IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys gained a half-game in the NFC East standings without playing a game and this week turned down a significant trade offer.
What owner Jerry Jones sees now is an even bigger opportunity.
Especially since the Cowboys (3-2) should be fresh coming off their bye week, when the other three division teams lost, and expect to have several key players back from injury at home Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons (4-1).
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"That presents quite a challenge for us, but that's a good thing for our team right now, a very good thing," Jones said Wednesday. "We've got an opportunity here to really create some, perceived by our fans and by other people, some real credibility if we could come in here and beat the Falcons."
Dallas' three victories are against three teams with a combined 3-11 record, and overtime was needed to beat the then-winless Kansas City Chiefs in the last game. The two losses are against the New York Giants (5-1) and the Denver Broncos (6-0).
Unlike a year ago, when the Cowboys made a big deal to acquire wide receiver Roy Williams from the Detroit Lions, the trade deadline passed Tuesday without any moves.
"We had a significant offer for a key player that we turned down and turned down in getting in more extended dialogue for, " Jones said, refusing to provide details, except to say that it wasn't a running back. "It was a very firm, significant offer for one of our young players."
Jones said part of the reason no deals were made is that he likes the general makeup of his team.
"I feel as good about what we can do this year as I did last year when I traded for Roy Williams and gave consideration for Roy playing and helping us accomplish our goals last year," Jones said. "I feel every bit as strong as I felt last year."
Maybe the end result will be better this time, since the Cowboys missed the playoffs last season with a 9-7 record.
Williams should be back in the lineup Sunday after missing the Kansas City game with bruised ribs sustained in the previous game.
Safety Gerald Sensabaugh (right thumb) and running back Felix Jones (sprained left knee) also are expected back. If so, Sensabaugh will have missed only one game after having surgery to repair a broken plate in his thumb, and Jones will play for the first time since Sept. 28.
With Williams back and plans to use Miles Austin more after his franchise-record 250 receiving yards on 10 catches with two touchdowns against the Chiefs while filling in for Williams, wide receiver Patrick Crayton was pushed out of the Cowboys' starting lineup.
Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said Wednesday that Austin would start and deserved that chance.
When asked who the other starting receiver would be, Phillips said it depended "on whether Roy Williams is healthy or not." Williams was a full participant in practice again Wednesday.
Still, Crayton seemed miffed Wednesday that "nothing was explained" to him, even though it seems evident to him that Austin will start.
"It's been a tough two weeks, but I mean, it comes with the territory," Crayton said. "You've got to be able to respond and bounce back from it and go about your business. "
Phillips contended, though, that Crayton had been told in a meeting.
"We discussed it with him," Phillips said. "I have no doubt about it."
Since making four catches for 135 yards with an 80-yard touchdown in the season opener, Crayton has 11 receptions for 108 yards with no touchdowns. Returning punts against Kansas City, he fumbled away the ball while trying to field one and almost misplayed another one.
Jones insists that he has no regrets about the deal for Williams, in which Dallas gave up four draft picks, including first- and-third-round selections last April. The Cowboys also gave Williams a $45 million contract extension through 2013.
"For various reasons, we did not get out of that trade the consideration that I thought we might get last year, and I think that's what calls it into question as much as anything," Jones said. "What's disappointing was last year. That was last year. ... What's is very positive is that we're sitting here and Roy Williams is a player that is in the prime of his career."
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
