It News: Cowboys pass gut check with opening win over Giants

Cowboys pass gut check with opening win over Giants

2012-09-06

By Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Before heading back to the training room following the Dallas Cowboys' upset victory at MetLife Stadium on Wednesday night, Jason Witten turned to the last couple of reporters remaining from the pack and pointed to a typed quote that he had athletic-taped to his locker.
It was something the All-Pro tight end received during a visit to Navy Seals specialists recently during the Cowboys' summer getaway to California. It spoke volumes about the mindset of a player healing a lacerated spleen — whose status seemed so iffy in the days, hours and minutes before the season opener.
The message read:
I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My team expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than our competition. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to help my team and to achieve our goal. I am never out of the FIGHT.

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Given the manner of the 24-17 win against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, and the fact that Witten survived without further injury, such determined, inspirational passages seemed fitting.
The Cowboys didn't just win a game. They passed a gut check.
"I'm proud of our team," Witten said. "It's much bigger than me."
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True, but Witten's a good place to start. Cleared on Tuesday night after flying to New York on Monday night and visiting specialists, he looked inflated in his uniform with the extra padding that covered his torso.
He was hardly the hero for production. He caught two passes for 10 yards. But his presence seemed to mean a lot for a team that has been derided for being a bit soft.
"I knew Jason was playing a week ago," said linebacker DeMarcus Ware, who had two sacks. "We talk all the time. They can build it up, but Jason was like, 'I'm going to check with this doctor.' I'm looking at him like, 'He's playing.' "
The test of grit was hardly the sole domain of Witten. The Cowboys lost starting center Phil Costa after three plays and replaced him with a backup, Ryan Cook, who had all of two practices with the team.
They also won on a night when they were flagged 13 times for 86 yards.
"Against the Giants, those mistakes can be terminal," team owner Jerry Jones said.
They won with fourth-year pro Kevin Ogletree emerging as a viable option. He killed the Giants' decimated secondary as the matchup of choice, making eight catches for 114 yards with two TDs, while often matched against usual backup Michael Coe.
In his first three campaigns, Ogletree averaged 8.3 catches and 98 yards per season.
Now he suddenly looks the part of that third receiver the Cowboys were lacking.
Rob Ryan's defense passed its first big test, too, after all the meltdowns of last season — including the Week 14 debacle against the Giants, when Dallas blew a 12-point lead in the final minutes. With his new cornerbacks, Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne, challenging the Giants wideouts with press coverage, the rhythm that Eli Manning has had in recent times against the Cowboys was not to be.

Then again, when the Giants cut the margin to seven points with 2:36 to play and two timeouts in their pocket, people had to wonder if the Cowboys were suddenly set up for another collapse.
Even Ware wondered.
"It was, 'Don't let 'em come back!' " Ware said.
It's just Week 1, but it's already apparent that it's a new season. The Giants, trying to become just the fourth team in 20 years to repeat as Super Bowl champs, have to realize the NFL calendar has moved on, and they will be hard-pressed to repeat destiny.
For the Cowboys, moving on is growing.
Said Ware, "It was good to see our team progress."
All summer, second-year coach Jason Garrett preached demeanor, mind-set and winning situational football as he attempts to put his stamp on the team.
This opening act was part of his vision.
"They understood it was a 60-minute ballgame," Garrett said. "They didn't blink when things didn't go well for us. And when things did go well, they kept going, knowing that team (the Giants) was going to come back. In a lot of ways, it was a good night for our football team. They showed mental toughness."

It was also a good night for Jones, the NFL's highest-profiled owner. Throughout the offseason, he maintained every move was designed to beat the Giants — who swept the season series last year and had won seven of the previous nine games in the series.
But beyond that, Jones served up bulletin-board material by trash-talking. Most notably, he urged fans at a training camp pep rally to come watch the Cowboys "beat the Giants' (butts)."
As he stood in a near-empty visitor's locker room, Jones whispered, "I couldn't stick my neck out any more, but since it was already out there, I didn't have any trouble going ahead and saying that we could do it."

He hopes this is a big confidence boost for the Cowboys, the first visiting team to crash the party and win in the years the NFL has opened the season with a mid-week prime-time game hosted by the Super Bowl champion.

It sure won't hurt Tony Romo's confidence. The much-maligned quarterback had his first ugly interception of the season, which was run back 51 yards. But after the Giants set up first-and-goal from the 1, the defense bailed Romo out and forced New York to settle for a chip-shot field.
Then Romo was nearly flawless the rest of the night, finishing with a 22-of-29 effort for 307 yards, with three TDs.
Before his press conference, Romo, dressed and wearing a purple tie, glided through the locker room. He slapped a visitor on the shoulder and took a seat in front of his locker. He shook his head and flashed a broad grin.
"That was a big one," he said.
After a game of mega messages and gut checks, it was the understatement of the night.