Inspired Cowboys Trounce Eagles; Ezekiel Elliott Says, 'We Don't Give a F--- What Pederson Says'
ARLINGTON - My late great radio pal Leon Simon used to philosophize, "What you do speak so loud, I can't hear what you say.'' So it is with the Dallas Cowboys and their dominant 37-10 win over the visiting Eagles on Sunday, and their profane insistence that Philly coach Doug Pederson’s "guarantee'' of an Eagles win provided no extra inspiration.
“We don’t need inspiration from him to go out there and play hard,” said running back Ezekiel Elliott, part of the Cowboys' barrage of seemingly unstoppable weaponry. “This rivalry is enough. Honestly, we don’t give a f— what Doug Pederson says.”
Sure ... but ... Dallas was coming off back-to-back-to-back losses. If it's so easy to just flip some self-motivational switch, why not do it last week in time to avoid an embarrassing loss to the previously winless New York Jets?
The truth is, "the rivalry'' that Zeke refers to is a bitter one, but it's also one between two NFC East teams that seem on paper like an even match. Therefore, any added injection of desire or focus or dedication or inspiration is more than welcome.
And Dallas will take it, as it moves to 4-3 and atop the division ... and as it moves to 5-2 against Pederson.
The Cowboys were quite aware of what the Eagles coach said on WIP Radio last week as he promised his team was "gonna be ready to play, and we’re gonna win that football game. And when we do, we’re in first place in the NFC East.”
It's not this club's overall style, under coach Jason Garrett, to admit to bulletin-board-material boosts or to engage in the silliness of it all. But defensive leader DeMarcus Lawrence on Friday used the media to instruct Pederson to "shut his ass up.''
And what does Tank say now?
“(I told) them to shut up,'' he said. "So what do you think they’re doing now?”
