IRVING, Texas - Before the Cowboys gear up for the stretch run of the season, they finally get a break with the bye week.
"We've played football for a lot of weeks in a row," said Jason Garrett Thursday. "Hopefully these couple weeks will give our guys a chance to get back. The guys who are banged up, come back and get ready to play and the guys who are just kind of beaten down a chance to freshen up. It's a big stretch."
At 7-3 the Cowboys control their own destiny and hope to end it's playoff drought that stretches back to 2009.
"This is the greatest time for the bye week to come…for me at least," said defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford, who will spend his off time at Valley Ranch, rehabbing a knee injury that kept him out of the game against the Jaguars. "I'm going to be here."
While Crawford, Tony Romo and a few others spend their time trying to heal bumps and bruises, others are just ready to get away, check out and veg. That starts with the head coach.
"Sometimes it's hard to get away from the games. We love football. You're drawn to it," Garrett said. "At the same time you make a conscious effort to try and go to a movie. What do you call it? Binge watching at home or at the movie theaters, but somehow we get drawn to the football stuff."
Of course that's eyeballing the enemy that stands between them and the postseason.
"We stay watching football. We'll be watching the Philadelphia Eagles, the New York Giants, can't get too far away from it," Jeremy Mincey said.
Mincey's defensive teammate, J.J. Wilcox, hat turned backwards and in street clothes ready to leave the facility, agreed.
"Like the Navy Seals say you don't get away from it," Wilcox said. "You just sharpen your tools up and get ready for combat again."
Mincey will sharpen some of his skills during the bye week back in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida.
"I haven't been in my own house in like six months," said Mincey, who played nearly four seasons with the Jaguars. "I got all the fun in my house. I got a studio in my house so I'm going to make some music."
Talented on the field and with a microphone, Mincey released his album, "The Mince Tate. Volume 1," and isn't afraid for people to know about it.
"He's handing out a lot of mix tapes, I don't how good that is," Wilcox chuckled. "Don't know how many cool points you get for that but he's pretty good."
It's a talent Mincey picked up from his grandmother as a kid and hopes to drum up a few beats back home.
"Something inspirational. You know you gotta motivate yourself sometimes."
The only motivation the Cowboys need is knowing only a few more weeks separates them from getting in the tournament.
"We've done a good job to this point," Garrett proclaimed. "We've gotta stay focused on what we need to do to get better as a football team."
A movie, a mix tape or healing up those wounds, the Cowboys will have their eyes remain on the prize.
