Cowboys headed to L.A., aiming to raise bar on expectations
The joy or relief -- or whatever the Dallas Cowboys felt after their 24-22 wild-card win against the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday -- was short-lived.
Surrounded by media at his locker inside AT&T Stadium, Pro Bowl defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence summed up the Cowboys’ feelings less than an hour after the franchise’s first playoff victory since 2014.cheap nfl nike jerseys china
“Y’all know this game is over, right?” Lawrence said. “I’m over it. I’m tired. It’s time for me to go to bed.”
It was barely 11 p.m. CT on Saturday, but Lawrence had a drive home, and he knew successful seasons in the Dallas organization are not defined by wild-card wins, but by the five Super Bowl trophies that greet visitors at The Star.
“We’re in a tournament where you win or go home, and we won,” quarterback Dak Prescott said at the podium Saturday night. “So we’re going on to the next one. It’s about moving forward now.”
The next one will be against the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round, with the Philadelphia Eagles knocking off the Chicago Bears on Sunday. The Eagles’ victory prevented a rematch of the Cowboys’ signature win of the regular season against the New Orleans Saints, a 13-10 decision at AT&T Stadium on Nov. 29, but perhaps opened up a cleaner path to the NFC Championship Game.
Once the Cowboys won the NFC East, the next goal was not just to win a wild-card playoff game. It wasn’t to play in an NFC Championship Game, either, or even Super Bowl LII. It was to win the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl.
Only 22 players on the current 53-man roster were alive when Alvin Harper made his big fourth-quarter catch that led the Cowboys to Super Bowl XXVII with their win at Candlestick Pak against San Francisco. Nose tackle Antwaun Woods was 2 weeks old.cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale
But owner and general manager Jerry Jones believes the Cowboys have a team that can travel well, even though they were shut out by the Indianapolis Colts 23-0 in their last game away from AT&T Stadium.
“We’re physical,” Jones said. “Our defense is physical. Our offense is physical. We’ve had road experience.”
When presented with the opportunity to play a playoff game in his home state, Prescott did not bite. It was a business trip, but the final part of his answer was transferrable to the Rams, too.
