The Dallas Cowboys are full of analogs this week in The Star as they look ahead to their 20-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday. The win puts them at 4-2.
Team owner Jerry Jones says he’s so excited he could have flown back to Texas without a plane. Head coach Mike McCarthy used the “Roller Coaster” visual twice, the second time saying positively: “I mean, roller coasters are fun. You have to watch the highlights.”
And when Jerry gets up… and when Big Mike gets up and down… defensive coordinator Dan Quinn accelerates the straight and fast path to the finish line.
“All week we’ve been talking about our ‘runs,'” Quinn said. “I thought that was an important message for us last week (and a dismal 42-10 loss in San Francisco.) “We used Usain Bolt to say he wasn’t looking (sideways) at Lane 4 (with) sprinter Justin. Gatlin. . He was just worried about what he was doing.
“We didn’t look at the 4,” Quinn said, “and we needed to.”
“We ran our race”? Does this mean just focus on the charger? Does staying in your lane mean staying responsible? Does playing like their “hair is on fire” mean, as one coach said?
Of course Yes. Of all that.
The Cowboys “line” included the need to shut down the defense and Quinn’s guys did just that when the last two Chargers plays of the game led to a Micah Parsons sack and then a Stephon Gilmore interception.
“We haven’t had that,” Quinn said, “where we’ve had to go into deep water in the last two minutes of a game this season when we’re playing in the sixth … that’s what we needed.”
Of course, Usain Bolt is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time and an eight-time Olympic gold medalist. The Cowboys don’t have such a tackle yet. But if they leave, Quinn at least believes his defense will “run our race.”
