Many players and coaches had a hard time describing their feelings following the 20-19 win over the Bengals Sunday in a game the Cowboys rallied from 10 points to win.
Obviously, the thoughts and prayers were with the families of Jerry Brown and Josh Brent.
Here are different perspectives from the Cowboys immediately after the game.
Jason Garrett:
- "I think that word teammate is really, really special. Jerry was one of our teammates. He was a really interesting guy. I spent a lot of time going around Valley Ranch halls, meetings, practice fields, and I would say how we doing guys, whoever it is, coaches, players, equipment guys, trainers, and Jerry always beat me to the punch. Jerry always said, how you doing coach, before I could get it out. If you watched Jerry Brown practice, you know that he loved football. He practiced so hard. He was here for one day and we said that's going to be the scout team player of the week. He gave Tyron Smith and Doug Free and Jermey Parnell everything they could handle."
- "My memory's a big strapping guy with a bright smile on his face, bright eyes and a bounce in his step every time I saw him. At 25 years old, he's no longer with us, and that's hard for everyone to handle."
- "We talked about it last night in our team meeting, about what it all means. Football is very different from life, and we try to make that very, very clear to our team. This is a life situation. We lost a 25-year-old man who had his whole life in front of him."
- -"All we asked our team last night was to understand as best they could what happened and somehow, someway, try to channel the emotions they have into honoring Jerry today in their performance, and that's a hard thing to do. I think everyone in our organization who knew him is completely numb and has been numb for the last couple days. Football's a game of emotion, and there are a lot of different emotions circulating, and somehow, someway we had to kind of process it all and understand life is different than football but we had a job to do today."
- "I told them that it's hard. It's hard every time you break the huddle in the National Football League. You're challenged like none other. If you're not ready, you're going to have a hard time. I told them that it takes everybody…to have success in football. I told them that the bonds of teammates are rare and special and they grow stronger and stronger and stronger over time and through adversity."
- "We had to come together, all of us, 11 guys, coaches, players, everybody, we had to come together, and the bonds we had as teammates had to get stronger. They were really strong for Jerry Brown."
- "I spoke to his mom after the ball game. I told her that we gave her son the game ball, and we're going to share that with her. We're going to have a memorial service Tuesday, and we're going to continue to honor Jerry Brown and the kind of young man he has been."
*Jerry Jones: *
- "I was just completely taken aback by the entire accident. I am completely focused on the tragedy for two people in two families whose lives that were impacted. Obviously, the nature of Jerry Brown losing his life and the impact it has on his family. It's mind-boggling to think that two lives could be impacted by the circumstances."
- "It was a great credit to our staff and coaches and everybody. They were certainly focused on the most important thing. That's the loss of Jerry Brown. Knowing that they had this time to compete and play and knowing what it certainly meant to Jerry Brown. He gave his professional time to competing on the field. It made a difference to every player in here."
- "I think it was a respite. I do think it was a positive, if there is such a thing under these circumstances. I think it was good for this team to compete. That's what these guys do. That's what I feel Jerry (Brown) would have wanted them to do. It was a plus. I'm glad they were rewarded with success. Going in to the game, we knew we were in for a hard-fought ball game. We have a lot respect for this team and coaches — Cincinnati."
Marcus Spears:
- "We had his jersey hanging up in the locker room, him and Josh, because sometimes you need a perspective. I think the perspective we got from those gestures is we're here and we have the opportunity to do what we love doing, and those guys don't have that chance. I think for everybody it kind of stirred up inside that we need to be grateful for what we're able to do. Not just in football, but just to wake up in the morning or be free."
- Great guy. Always upbeat. I think his mentality was he had a second chance to do something good. He approached practice like that every day. He was lively in the locker room. It doesn't take us long to realize how a guy is, because we're around each other so much and when you see a new guy come in, you can pretty much determine how a guy is when he intermingles with everyone else. He was one of those guys that fit right in."
- On winning the Scout Team Player of the Week: "He wanted it. He wanted an opportunity to play on today. He worked like that every day. I hate to say it, but the guy's gone, and you realize what an inspiration he was because of this situation and how you should approach your job every day."
Brandon Carr:
- "Time on this Earth is precious. It's up to us to try to fill it from the time you're born to the time you expire, you have to fill it with positive things and just try to seize every opportunity you have to make a good impact on somebody's life or your own life."
- "They'd been calling me throughout the services. We were kind of playing phone tag whenever I had the chance to call them back. That was my first chance to sit and see what was going on and I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't expecting it. I wasn't believing it."
Tony Romo:
- "The last 24 hours have really been something I've never experienced. I think a lot of the guys would tell you that. It's been a roller coaster of emotions. Loss is hard in life in general, especially people that you see every single every day and they're close with you, and you grind with (them) ... and that you're trying to accomplish a goal with (them). You go through a lot together. It still is a very difficult thing this football team is dealing with."
- "You think everything. In a 10-second span, you think about those guys, you think about all the guys who battled out there on the field to win, you think about their families, you think about the team and keeping our playoff chances alive. Like I said, it's a roller coaster of emotions. I don't know what's right; I don't know what's wrong. I don't know what you're supposed to do or feel, or whatever. I just know there's a lot of things that go in and out of your thought process throughout these last 24 hours."
Lawrence Vickers:
- "I can't put the meaning behind it. It's more than what you would think in a situation like this. We're blessed just to wake up this morning. It's tragic. You want to be happy and sad at the same time. It's really emotional. At the end of the day, you still have to do a job. You've got millions of people watching and at the end of the day, you win. And the fashion in which you win. I'm just blessed. God, thank you. Thank you."
Miles Austin:
- "The chaplain yesterday told us that the way life is, there is always something next coming up. We can sit and pay our respects to the family. We all are fortunate to win this game with Jerry's mom watching it. Especially, scrapping late. The strange part about life, hopefully the sun will rise tomorrow. Tuesday, we are going to pay our respects to Jerry Brown. It's just an unfortunate situation."
- It's awfully tough to come right out and say 'Let's go'. So, it was a combination of the two. While you're out there, you're thinking about the passion that both of those guys brought to the game. It gives you a boost and re-evaluates what you are playing for and how precious life is. You can look at it one of two ways."
