Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joined The K&C Masterpiece on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM] to discuss the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day win over the New York Giants, led in part by running back Ezekiel Elliott’s 92 yards on 16 carries.
Here are some highlights, edited for clarity:
Question: How much better does it make the family get-together when the Cowboys are coming off a victory?
Jerry Jones: “Oh, everybody is invested. My grandchildren have been a part of this since they opened their eyes. Everybody’s invested. For instance, yesterday that picture of [the Jones family] putting money in that big red [Salvation Army] kettle, such an institutional part of our Thanksgiving Day, well those grandchildren have been there since they could barely reach the kettle. So it’s quite a tradition.”
Q: What were your feelings at halftime yesterday as the Giants were leading 13-7?
Jones: “Oh I was really concerned, very concerned. That’s their game, they hang around. They’re a good team, and I was really concerned. We just were determined to make enough mistakes, enough miscues that we were gonna keep this thing within reach for them. And that’s almost being trite, ‘within reach for them,’ because they’re a team that could have reached right through us. So I was very concerned.”
Q: Safety Jayron Kearse dislocated his right shoulder yesterday, then went back in the game to finish the 4th quarter. What do you think of the toughness, mentally and physically, of this team?
Jones: “I think it’s outstanding. First of all, make no mistake about it, to play pro football you got to think above the pain. And there’s pain. We have very few players that don’t have some type of surgery after the season, very few. So these players play with pain, they play with malfunction, so to speak, but they play through it. It’s really one of the things that I admire most about our players, and the game. Very seldom, maybe the first day or two of training camp do you walk out there feeling your very best. From that point forward you’re calling on it all the time.
“So I’m proud of these guys, I’m proud of the way we responded yesterday. We could’ve let some of those miscues really set us back and come out of there with a big disappointment, but we didn’t do it. That’s the mark of a good team.”
Q: You talked a month ago about giving [Ezekiel Elliott] a little bit of a rest, not pushing through his injury. Did we see benefits of that yesterday? Because Zeke was outstanding.
Jones: “He’s so punishing. I can’t emphasize enough the toll that he takes on the other team. At the end of the day, this [game] is so physical, that if you out-physical the other team, then boy you’ve gained an edge. Zeke does that. His reputation precedes him, but then nothing compares to meeting up with it on the field. It’s a shock to even get in his exhaust. He really provides an element to our team that lets us be physical, wear them down. And really starting right off the bat. I thought the way we started that game yesterday, I was so impressed with how we were running the ball, physically running the ball. And it really kind of distorted things for us, because we went for it on fourth down. And had we not been running the ball and gashing them early in that quarter, we probably wouldn’t have gone for that fourth down. So there’s a case where we kind of over-judged what we were capable of doing, going for it there.
Q: In that case then, are you surprised that the team didn’t run it on third down there as well? It did seem a little odd that you wouldn’t run the ball both of those plays.
Jones: “Well the way we were running the ball — now I didn’t make this call — I’m not denying the call I’m just saying I didn’t make it, but I assure you that the confidence [the coaching staff] has in our ability to make it on 4th-and-2, 4th-and-1, was emboldened by how strong and how well we were physically running in the initial plays of the game. That misled us a bit and we got stopped.”
Q: Zack Martin is working on a Hall of Fame career, when you heard him get called for holding did you have to double-take and think that had to be a mistake?
Jones: “I did, and it was a mistake. I looked at it straight on, and [Zack] had him beat. You know, the call is initiated usually by an official when an offensive lineman gets beat. And once you get beat, usually an infraction follows, a hold to make up for getting beat. He didn’t get beat. So, that was an iffy one.”
Twitter: @dmn_cowboys
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.