Getty Cowboys owner Jerry Jones
On Tuesday, Jerry Jones identified “overconfidence” as the culprit behind his Dallas Cowboys‘ embarrassing Week 9 home loss to the Denver Broncos.
On Friday, during a radio interview with 105.3 The Fan, the reeling owner/general manager again referenced the “O-word” — this time, vowing on his behalf of his team to avoid an encore letdown at AT&T Stadium.
“This is a challenge. And this is going to be a significant game for us. But, I can tell you one thing, you won’t have any overconfident people come into that stadium with the team and the coaches. We’ve had that cheese,” Jones said of Sunday’s matchup against the Atlanta Falcons.
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Message Sent, Message Received
From Jerry’s lips to the “flat” and “lackadaisical” Cowboys’ ears, the point seemingly has been made. Such is life after the squad entered the Broncos matchup as 10-point favorites and left 14-point losers, snapping a six-game winning streak. As Dak Prescott begrudgingly admitted, “we got thumped in every aspect,” and largely because Dallas overlooked its opponent, a big no-no in this business.
Its next opponent, the 4-4 Falcons, is impossible to look past, having won three of their last four — most recently toppling the reigning champ Buccaneers.
Don’t assume a walk in the proverbial park. Because the Cowboys cannot. Should not.
Will not.
“Just can’t come out flat like we came out (against the Broncos). Expecting to win,” wide receiver Amari Cooper said Thursday, via beat reporter Brianna Dix. “You know, you get in the habit of winning and you kind of just expect it instead of going out there and earning it. That’s how we looked at it.”
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Amari Owns Up to Backbreaking Drop
Speaking of the Pro Bowl pass-catcher, Cooper was asked about his uncharacteristic case of butterfingers in last week’s defeat. His mid-third-quarter drop across the middle — wide open on 3rd-and-1 — led to a subsequent turnover on downs. It was that kind of afternoon for the Cowboys, but Cooper’s drive-killing miscue, considering how rare, was the capper.
“As soon as I dropped the ball, I knew exactly what happened,” he said Thursday, via the official team website. “I took my eyes off it and that’s a great reminder for me as it is for the team — we can’t take our eyes off the prize.”
While also battling a hamstring ailment, Cooper finished with two catches for 37 scoreless yards amid the 30-16 stunner. His partner-in-crime, CeeDee Lamb, logged just 23 yards on two grabs, hampered by an ankle issue.
“But you got to think: me and CeeDee (Lamb)’s ankle was like — he had just hurt it on Wednesday. He could barely run. The same thing with me, you know what I’m saying,” Cooper said, via Pro Football Talk. “So, it’s kind of funny because we invite that. As time goes on, we invite that. That’s what we want. It just caught us on a bad week. I’m not trying to make excuses. Shoot, I could barely run, he could barely run, and we’re starting receivers. So it’s easy to cover two guys who can’t really do what they want to do. No excuses. We still stepped on the field. So, obviously, we needed to do our jobs because we decided to step on the field. But, you know, we want to invite that man-to-man coverage every week because it’s either going to be a slow death or a fast one.”