Notes from the sideline following the Cowboys’ decisive 33-13 win over the Eagles at AT&T Stadium on Sunday Night Football:
Extra bodyguard: Four days following an emergency appendectomy, head coach Mike McCarthy was back in his usual spot along the Cowboys sideline calling the offensive plays and managing the game. Although admittedly feeling a little bit sore, he still moved around well, including quickly down the sideline a couple of times to call timeouts. But there did appear to be a little extra protection near McCarthy in case a play spilled into the bench area and players came flying out of bounds too close to the head coach.
Matt Waletzko, the largest player on the Cowboys roster at 6-8 and 320 pounds, is an offensive tackle who has spent the season on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. He shadowed McCarthy along the sideline, standing about three steps behind McCarthy, appearing ready to throw a block if any action got too close for comfort.
Cable Johnson, the Cowboys’ director of security, is omnipresent on the sideline every game, of course. Johnson is always near McCarthy. But it looked like Waletzko was an extra layer of protection for this game.
Talking to McCarthy during our Cowboys Radio weekly pregame interview, he said he was doing fine. He sure looked fine when he threw the red challenge flag on a potential Rico Dowdle touchdown run at the goal line. It was one of McCarthy’s longer tosses of a challenge flag this season. And he won the challenge to boot!
An oldie, but a goodie: There’s no love lost, certainly, between these two division rivals and there was chirping from players, including Eagles star WR A.J. Brown, as early as Philly’s first offensive series. It was a bad idea for Brown to open his mouth, however. Cowboys CB Stephon Gilmore, who drew the task of “traveling” with Brown throughout the game wherever Brown lined up on the field, was the recipient of Brown’s early trash talking. Gilmore told reporters postgame that Brown called him “old.”
“I didn’t like he called me old at the beginning of the game, so it lit a fire in me a little bit,” Gilmore admitted postgame. “It was fun.”
Positive notes: Beyond the Cowboys offense setting an NFL record by scoring 30 or more points in each of its first seven home games this season, two areas that were points of emphasis earlier in the year showed continued progress.
Dallas was 3-for-3 scoring touchdowns in the red zone. And on third down conversions, Dallas was an eye-popping 9 of 16 (56.3%). That conversion rate was nearly 10 points higher than Dallas’ average entering the game (48.5%), which was good enough for second in the NFL.
Meanwhile the Eagles defense – worst in the NFL defending third downs – continued to struggle. How did that manifest itself on the sideline? Eagles players were getting worn down because they couldn’t get off the field. They were also frustrated. Part of the Eagles problem on defense was self-inflicted wounds. Of the Cowboys’ 24 first downs, four of them were the result of Eagles’ defensive penalties.
Watching from the sideline, it felt like the tables had been turned on the Eagles. Previous games (okay, more like previous seasons), the Eagles’ offensive and defensive lines have been so dominant they are the ones wearing down the opponents. It’s usually the opponents getting frustrated and chippy and complaining to refs about calls (or lack thereof).
But at AT&T Stadium on Sunday night, it was the Eagles linemen who looked worn down and would look to the officials. Basically, in this game, the shoe was on the other foot.
Injury notes: DT Johnathan Hankins’ status will be updated Monday regarding the right ankle injury he suffered early in the third quarter. He needed assistance getting to the sideline following a play and was taken immediately to the blue medical tent. From there, a cart was used to take Hankins to the X-Ray room where his game status was downgraded to “out.” Hankins did return to the bench area, still dressed in uniform, and watched the remainder of the game from the sideline. The fact he didn’t change into street clothes or use crutches is hopefully a good sign that his ankle injury is not too serious.
Later in the second half, Cowboys DBs started dropping like flies. Nickel CB Jourdan Lewis was suffering from cramps and dehydration. He went to the locker room for an IV and returned to action missing only 8 of 55 snaps. A couple plays after Lewis departed, safety Malik Hooker tweaked an ankle. Hooker rode the stationary bicycle behind the Cowboys bench for a few minutes before returning to the game, missing only 3 plays (52 of 55 snaps, 95%).
When Hooker left the game briefly, Jayron Kearse switched to his green dot (radio) helmet so he could take over the duty of relaying the play calls from defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. But then Kearse suffered from cramps in the next defensive series and missed a few plays. When Kearse went off, LB Damone Clark switched briefly to his green dot helmet, ready to take over radio duties. But just as Clark was switching to green dot, Hooker returned to the field with his own green dot helmet. So, Clark will have to wait at least another week to finally help with play calls from Quinn.
RB Rico Dowdle left the game very briefly in the third quarter. His ankle/foot got stepped on awkwardly, but he never had to visit the medical tent and was back on the field in the same offensive series. Throughout the entire game, Dowdle played 28% of offensive snaps as the backup to Tony Pollard (72% of snaps).
Home cooking: The crowd of 93,752 was rocking from the get-go; it was definitely the loudest crowd of the season thus far. Of course, when it’s a prime-time game and fans have had a full afternoon to get better lubricated, it makes for a rowdier environment. The energy in the building was palpable, even in pregame. Several of the coaches noted it during warmups. After the game, players like TE Jake Ferguson noted the noise level and intensity of the crowd.
Standing room only tickets were going for $180 and up the week before the game, and the seats in the highest corners of the upper deck were $480 and up. It was by far the most expensive game on the secondary market for a Cowboys home game this season.
As for next weekend’ road trip to Buffalo? Well, get ready to empty your wallet if you’re looking for tickets on the secondary market. As of Monday morning, upper deck tickets – way up in the corner – were listed at $240 and up (including fees/taxes). Lower level behind the Cowboys bench ranged from $547 to $1,800 (fees/taxes included) according to SeatGeek.com.
Halftime show: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ halftime show was one for the ages … literally. The current DCC members were joined by DCC alumni dating all the way back to the 1960s for a special halftime performance.
The alumni came onto the field grouped by decades and performing songs and choreography from their respective eras. The group from the 1960′s and 70′s, for example, danced to songs like “Freak Out” (Le Chic) and “Shake Your Groove Thing” (Peaches & Herb). The 1980′s era DCC grooved to songs like Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and Prince’s “Baby I’m a Star”. For the 1990′s? How about Gloria Estefan’s “Turn the Beat Around” and Quad City DJ’s “C’mon N’ Ride It”. And for the DCC from the 2000s, upbeat songs like Pitbull’s “Fireball.”
For the grand finale, as the alumni from the previous decades came back onto the field to join the current DCC members for the final song, there were over 220 ladies performing together to “If My Friends Could See Me Now.”
For those of us who’ve been around long enough to remember watching the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders TV movies, as well as their appearances on shows like “The Love Boat,” it was a fun sense of nostalgia. For the DCC alumni, it was a renewed sense of sisterhood as well as the thrill of performing on the field once again in front of a sold-out stadium.
Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter for the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network. She writes this column for The Dallas Morning News after each Cowboys game.
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
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