The Dallas Cowboyslost 51-48 to Peyton Manning and the undefeated Denver Broncos on Sunday, but Jerry Jones declared it a moral victory.
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NFL Replay will re-air a special 3.5-hour version of the
Denver Broncos' 51-48 win over the
Dallas Cowboys from Week 5 on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 9 p.m. ET.
"I know what's going to happen to me when I say this, but that's a good term," the Cowboys owner said, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "This is a moral victory. It's not a loser talking here. We can build off this. I feel as good as you could possibly feel at 2-3. We are going to win enough games to get where we want to be. And get knocking on the door to where we want to be. This was a moral victory today for us."
It's rare for anyone in sports, particularly an owner, not to point at the bottom line as the only barometer for evaluation. There usually are no moral victories in professional sports, especially for an organization trying to live up to the legacy of teams that won three Super Bowls in the mid-'90s.
However, Jones was delighted by the fact that his team could stay close to an impeccable Manning.
"Certainly you can go to specific plays, but the ones that we really could criticize Peyton had a lot to do with that," Jones said, per a team transcript. "But I'm so proud of our team, I'm so proud of (Tony) Romo. Romo basically substantiated any, and everything on my personal chart that I've ever thought about today. And that's amazing since he wasn't the winning quarterback."
The line for appraising Romo's play has been drawn. The quarterback threw for 506 yards and five touchdowns. He also threw an interception with under two minutes left in a tied football game.
"If he plays like that, we are going to have a heck of year and will be knocking on the door," Jones said of Romo's performance. "We will beat most teams if we play like that."
It used to be that knocking on the door wasn't enough in Dallas.
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