EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Yeah, I definitely said it, and I'll probably argue this point all week long. But yes, this was a big win for the Cowboys.
Sure, the Jets are now 0-5. They have a first-year head coach who has never won a game. But they've got talent. They've got playmakers. And they've been overly competitive in other games this year.
But the Jets, who were actually favored in this game, were absolutely dominated by the Cowboys. Dominated by a team that had no problems filling out the seven-player inactive list because they had so many injuries to key spots.
Say what you want about … well, this is just the Jets. The Jets are not a good football team. But credit the Cowboys for making them look worse.
And who gets the credit? Well, just about everyone, but let's start at the same place we would start had they lost this game – coaching.
But the Cowboys didn't lose. They didn't play poorly, and in fact it was their best game of the season.
I credit Brian Schottenheimer for a lot of things, but the way the Cowboys were ready to play is not something we've seen a lot, especially in games like this.
When I say games like this, I'm talking about facing a desperate team on the road after an emotional rollercoaster the week before. It was very similar to the Week 3 matchup in Chicago when the Cowboys came off an overtime win over the Giants. But when they hit the field against the Bears that day, the Cowboys were flatter than a drive through Kansas and were blown out.
The recipe was here for a similar result this week. After the wild game with the Packers, this one had all the fixings for another flat performance. The early start, the atmosphere was less than raucous and, of course, there has been a tremendous number of injuries leading into this game.
Yet, the Cowboys came out and played their best – in every phase. It looked like they had a great week of practice, and if that was the case, considering all of the changes that were necessary, then you have to credit the coaching staff for a remarkable job.
And it starts with the offensive line. You kidding me? Four starters were out of the game, including all of your Tylers. No Smith, no Guyton, no Booker and no center Cooper Beebe, who remains on IR.
But you wouldn't have ever known the O-line was beat up like that. It's a credit to Schotty but also the O-line coaches in Klayton Adams, who is the offensive coordinator, and Conor Riley, who works with these linemen every day.
"The credibility of our coaches just went up today," Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones said in the locker room. "Everyone in my mind should have the same feeling."
Totally agree, Mr. Jones. Games like this one give you the opportunity to start working ahead before going down to the locker room, and when Jones said that comment, I started to smile, just knowing that I would actually get to provide a quote for this article, and there wasn't one that fit any better than that.
Because I think we should look at the coaching staff a little differently after a game like this. When you lose the amount of players the Cowboys did, especially on offense, and to come out and score 37 points – on any defense – is a huge accomplishment.
Of course, they still had Dak Prescott, Jake Ferguson, George Pickens, Javonte Williams and at least one offensive-line starter in right tackle Terence Steele. That's enough to win with. Just think how much the offense can improve when you get CeeDee Lamb and KaVonte Turpin back in the passing game. And when you get Tyler Smith, Tyler Guyton, Tyler Booker and Cooper Beebe all back as well.
Wait, let's just say that "I think" the Cowboys might get better when the linemen return because I'm not exactly sure all four of those guys will be the starters when they get back.
I mean, probably they will, especially Tyler Smith and Booker. But Nate Thomas is playing very well at left tackle and Brock Hoffman has been better than solid in the middle. Again, this isn't to start any O-line controversy, but I will say the Cowboys are going to have some options down the road.
Just like they will at receiver. Do you really think Ryan Flournoy is going back to the fifth receiver role when CeeDee and Turpin get back? I don't think so. We might see Flournoy take some of Jalen Tolbert's reps and maybe some from Turpin if they want to have more possession-type packages.
And if we're going to talk about the coaches, we have to talk about the defense.
Jets or not, this just looked better. And it looked better last week, too, aside from giving up 40 points to the Packers. But it's two straight weeks where the pass rush has been a lot more active.
You also saw some young players on that side of the ball step up, like linebacker Shemar James, who had a whopping 15 tackles and didn't even start. In addition, Juanyeh Thomas played well at safety in place of Malik Hooker.
Games like this are perfect opportunities to get young players on the field and let them execute. And when they perform at a high level – like they did Sunday – it's a credit to them being prepared and ready for their moment.
And that falls on the coaching.
We're the first to place blame on them during the bad games, so they need to be front and center for this one.
