Coming into their Week 12 matchup with the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Cowboys desperately needed a victory to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. But it didn't take long for it to seem that those hopes were destined to be dashed, as the Birds' offense bombarded the Dallas defense with touchdown drives on their first three possessions, taking a 21-0 lead on a 1-yard TD run from Jalen Hurts just three and a half minutes into the second quarter.
But then the magic happened. From that moment on, Matt Eberflus' unit held Philadelphia scoreless, making big play after big play to give Dak Prescott and the offense an opportunity to get Dallas back into the game. And Prescott, who surpassed Tony Romo to become the franchise's all-time leader in passing yards, certainly took advantage, throwing touchdown passes to George Pickens and Brevyn Spann-Ford to get America's Team within seven and then scrambling for an 8-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 21-21 with 11:40 remaining in the fourth quarter.
And after Osa Odighizuwa notched a crucial third-down sack on Hurts coming out of the two-minute warning, Prescott put the Cowboys in position for Brandon Aubrey to come on and kick a game-winning 42-yard field goal as time expired, with the 24-21 win matching the largest comeback victory in franchise history.
With the victory, the Cowboys improved to 5-5-1 on the season to keep themselves in the playoff mix. Naturally, Dallas fans were ecstatic with the result and are hoping their team can keep this momentum going in Thursday's high-profile Thanksgiving Day matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. But known Cowboys hater Stephen A. Smith just couldn't help himself on Monday morning, telling these same fans not to get their hopes up, even after such a historic victory against one of the NFL's best teams.
"Let me tell you something right now," Smith said on Monday's episode of ESPN's First Take. "While you're sitting up there, and you're bloviating about these Dallas Cowboys, and dammit, they deserve their credit; they deserve their credit. But this is Week 12 of the NFL season. As I've tried to say on many, many occasions, Shae Cornette, because you're new to this to some degree, let me tell you something right now.
"I don't want 'em to fall off a curve. I prefer a cliff. I prefer the roof. And I'm telling you something right now, as they crown, as they climb, as they elevate their level of relevancy, the Dallas Cowboy faithful is going to get that much more enthusiastic. And they're going to be led by that man, Mike Greenberg. He's going to be telling them to get up in the morning, and you watch Get Up, and you root for Get Up and Greeny. And then the fall comes. Be patient. Just wait. They will not let you down. Trust me on that. They won't let you down."
Yeah, that's pretty much par for the course for Stephen A., isn't it? Anyone else miss the days when ESPN personalities were unbiased, or is it just me? But that's the Worldwide Leader for you right now.
Look, there's no getting around the matter that Smith could ultimately be right in his assessment, as the Cowboys still need a lot of things to go their way down the stretch to reach the postseason. But, given all they have to go through in dealing with Jerry Jones on a day-to-day basis, just give Dallas fans one freaking day to enjoy a win like this before dragging them down.