roller-coaster. We’ve got to be consistent. It’s going to take heart and hard work to do what we want to do."
'Sky's the limit' for Dallas defense - Tim MacMahon, ESPN Dallas
Jason Hatcher, whose third sack in his third game puts him on track for a 16-sack season, likes the potential of the Cowboys defense:
"The sky’s the limit for this defense. We’ve just got to keep the bar high and work during the week."
And Brandon Carr sees yesterday's defensive performance as a signature statement:
"It’s just one more step to trying to get where we want to go. We’re still trying to establish our identity. Just across the board, we want to be that physical, aggressive, high-energy defense. Everybody swarming, everybody getting to the ball, guys in the right position to make plays, just flying around and having fun. This is Week 3. We still have some more progress to go, but this is a step in the right direction."
DeMarcus Ware gets Dallas sacks record - Calvin Watkins, ESPN Dallas
Ware's 115 career sacks put him alone atop the Cowboys franchise rankings, and in a sign of the times, it sounds like teammate Jason Hatcher is even more pleased with this achievement than Ware himself:
"That was awesome," defensive tackle Jason Hatcher said of Ware. "It's awesome to play with that guy. He's one of the best who ever did it. He's the best, no disrespect to Charles Haley. (Ware) is just a freak. It's a privilege to play alongside a guy like that, a future Hall of Famer, just a great teammate, he loves his teammates, it couldn’t happen to a better guy. He's got a lot of juice in him. He looks like he's 25 years old."
Cowboys' Morris Claiborne rebounds against Rams - Todd Archer, ESPN Dallas
Heading into the game, there were questions about whether Claiborne could play effectively, but he rebounded nicely when he was able to tackle Tavon Austin on a quick throw to the flat early in the first quarter:
"I wanted that opportunity to come back again," he said. "I had it last week and I failed at it. That’s one of those things all week I wanted that opportunity to present itself again, and I think I handled it well."
Harris gets his mind right after muffed punt - Carlos Mendez, Star-Telegram
Dwayne Harris muffed a punt early in the game and that could have weighed heavily on the player's mind throughout the game, but it didn't. 'Taking it one play at a time', as Garrett likes to preach to his players, helped Harris reel in a 24-yard TD pass from Romo later in the game.
"You just got to take it out of your mind and move on," he said. "My teammates do a good job of helping me with that. They do a good job of picking me back up and getting me back on the right track and helping me get my mind right."
Brian Waters alternates series with Mackenzy Bernadeau and appears ready to start - Charean Williams, Star-Telegram
Mackenzy Bernadeau got the start on Sunday, but Brian Waters looks close to taking over the starting spot.
"I could [play a full game], but that’s a coaches’ call," he said. "We’ve got a good group. The more players, the better, because it’s a long season. You find out in the NFL that you’ve got to have more than five offensive linemen to be successful."
| Cowboys Coaches & Executives |
Kiffin: 'We shouldn’t have given up the score at the end, to tell you the truth. Fourth down, and we just missed on a nice play.'
— Carlos A. Mendez (@calexmendez) September 22, 2013
Cowboys separating themselves from putrid pack in NFC East - Tom Orsborn, MySA.com
Orsborn writes that the Cowboys will be hard to beat if they continue to play like they did against the Rams, a sentiment echoed by Jerry Jones.
"We’ve had approximately 500 games since I’ve been with the Cowboys the past 25 years and I bet I can count on 15, 20 fingers the number of games that we’ve had this kind of positive play, where we get the lead and have this kind of ultimate outcome," Jones said. "You don’t get many in the NFL."
Kiffin, Marinelli coaching up defensive line - Dallas Cowboys and the NFL
Monte Kiffin gives all the credit to Rod Marinelli for the defensive line play, including the play of George Selvie and Nick Hayden.
"Coach Marinelli does a great job," he said. "Like I’ve told you, he’s an icon. He’s the best. When players get a chance to play for Coach Marinelli, it’s an unbelievable experience. He shows tapes and tapes and goes through every single move they can make and how to set it up, read blocks, read the back and the whole bit, and they went out and executed it."
"Selvie’s really done a great job," Kiffin said. "He’s a great example, again, of coach Marinelli taking a free agent and making something out of the guy. You know he did it with Greg Spires, who was cut twice, on the Super Bowl team in 2002. Simeon Rice was let go by the Cardinals. You just never know. And Nick is the example at nose tackle, playing his tail off."
"These are guys who were cut by other teams. I think one of them was home watching the sitcoms or something on the couch. That’s pretty exciting. I love coaching guys like that. Rod and I both do. We love taking guys like that. Free agents, whether it be ones coming out of college or let go by other teams. We definitely look at people like that."
Tony Romo benefits from running game - Todd Archer, ESPN Dallas
Jason Garrett summarizes how an effective ground game can help your passing game:
"Obviously when you run the football the way we ran it, it really makes your life as a quarterback that much better," coach Jason Garrett said. "A lot of the burden is taken off you. When you can hand the ball off and have success and get in favorable down and distance situations and then you start getting favorable matchups in the passing game, it’s really the way you want to play."
| Rams Quotes |
Also, everyone stop with this just being the Rams. They finished 7-8-1 last year & had a nice draft. This was an immensely impressive win.
— Jeff Sullivan (@SullyBaldHead) September 22, 2013
Rams receive harsh reminder in Dallas - ESPN
Cortland Finnegan with easily the best soundbite after the game.
"Sometimes you’re the bug," cornerback Cortland Finnegan said. "Sometimes you’re the windshield."
St. Louis Rams add run defense to list of questions - ESPN
Sam Bradford on DeMarco Murray coming up big against the Rams. Again.
"It’s a little frustrating," Bradford said. "I’m not really sure why he has to do it against us but he played really well today."
Murray, Romo lead Cowboys to 31-7 rout of Rams - News Democrat
Jeff Fisher has a lot of work ahead of him this week.
"We didn't run it, we didn't stop the run, we didn't throw it, we didn't stop their passing game," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said.
"I did not see this coming."
Rams' big loss to Dallas just like bad old days - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The Rams players give some credit to the Cowboys:
Sam Bradford: "Give credit to their pass rush. I thought they did a good job. They were running a lot of ‘games’ with their down linemen. A couple blitzes got us, too."
RT Joe Barksdale, who started in place of the injured Rodger Saffold. "They threw a lot of looks at us."
DE Robert Quinn: "It was just a bad day. I was talking with James (Laurinaitis), and it seemed liked they called the perfect play every time on offense. As defenders, we’ve got to adjust and make plays. Kudos to them, they had an excellent game plan against us."
DE Chris Long: "It wasn’t pretty. We just got beat. There are days you just get flat out beat, and today was a day like that. It sucked and we hated every minute of it."