The Dallas Cowboys are overflowing with analogies this week at The Star as they take stock in their clutch 20-17 win on Monday at the Los Angeles Chargers, a success that pushes them to stand at 4-2 as they enter the bye.
Team owner Jerry Jones is saying he's so sky-high elated that he could've flown back to Texas without the benefit of a plane. Head coach Mike McCarthy has twice used the "roller-coaster'' visual, the second time around putting a positive spin on it by noting, "I mean, roller-coaster rides are fun. You've got to look at the high points, too.''
And while Jerry is going up ... and while Big Mike is going up and down ... defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is speeding in a straight and speedy path to the finish line.
"All week, we talked about 'running our race'," Quinn said. "I thought that was an important message for us coming off last week (and a dismal 42-10 loss at San Francisco.) "We used Usain Bolt in saying he wasn't looking (next to him) in Lane 4 at (fellow sprinter) Justin Gatlin. He was just worried about what he had going on.
"We didn't look in Lane 4,'' Quinn said, "and we needed that."
"Running our race''? Meaning focusing only on the Chargers? Meaning maintaining responsibility by staying in one's lane? Meaning playing like their "hair is on fire,'' as one coach put it?
Sure. Yeah. All of it.
The Cowboys' "dash'' included a need to close defensively, and Quinn's guys did that, with the last two Chargers plays of the game resulting in a Micah Parsons sack and then a Stephon Gilmore interception.
"We haven't had that,'' Quinn said, "where we had to go in the deep waters of the last two minutes of the game in this season into our sixth game ... That's exactly what we needed."
Usain Bolt is of course widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time, and an eight-time Olympic gold medalist. The Cowboys do not have any such hardware yet. But as they enter the bye, Quinn at least believes he has his defense "running our race.''
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