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“It was good to get that win, and we’re ready to get moving onto Philly,” tight end Jason Witten said. “Quick. Two games in a hurry. I think our team understands what kind of game this is.”
As participants in 47 previous Turkey Day contests, the Cowboys are familiar with the holiday turnaround, though this one is quicker than normal.
A Sunday night prime-time game in New York meant the Cowboys didn't return to Dallas until 5:15 am on Monday morning, complicating things more than usual.
“We certainly have some familiarity with this,” Coach Jason Garrett said Monday. “We feel pretty comfortable with the schedule that we use and getting to the next opponent as quickly as we can and doing it in a way where you are dealing with the content that you need.
"You have to do it in a way where you give guys a chance to recover, and certainly when the game ends near midnight the night before. We are certainly mindful of that. But you have to have to get your mindset going forward and get ready for the next challenge. We are on to Philadelphia.”
The Cowboys began the process of getting ready on the plane ride back home. The coaches graded film, and Garrett got the players in the right mindset to get in their familiar routine. Monday was a normal Wednesday and Tuesday was going to be a normal Thursday in terms of content, though all the workouts would be glorified walk-through practices. There will not be any padded practices this week.
While the players went home for a few hours of sleep, the coaches went straight to facility. Garrett said he took a short nap in his office.
“Many of the coaches graded the game from last night on the plane and got all that cleaned up and behind us,” Garrett said. “When the players came in, we did a quick recap of the Giants game. We didn’t spend a long time on it, and we got right into our preparation.
"Once we cleaned up the game, we really emphasized to them that, ‘It’s Wednesday morning in your life. Start thinking that way. Tomorrow, we are going to wake up, and it’s Thursday’.”
The Cowboys are tired no doubt. They will be strained to prepare for the Eagles’ hurry-up offense in such a short period of time.
But the Cowboys are not looking at this situation with trepidation but rather with anticipation and excitement.
The Cowboys went into the final game in each of the last three years with eight wins looking to win a ninth for the NFC East title and a trip to the playoffs.
The Cowboys failed each time and now have a four-year postseason drought.
There is not a win-or-go-home scenario attached to Thursday's showdown with the Eagles. So in some ways they are ahead of the game.
But there is no question the Thanksgiving Day game has huge significance and carries big-time playoff implications.
The Cowboys actually face the Eagles twice in their final five games. They play at Philadelphia Dec. 14 so it's important for them to take care of their home field on Thanksgiving Day.
"Yeah, it's hard to get to this point," Witten said. "I think the excitement and adrenaline can over ride how tired you are so. It's a great opportunity for us. You can’t worry about anything else. Just get through it and move forward. With the importance of the game and where it's at, it’s a lot easier for us to move forward after a win."
Clarence Hill covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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