ARLINGTON, Texas – When it comes to sales and marking, I wouldn't think Jerry Jones needs a lot of help. You don't get to his kind of success, with his line of work, if you don't know how to seal the deal.
But whatever pitch he's preparing to make to get Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cowboys when he visits on Monday, is still going to be hard to top what the entire team did on Sunday night.
And that was with the whole world watching. The Cowboys just sent a message to the league, as well as OBJ.
As the Cowboys dismantled the Colts to the tune of 54-19, we saw a team that is explosive, dynamic, electric and of course, talented. Isn't that how we'd describe Mr. Beckham as well?
We saw a team that didn't play that well for about three quarters and still put up 50 points, thanks to a franchise-record 33 points in the fourth quarter.
Who wouldn't want to join this team?
The Cowboys are 9-3, and although they're two games behind the Eagles in the NFC East, technically in fifth place of the entire conference, there's no team in the league playing better than Dallas right now.
The scary part of it all is that the Cowboys can actually play a lot better.
This win was a little different than what we've seen here lately. After the Cowboys smashed the Vikings on the road 40-3, followed up by a 28-20 grind-it-out win over the Giants on Thanksgiving, I wrote in this space that the second victory of the week was the best one. Not because of style points of course, but just because those kind of games is how you advance in the playoffs.
The funny part of this blowout is that it was a combination of both games. The Cowboys and Colts were playing a back-and-forth grinder once again as Dallas led 21-19 after keeping a two-point conversion out of the end zone late in the third quarter.
We thought we were down for yet another nail-biting finish. And then the Cowboys' defense became the bully and started taking the ball away, over and over and again and again.
Never seen a game where the defense exploded like that in the fourth quarter, but it was fun to watch.
And to me, it's just another example how dynamic this entire team can be – especially when you line it up for 60 minutes. Sure, the Giants were up on the Cowboys at halftime in the last game. And this time, Dallas was up by 2 points early in the fourth. And yet in both games, the Cowboys were able to flex their muscles when it counts the most.
So back to Beckham, who is expected to be at The Star in Frisco on Monday. There are tons of question marks regarding this whole situation, such as how much Beckham is asking for, and how his knee rehab is going and just when he'll be ready and all that.
One thing seems rather certain right now – the Cowboys don't really "need" Beckham to be a great team. Because this is a great team right now.
But they've had great teams before – maybe a handful in the last 20 years that I can recall – and none of them went to the place we all want them to go.
Maybe Beckham can make them even greater. Maybe he can give them a little more first-half consistency that we haven't seen here in the last few weeks.
Maybe he can give the Cowboys a little more depth at wide receiver position that is rounding into form even more. CeeDee Lamb is looking like the No. 1 receiver we've been waiting for all year. And Michael Gallup is looking like the No. 2 receiver the Cowboys were hoping for when he got the new contract this offseason.
So what does that mean for Beckham? Who knows but I think we're all ready to find out.
Because after Sunday, I'm not sure the Cowboys need Beckham as much as he might just need the Cowboys.
This is looking like a team someone from the outside might want to join.
