Amari’s Week 3 Cowboys warning: ‘The Dolphins don’t suck’

Amari’s Week 3 Cowboys warning: ‘The Dolphins don’t suck’

FRISCO - A variety of Dallas Cowboys have attempted to etch in stone a Week 3 mantra that will help them take seriously the challenge of Sunday’s visit from the hapless Miami Dolphins.

Amari Cooper, deep thinker and FBIQ master, is your winner.

“I know when I was on a team (that) got beat like that, I didn’t feel that we sucked,” Cooper said. “I just felt like we had a bad game. That’s how I feel about the Dolphins. I don’t feel that they suck.”

The Cowboys are 21-point favorites heading into Sunday's Week 3 home game matchup against the 0-2 Miami Dolphins. They are, at the moment, bizarro images of each other, the Cowboys at 0-2 and ascending with a young, deep roster, Miami plummeted toward tank mode having been outscored 102-10 by its opponents over the first couple of weeks of the 2019 campaign.

Last week, Miami was the victim of an embarrassing 43-0 loss at the hands of the New England Patriots. This week - some think - a similar result looms.

And that's why everybody in this building -- from coach Jason Garrett to running back Ezekiel Elliott to linebacker Jaylon Smith to, most eloquently, Cooper -- has taken a turn firing a public warning shot meant to echo back to teammates.

From Garrett: “We've never talked about lines, good, bad or indifferent ... The biggest thing we talk about is us and what we need to do. ... So we'll lock into that, trying to improve each and every day. We have great respect for any team we play, any coaches we go against. They're here for a reason. We have to be our best, prepare the right way and play our best on Sunday.”

From Zeke: "This is still the NFL. Those guys are still pro football players. They’re great players. No team is coming over on Sunday and just laying down and letting you get away with the win, so we’re going to come out fighting.”

"FIGHT'' is an every-day mantra around here under Garrett. So Zeke is spreading the right message. And again, every Cowboy is trying to do his part to not take for granted the Miami ineptitude they surely see when they notice that whether you run against them (in two games, in 67 rushes, they've allowed 306 yards and three TDs) or whether you pass against them (even tight ends crush them, as foes are 16 of 16 in targets for an average of 13 yards per and a TD), they don't stack up well.

I asked team captain Jaylon Smith about the concern of a "trap game.''

"Everyone is legit,'' Smith told me. "The minute you get caught slippin', you can get your butts kicked. So, it's about preparing the right way and respecting every opponent and every player.''

The Cowboys are just banged up enough -- and Miami, with a let-it-all-hang-out approach - for this to be something other than a 21-point game. Still, "The Dolphins Don't Suck'' is something short of a glowing review.

Yet it's about the best review Amari Cooper and the Cowboys can issue.