Dez Bryant has been tough to stop this season. (Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports)
IRVING, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys are familiar with playing on Thanksgiving Day.
They’ve played in 47 previously.
But Thursday’s game between the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, each at 8-3, is a little different and the turnaround is a little quicker than normal.
The Cowboys beat the Giants 31-28 in a prime-time affair on Sunday night and didn’t return to Dallas until 5:15 am.
It’s been a whirlwind of action to get ready for the Thanksgiving Day showdown for first place in the NFC East.
“We certainly have some familiarity with this,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We feel pretty comfortable with the schedule that we use and getting to the next opponent as quickly as we can and doing it in a way where you are dealing with the content that you need. You have to do it in a way where you give guys a chance to recover, and certainly when the game ends near midnight the night before. We are certainly mindful of that.
“But you have to get your mindset going forward and get ready for the next challenge. The coaches graded film on the plane ride back from New York and then went straight to the facility with no sleep.”
The Cowboys got in the mindset of a short week as well in terms of practice content. There have been no padded practices. Everything is a glorified walk through.
Garrett said when the players came in Monday, they did a quick recap of the Giants game, didn’t spend a long time on it, and got right into the preparation, emphasizing that it’s Wednesday morning in terms of their normal preparation.
Complicating matters even more is the little matter of getting ready for the Eagles and their up-tempo offense in a short week. The Cowboys can’t simulate the tempo in practice because they are not having any full-speed practices this week.
The Cowboys say they must stop the run to make the Eagles one dimensional and take away the play-action passing game that makes them so dangerous. They can’t give up big plays and they also must be physical.
“When you have a shifty running back like (LeSean McCoy) and a group of fast receivers, you have to be physical with them,” cornerback Orlando Scandrick said. “You have to be physical against the run, finish plays when they catch the ball and be physical with the tackles. We have to be the most physical team on Thursday. This is the third time we have played them. We are going to do what we do.”
NOTES: WR Terrence Williams has a small splint on his fractured left index finger and will tape it and put a glove on and be ready for the game. … DL Jack Crawford and SS Jeff Heath underwent thumb surgery Tuesday and are out.
