PHILADELPHIA – This goes a little deeper than football. But life is all about agendas.
What works for you, doesn't always work for me. People often have different plans for the same event. When that happens, you get a rather lopsided outcome.
That's exactly what happened here Saturday night in Philly.
The Cowboys wanted to come out and win the football game, maybe get their offense back on track again and build a little momentum heading into the playoffs, all the while knowing there's an outside shot to improve the playoffs.
The Eagles ... umm... I don't know what they were doing. I guess just trying to get past this game as fast as possible and get straight to the playoffs.
So if that's the case, both teams got exactly what they wanted.
But let's focus on the Cowboys, because that's what we do.
To me, this went about as perfect as it could. They made the best out of the situation – in a major way.
Now let's be honest – if you don't feel a little better about the Cowboys heading into the playoffs – then you probably were never going to feel better regardless of the situation. And that's Ok. Like I said before, everyone has their own agenda here.
But from my viewpoint, I thought it was important for the Cowboys to get out of here without injuries, get a win, and then look good doing it.
Check. Check. Check.
But this team needed to get some momentum, especially on offense.
You can look at Dak's numbers and his records and say he played a great game – which he did. His 151.8 QB rating also suggests that he was playing on another level.
But you could tell early on that Dak was spinning the ball better than usual. He made a couple of top-notch throws that told me this night might be a little different.
While everyone wants CeeDee and Amari to get their touches and targets and all that, this offense is humming the best when everyone gets the ball equally. Cedrick Wilson got the rock, Dalton Schultz got two touchdowns, and even Corey Clement caught four passes, including Dak's record-setting touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
This second half turned into a lot of fun, especially for a stat geek like myself that loves to see historical milestones and records going down. And it seems like the Cowboys were thinking about it as well. Dak made it clear he was trying to throw touchdowns to break Romo's record. The offense knew how many yards Zeke needed for 1,000 and then he was pulled from the game.
And, the Cowboys were trying to get as many new players to score touchdowns, even breaking the NFL record with 22 new guys finding the end zone.
Clearly, the Cowboys were having some fun – and that's what they needed.
Sure, they've won some games here in the last few weeks, but other than the Washington game, it wasn't a lot of fun for this offense.
This game was fun. But let's not get too carried away.
It doesn't mean they'll carry over the momentum into the playoffs. It doesn't mean they'll have more confidence against whoever they will face next week.
I really don't think this game will have any bearing into the next one.
This part of the season is over. It's on to the next one – the one that really counts.
But if you're going to wrap up this part, do it in a fun way.
They were able to avoid injuries, they set some records and oh yeah, they dominated one of their most hated-rivals. Sounds like a fun time, to me.
Ok, enough of the fun. Time to get serious, now!
