that," said Keyshawn Johnson, who is nursing a badly bruised sternum suffered on the hit leading to Philly's lone touchdown and his subsequent shout down with quarterback Drew Bledsoe. "Want to keep it on a smooth and even keel.
"We won't know (what we are) until Week 8. But we finally played at a level we're capable of playing at."
So best pay attention. Just because the Cowboys came out throwing from their 49-yard line against the Eagles, doesn't mean they have suddenly adopted a more aggressive style of offense. Just because Bledsoe threw for 289 yards against the Eagles, doesn't mean his 1,351 passing yards after five games will translate into the current club-record pace of 4,323 yards. Just because the Cowboys played so much nickel defense against the Eagles - and four-man fronts, by the way - doesn't mean they won't go back to their 3-4 defense against Giants three-receiver sets this coming Sunday.
Just as Keyshawn says, what we got a glimpse of is just what the Cowboys are capable of doing. But that does not mean they are good enough - yet - to do that week in and week out, just as I'm suspecting the Eagles won't be this bad week in and week out.
"But it's strange how one set of results can skew your opinion," Parcells again cautioned, knowing he also must play Philadelphia again, and the second time around in Philadelphia. "(Sunday) is not a reflection of Philadelphia, and anyone who would assume that would be a fool.
"I'm just hopeful we can show some consistency."
That seems to be the word for the day: C-o-n-s-i-s-t-e-n-c-y, and in the world according to five games so far of Cowboys football, that is a mighty elusive texture of play. They have been anything but from week to week, and that's why they sit 3-2 instead of possibly 5-0 - even though they had Washington beaten before that skunk hit them in the face and very well could have beaten the Raiders until they flipped to the other side of that pancake.
You know?
And even if they can, if you listen to Bill too long on a Monday after a win, as we did this Monday, you'll think Secretariat is about to come snooping around the Cowboys' stall these next two weeks, the head guy claiming, "the Giants score at a frantic rate and Seattle, you can't hold them under 30."
That's Seattle, which has scored all of five points more than the Cowboys' 121, although the Giants have been frantic on offense, scoring 15 more points than the Cowboys in one less game for a 34-point average - nearly 10 more than the Cowboys. Let's give him that one.
"But this is early on in the race folks," said Bill, sounding as if he was going to repeat Sunday's words of wisdom about the track never paying off a bet after the "first furlong," but then changing tracks to say, "I don't think you need to get out the hats and horns yet."
So hopefully you get the idea, and keep some perspective after this ego-boosting victory over the Eagles. Enjoy.
You have seen what is possible with this 2005 version of the Dallas Cowboys, but on the other hand, you have also seen what is probable - the Cowboys go searching for back-to-back wins for only the second time in 19 games come Sunday noon at Texas Stadium against them Giants (3-1).
But hey, step by step, right? Until the first two minutes of Sunday's game, the Cowboys had not scored in any of the previous four first quarters this year. Before Sunday's game, the Cowboys had only beaten the Eagles once in the last 10 tries. Before Sunday's game, the Cowboys had given up an average of 32.2 points a game to the Eagles over the past 10. Before Sunday's game, the Cowboys had not scored more than 23 points in any of the previous 10 games against the Eagles, then throw down 27 by halftime.
Them's a lot of monkeys scattered to one floor.
But you know what, there are more to come, since the Giants swept the Cowboys last year and have beaten them seven of the past 10 times. And guarantee you, if that's not enough to get his team's attention, Bill will just make a trip over to the Dallas Zoo to find him some additional attention-grabbing primates.
Might just keep the folks over there on-call. After all, the Cowboys have played only five games. They've got 11
MICK SHOTS
