'Ballin' Out': Did the Cowboys 'Greatness' Just Take Charge of the NFC East?

'Ballin' Out': Did the Dallas Cowboys exhibit of 'Greatness' Just allow them to Take Charge of the NFC East?

FRISCO - "Man,'' Amari Cooper said, "if I can ball out in the same game that Zeke balls out in, we’ll never lose.”

Of course, when any team wins, it likely features a preponderance of standouts “ballin’ out” - and the Dallas Cowboys have “balled out” four times so far this year, including complete domination of the NFC East.

So does Sunday night’s 37-10 drubbing of the division rival Philadelphia Eagles - the only other team in the NFC East threatening to surpass mediocrity - mean the Cowboys have the division all but sealed up?

"I know we have a great team,” QB Dak Prescott said last week before the Eagles meeting. “I know it.''

“Great” is to be determined - and it won’t be determined this week (because Dallas is on a bye) and it won’t be determined next week because Dallas is at the Giants (and the lowly New York team is no measure of greatness).

But undeniably, the Dallas roster is loaded with talent ... poised to blossom into playmakers. And isn’t that the difference, the gap, between “talent” and “performance”? Isn’t that how one of the major themes around here during Dallas’ 0-3 skid was about the possibility that we’ve all “overrated” this roster ... and about how the new theme is about “ballin’ out”?

It’s true, though. If Amari and Zeke and Zack Martin and Tyron Smith and DeMarcus Lawrence and others perform at their very peaks, “greatness” is theirs.

But will they? And what about Cowboys players with peaks that are more about “goodness”? Will they achieve that?

In the first half against Philly, the Cowboys offense had six possessions and turned five of them into points. The defense, meanwhile, took the ball away from Philly on their first two possessions of the game, allowed a score, and then permitted only 21 yards on 12 plays over the final three drives before intermission.

Results? A 27-7 lead that was very much the reverse of a season-long trend of falling into early holes.

“Ballin’ out”? Dak ran for a TD to overtake Roger Staubach for the franchise record for QB rushing TDs. Amari was dazzling, as he’s largely been since arriving here. (Cooper has played 16 games with the Cowboys. His totals: 91 catches 1,346 yards and 11 TDs.) Elliott dismissed “lost-a-step” accusations with 22 carries, 111 yards and a TD.  

More of that means more strides toward the "greatness'' it'll take for the Cowboys to achieve their goals.

“We’re going to grow from it, figure out how to do that when we win a couple of games here in a row, as we’re about to go do,'' Dak said. "And when success hits, we’re going to handle that the right way and not put ourselves in adverse situations.”