By 
The Dallas Cowboys have lost back-to-back games in rough fashion. There was that blowout loss to Chicago, and then there was the painful defeat in Baltimore, where Dallas actually played very well but fell short due to a few crucial mental mistakes.
So were the mistakes an indication that the Cowboys are snake-bitten again or was the strong overall performance a clue that they’re about to turn a corner and finally start living up to expectations?Jason Witten joined BaD Radio on KTCK in Dallas to discuss last week’s tough but also encouraging loss to Baltimore, the rejuvenation of the running game and if they can build momentum from that outing.
On not believing in moral victories despite the fact they played well in Baltimore:
“I don’t believe in moral victories. I don’t think in pro ball they exist, and they shouldn’t exist. So at the end of the day, you’ve gotta go find a way to get a win, especially when you’re a .500 ball club. Wins in this league are precious. … We outplayed them in a lot of areas. You gotta find a way to win them. So I don’t think moral victories exist, but having said that, I do think we did show some signs of good football, physical football. Offensively, in particular, I felt like we were really in control of the game against a good team, and it’s unfortunate that our mistakes really outweighed a lot of the good things that we did as far as penalties and turnovers and ultimately not capitalizing at the right time.”
On the running game finally getting back on track against the Ravens:
“That should be the standard for our football team. You have to play that way and, really, I think Coach Garrett said it yesterday: When you’re able to run the ball that way, it helps your offense in so many ways. It really helps your football team in so many other areas. It softens the coverage, obviously. It controls the time of possession, keeps your defense off the field, all of those things that we all know. But it was our game plan; it wasn’t anything new. We were able to get that zone scheme going, you’re able to get double-teams throughout, which our line did a great job there, did a good job on the edge. And then obviously our backs made some big cuts, and really, I thought they did a real good job when they had contact or the safety came up, of making them miss or fighting for three, four extra yards. And ultimately, Felix’s run and DeMarco’s run early, they were kind of staples and kind of set the mindset for what type of game it was going to be for us. So we’ve gotta build on that.”
On eliminating negative rushing plays:
“Another big thing is eliminating the minus runs. Those kill you (when) you’ve gotta play call when it’s third-and-11 or second-and-12. It’s just hard. And I think we did a good job of staying ahead of the chains, which ultimately our run game stood out.”
On if they can start stringing wins together if they keep playing that way:
“I think we play that type of football we’re going to win a lot of games this year. But we (can’t) keep saying we’ll get it next week, we’ll get it next week. It’s gotta happen soon. I think our team’s going to do that.”
Comments