Head coach Jason Garrett
Opening statement:"That's a good football team we just played, I think you can make a good argument that there as good a team that there is in our conference. As dangerous a team on offense, a productive team on defense and they are very aggressive defensive team as well so we knew it was going to be a battle. I thought our guys did a good job fighting through the different adversities of the ball game, they went up ten and we bounced right back and give ourselves a chance at the end of the game. At the end of it they just made too many plays, they have a lot of playmakers on there team and they made the plays throughout the ball game that made the difference in the game."
On DeSean Jackson's 91 yard touchdown: "I didn't have a great look at it but he's one of those guys that when he gets the ball in his hands you better make sure you tackle him but not only tackle him with one but tackle him with more then one guy. He's been doing that all year, he's really be doing that when he came into this league. That was really one of our points of emphasis, they threw the ball to him eight times he caught four of them; he was awfully productive when he did make those plays."
What are your thoughts on not making it to .500? "We're living in the day, that's what we do around here. We work hard each and every day to put our best foot forward, we focus on our preparation to give us a great chance to play our best on Sunday's. I thought we had a good week of practice, I thought we fought hard it just wasn't good enough in the end."
On Michael Vick: "There a great offensive football team, there's no question about that; they have as much fire power as anybody in the league. He's a special football player, he's proven to everybody this year that not only can he beat you with his feet he can beat you by throwing the football. It was a huge emphasis for us to try to keep him in the pocket and minimize the plays he's able to make with his feet, minimize his opportunities extending plays and force him over and over to throw with people around and in a rough environment. So we tried to do that throughout the game, I thought our guys made it hard on him."
What were they doing to keep Miles Austin out of the game? "Miles (Austin) gets a lot of attention each and every week, they play a lot of double coverage and they also play a lot of pressure defenses so a combination of those kinds of things. We tried to get the ball to Miles a few different times and he made a couple plays and other times we had to go elsewhere with the football."
Did losing Dez Bryant for the season take away that deep threat? "Obviously Dez (Bryant) has made a big impact on our football team, he's made a number of plays for us, both in the kicking game and on the offensive side of the ball. He's not here right now so you go to the next guy, I thought Kevin (Ogletree) did some nice things when he had some opportunities. That's a good defense we just played and we had to be balanced and try to run the football and try to make some plays when we had the chance to do it. I thought we drove the ball really well a few times in the game and then other times we didn't convert the critical third down to keep the drive alive and ultimately that's what hurt us and bogged us down offensively."
On them making big plays: "That's the point of emphasis all week long is you have to prevent the big play players from making big plays. They have a very good scheme, they do a real good job of giving those guys opportunities to make plays but you saw tonight they can do it by throwing the ball down the field, they can also do it by throwing a six yards hitch. There those kind of guys, they're very dynamic, I thought for the most part our defense pinned them in and when you put the tape on and watch these guys play they're doing that to everybody. I thought our guys fought hard, I thought they battled well, I thought they were rallying to the football but in the end they made a few more plays then we did."
How did Jon Kitna play tonight?"I thought Jon (Kitna) did a nice job, I thought he handled the situations that came up in the game well. We didn't run the ball quite as well as we would like to so he felt some of the burden. I thought he did a good job handling the pressure that he saw and the different coverage's that he saw. The one interception it was a tipped interception and obviously it still counts, it was one of those were the ball got tipped in the air and the secondary player made the play. The other one, I didn't get a good look at it, I think it was the one to Roy (Williams) on the sidelines. Turnovers are important, they're a big part of the game, our defense did a great job getting a couple from them. Those are significant plays in the game and you want to keep them at a minimum."
On the Tight Ends performance: "I thought they did a nice job, when they're trying to take the outside receivers away you have to go elsewhere. We threw it to Wit (Jason Witten) seven times he caught all of them, I think the same thing with Martellus (Bennett). Those guys are good targets for the quarterbacks to work, there's a comfort level that Kit (Jon Kitna) has with both Wit (Jason Witten) and Martellus (Bennett). There the guys that allow you to move the ball and make the critical first down and give the other guys some opportunities as well. It looks like they played well."
