Cowboys fans woke up Friday out of a turkey-induced fog to realize that the 28-20 comeback victory over the Giants wasn’t just the tryptophan talking. And just like those mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, the leftovers the next day are just as good. We’ve got the details on everything you might have missed, from the run defense’s shutdown of Saquon Barkley and the tight ends’ inspired Whac-A-Mole touchdown celebration to the serious injury that didn’t seem to slow down Jayron Kearse and the play that one Giants player says should result in a heavy fine for Micah Parsons.
We’ve got the latest on a private recruiting chat between Jerry Jones and Odell Beckham Jr., the extra safety measures the Cowboys may take to snuff out a locker room illness, what the metrics say about Dak Prescott’s performance, and what the internet said about Prescott’s unexpected cell phone background. Also, Thursday’s game sets a new NFL viewership record, and how owner Jerry Jones explained a 65-year-old photo that places him at a tense moment in our nation’s history… but seemingly on the wrong side of it. That’s all up in this edition of News and Notes.
Giants-Cowboys most-watched NFL regular-season game on record :: ESPN
The game averaged 42 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That makes it the most-watched regular season NFL game ever, surpassing a 32-year-old mark. The Giants-49ers matchup on Monday Night Football in Week 13 of the 1990 season drew 41.55 million.
Cowboys tight ends fear monetary fine for Whac-A-Mole stunt, Dak Prescott promises help :: Cowboys Wire
Jake Ferguson says he and the other Cowboys tight ends came up with the Whac-A-Mole idea when they saw the red Salvation Army kettles. According to Prescott: “They were worried about getting fined or getting a penalty. We said, ‘Make sure you are up two touchdowns. We have a couple of guys that can help with the fines, so go for it.'”
Jerry Jones had conversation with Odell Beckham on Thursday :: ProFootballTalk
Amid reports that the Cowboys have a meeting with Odell Beckham Jr. scheduled for Dec. 5, owner Jerry Jones did confirm that he and the free agent receiver spoke on Thursday. “Odell could help us,” Jones said. “I believe that right now. Now, we’ve got to make it fit, and that’s the challenge here.”
Dak Prescott leads comeback, earns Cowboys' Player of the Game for Week 12 :: Cowboys Wire
It was another game without gaudy stats (and those two interceptions were painful to watch), but the analytics say Week 12 was a thing of beauty. Prescott completed +17.7% of his passes over expected. That’s the highest CPOE by any quarterback in a game with over 30 pass attempts over the last three seasons.
Report: Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse played through dislocated right shoulder against Giants :: Blogging the Boys
The veteran safety apparently suffered the injury during Thursday’s game but played on and even finished the day with the fourth-most defensive snaps on the team.
Cowboys star accused of ‘full-on’ punch, says Giants starter :: Heavy.com
Micah Parsons drew a flag for unnecessary roughness with about 45 seconds left to play in Thursday’s game. But Giants offensive lineman Nick Gates says Parsons actually punched him in the chin. He was trash-talking with Parsons, Gates admitted. “I told him, ‘Come on, I know you want to.’ He took me up on it,” he said. “I’m surprised he didn’t get ejected, but New York said it was open-handed.” Parsons responded Friday, accusing Gates of “dirty” play and taking “cheap shots to try to hurt other opponents.”
'It's a statement': Cowboys run defense shuts down Saquon Barkley, preps for December stretch :: Cowboys Wire
The much-maligned Cowboys run defense held Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones to their lowest combined rushing yardage of the season. Quite a turnaround for the unit that had allowed 200+ on the ground to the Packers just 11 days prior. “That thing that happened in Green Bay, you know, it’s just a part of our journey,” said safety Jayron Kearse. “If that doesn’t happen, then who knows if we’re here.”
Updates: Going virtual, OBJ meeting and more :: The Mothership
The team could go virtual on Monday to help stop the spread of the illness that has worked its way through the locker room and forced several players out of games and practice. Mike McCarthy expects to be back to normal by Wednesday, just in time to start the usual ramp-up to next Sunday’s game versus Indianapolis.
Top photos from Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day plucking of ruffled Giants :: Cowboys Wire
From the stars on the sideline to the halftime concert by the Jonas Brothers, from Jake Ferguson’s hurdle of a Giants defender to the tight ends’ Whac-A-Mole touchdown celebration, here’s all the moments you might have missed while you were going for seconds on pumpkin pie.
What does uncovered Jerry Jones photo from Little Rock tell us about the Cowboys owner? :: Dallas Morning News
A recently publicized photo from 1957 shows a young Jerry Jones standing with a group of people as Black teens were denied entry to Jones’s desegregated high school in North Little Rock, Ark. “Look, that was 65 years ago. I had no idea when I walked up there what we were doing,” Jones said this week in response. “We didn’t have all the 70 years of reference and all the things that was going [on]. You didn’t have a reference point there.” The photo was featured as the Washington Post digs into the background of NFL owners in an effort to understand why some franchises, such as the Cowboys, have never hired a Black head coach.
Dak Prescott’s phone background sets the internet on fire :: OutKick
Eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed a shot of Prescott meeting with Fox analyst Greg Olsen before Thursday’s game. Prescott was holding his phone, which was powered on and showed a background pic of… himself. Social media reactions ranged from cheering Prescott for celebrating his moment atop the sports world to roasting the move as “psycho” to explaining it away as a basic security measure to ensure the phone would be identified as his in case it were lost.
