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During Week 14’s edition of Thursday Night Football, Troy Aikman tried to get hip and use some modern day lingo. He said the Jaguars had to “get this bread” meaning they had to go get the job done. It was weird.
"They gotta go get this bread" pic.twitter.com/jf52oqtoHD
— Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) December 7, 2018
On the subject of bread, the Cowboys just completed a gauntlet of sorts as far as how their last five games looked. They defeated:
- Philadelphia
- Atlanta
- Washington
- New Orleans
- Philadelphia
As you can see, the gauntlet is a sandwich bordered by the Eagles. They are the bread. With Troy Aikman on the call on Sunday, the Cowboys got that bread. It was amazing.
Here are our winners and losers from the contest. Spoiler, the Cowboys beat the Eagles.
Winner: Jason Garrett
The Dallas Cowboys won every single game of their gauntlet. They were literally the winners in this football game. He’s not perfect and you may have issues with him, but Jason Garrett has now taken out the reigning Super Bowl Champions twice in this stretch and in between out-dueled Sean Payton.
Perhaps the most impressive moment of the game for Garrett came during the overtime period. This latest Eagles win has been compared to the first one of the Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott era in 2016 (the score was the same and both games went to overtime) and in that game Jason Garrett was faced with a similar decision that he was on Sunday... to go for it or not on a fourth down in overtime.
Garrett showed the right amount of moxie at the right times. He’s a leader of men and deserves an enormous amount of credit for the Cowboys turnaround.
Winner: Amari Cooper
We’d already reached a point where trading for Amari Cooper was justified, but things really hit a new gear against the Eagles.
Cooper went off for 217 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner. Those are both career highs for him and they came on a night where the Cowboys effectively ended the Eagles’ season. It doesn’t get any sweeter than that.
Winner: Connor Williams
Things got a little scary when Zack Martin left the game with an injury (his status is still uncertain at the time of this writing) and rookie Connor Williams had to jump in.
Many have said a lot of things about Williams since Xavier Su’a-Filo took over for him, but he stepped in admirably. That was a really unexpected twist to the game that he handled very well. We’ll see if he’s going to be over there for some time. Hopefully not, but that’s not a knock on Williams.
Winner: Tyrone Crawford
Robbed of it last week thanks to a Randy Gregory penalty, Tyrone Crawford finally got his moment on Sunday afternoon when he sacked Carson Wentz and forced a fumble. Crawford is quietly having his best season as a professional and is a critical part of what makes the Hot Boyz run. What he’s doing is very special.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Crawford is his leadership abilities. He’s a captain for the Cowboys and the players really do gravitate towards him. He’s worked hard at everything Dallas has asked over the years and it’s paying off.
Winner: The Dallas Cowboys
Yes, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Philadelphia Eagles. Say it over and over and over again.
What’s more is the New York Giants took care of the Washington Redskins on Sunday. This allows the Cowboys to control their destiny this season and it hinders the Giants draft position in 2019. Sunday could not have gone any better.
Loser: Kamu Grugier-Hill
It wouldn’t be fair to the word loser to not include our friend, KGH, after his big week.
THE DALLAS COWBOYS JUST BEAT THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES AFTER AMARI COOPER CAUGHT A PASS THAT WAS DEFLECTED BY AN EAGLES DB.
— Blogging The Boys (@BloggingTheBoys) December 10, 2018
SPEAK ON CHOKING ONE MORE TIME FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK. pic.twitter.com/0Vh149Xno4
Loser: NFL officiating
There were an enormous amount of horrible calls in this game (and across the NFL on Sunday) including a huge missed fumble recovery by the Eagles to start the game. That worked out for the Cowboys but you always want to the game called properly.
Holdings, missed holdings, illegal contact, and all sorts of things that were absurd for different reasons dominated this game. Hopefully the league does something very soon.
Loser: Scott Linehan
The Cowboys broke open offensively in the fourth quarter and ultimately won the game, but they went seven straight quarters dating back to the New Orleans game without scoring a touchdown before all of that happened.
There were many times against Philadelphia where the Cowboys offense looked lifeless. It was so stagnant in fact that Amari Cooper was upset with it. This is a team with an elite defense and offensive playmakers. There’s no excuse for vanilla anymore.
Loser: Tyron Smith
Part of this is related to the unfortunate barrage of penalties, but Tyron Smith didn’t have his best game with the Cowboys on Sunday. In his defense he’s coming off of an injury and some missed time but he’s expected to be great. He simply wasn’t. There will be other opportunities.
Loser: The Philadelphia Eagles
It’s broomstick day. Dallas swept Philadelphia.
It really is a wonderful time to be a Dallas Cowboys fan. Let’s enjoy one another and this holiday season as we continue along our merry ways.