WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Notes, Quotes

The Sports Xchange

November 15, 2018 at 12:24 am.

–Cowboys All-Pro right guard Zack Martin has been bothered by a knee injury this season, but the team can’t afford for him to be out of the lineup. Martin briefly left the game with more problems with the knee on Sunday night against the Eagles.

But Martin came back after missing just 13 plays, according to Dallas head coach Jason Garrett.

“Just what (Martin is) all about,” Garrett said. “He’s just one of those guys. He loves football, he’s as tough as they come and he’s a damn good player. He wasn’t going to miss much. He got it taped up and got himself back in there. … He played well once he came back into the game.”

Garrett added that the team got favorable reports on Martin’s injury on Monday morning. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a radio interview in Dallas on Tuesday morning that he believes Martin will be available this week against Atlanta.

–Dallas rookie linebacker led the NFL with 13 tackles, all solo, against the Eagles. He also came up with his first pro interception, but neither of those things fully illustrate his value in Dallas’s victory on Sunday night.

Vander Esch’s play of the game came in the fourth quarter when Philadelphia was trying to convert a third-and-2 from the Dallas 30. Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz dumped a pass off to running back Corey Clement behind the line of scrimmage. While Clement was trying to navigate blockers and get to the first down, Vander Esch curled around a block and wrapped up the Eagles runner by the ankles, dropping him for a five-yard loss.

Wentz’s pass to tight end Zach Ertz on fourth down came up a yard short of a first down.

Although the Eagles got the ball back with 53 seconds left, they couldn’t tie the game.

“He certainly has a good instinct and he certainly prepares really diligently,” head coach Jason Garrett said. “He has a feel for playing, there’s no question about that. He has the athleticism to go get the football.”

–After falling to 3-5 this season with a 28-14 loss against Tennessee at home on Monday Night Football, the wrath of disappointed fans, and even former Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman came down on the Cowboys.

Aikman went on a Dallas-Ft. Worth radio station and cast doubt on the team’s organizational structure, though he gave tacit approval to head coach Jason Garrett.

Even so, many wondered if more losses would result in the end of Garrett and quarterback Dak Prescott’s tenures in Dallas.

Garrett was asked on Monday what he said to the team on Saturday night, but he declined to reveal what happened behind closed doors.

The Cowboys coach just said the team draws a distinct line between the outside and the inside.

“There’s a lot of things that happen outside our building that I’m not really aware of,” Garrett said. “Our players, we try to make sure they’re focused on what’s happening inside our building.”

BY THE NUMBERS: 410 – The Cowboys’ total yards in their 27-20 win over Philadelphia, their most on the road this season by 87 yards and 122.5 more than their average on the road in four previous road losses.

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