IRVING, Texas -- The schoolchildren wised up and put their differences aside for 60 minutes Sunday night and decided to play nice.
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| There's nothing like a win, especially for the beleaguered Terrell Owens. (US Presswire) |
The Dallas Bickering-Boys, otherwise known as the Cowboys when they're being good boys, put aside a week of turmoil to beat the New York Giants 20-8 Sunday night in what was surely a season-saving victory -- and maybe a coach-saving victory as well.
For one night, they put aside all that talk of a splintered locker room, all the Terrell Owens selfishness, all the Wade Phillips-is-too-nice thinking and the rat-in-the-locker-room gossip that seemed to eat up the team last week.
They were on the football field, where none of that matters. Who cares if Owens doesn't like Jason Witten and had a reported verbal spat with him last week? Who cares if there's a huge divide in the locker room, with pro-Owens factions and pro-Tony Romo-Witten factions?
Once the game starts, players play.
"When it's time to play football, you play football," Romo said
That's what players do, even when it appears that the team is coming apart at the seams like a $49 suit.
I've always believed a serial killer could get out of jail on Friday and suit up and play on Sunday and his teammates wouldn't care as long as he made plays. They'd play right along with him -- then joke about his victims.
Terrell Owens isn't Ted Bundy, but some out there might think he's close. He is a team killer, after all. And he's done it a couple of times, so that does make him a serial killer of sorts.
Owens, who gets tighter coverage from a bad rep than he does opposing defensive backs, was a big part of the firestorm last week when he and two other receivers went to offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and expressed their feelings that Romo was favoring Witten because the two are good friends. Isn't Owens always it the middle of it?
That led to teammates implying that Witten was a rat for releasing that information to the media. Can you say division?
Want a reason for it? Try Phillips. The man is Mister Softy when it comes to his coaching style and players eat that alive. Give a child an inch and he'll take a mile. Give a room full of NFL players an inch and they'll take over the prison.
The Bickering-Boys know their coach won't put the hammer down, which lets situations like what happened with Owens last week explode out of control. You think that happens with Bill Parcells?
Most of the players brushed aside the talk of troubles in the locker room after the game. Winning does that.
Witten, Owens and Romo all took part in an on-field interview together after the game. By the way, it looked completely staged, as if they were making nice for all to see.
"We're fine," Witten said. "There wasn't a fight that I know of. It's over with and we've moved on."
Owens spent his time with the media blaming them for making up lies. He took ESPN's Ed Werder to task at any chance he could, calling him a "chump" to his face as he left the podium. Classy.
Basically Owens was saying the entire week of stories, including reports of a Friday confrontation with Witten on the practice field, was nothing but lies. Call it the newest Christmas Fairy Tale: Ho, ho, ho, everybody is picking on T.O.
The fans did. When he was announced there were loud boos. He said he didn't care. You know he did. The man's skin is finer than the line between good and bad.
Romo made a joke when asked about Owens being booed.
"I thought it was Ohhhhhh for T.O.," Romo said laughing.
The Cowboys should be happy they have a quarterback as laid back as Romo. If he were a tight-assed star like some other NFL passers, this thing would really be ugly. Instead he makes jokes about it, bringing levity to a situation that calls for it.
Asked about the third-and-9 pass play to Witten that iced the game, Romo seriously said he and Witten came up with that play during a meeting Saturday night. He then laughed. So did the media.
Romo did get it right when he said the NFL is like a reality show, each week dissected and studied for a three-hour game. Remember the reality show named Bad Girls that featured a house filled with girls with nasty tempers and bad pasts?
This one is Bad Boys. Or better yet Bickering-Boys, featuring a locker room of egos and cliques that make for an interesting dynamic.
I asked receiver Patrick Crayton, who had the Cowboys only touchdown catch of the night by a wide receiver, about the events of last week, and he gave a terse response.
"Over-hyped," he said. "Over-hyped."
Aren't troubles expected when you put together a high-profile team with a player like Owens and throw in a coach that is the friendliest warden in the penal system?
Talk about mixing up a homemade explosive. This is Chem. 101: Volatile receiver + Mister Softy coach = Kaboom.
The Cowboys did put their differences aside to win a game they had to have. At 9-5, they are still in the thick of the wild card race. They close out the season with a home game against the Baltimore Ravens Saturday night and then play at Philadelphia the final week of the season.
If they win both, they will be the No. 5 seed. If not, the stink of this past week will linger like a baby's dirty diaper on a crowded airplane (yeah, I had one in front of me on the way to Dallas).
For a night, they played nice. For a night, they acted like teammates again and their defense, which had eight sacks, led them to a much-needed victory.
But I have a sneaky feeling we haven't seen the last of the child-like ways from this group of Cowboys.
And that's no fairy tale.
