Defensive Coordinator Bill Davis
On whether Dallas' offensive talent was too much for the defense:
"The Dallas Cowboys have weapons everywhere. [RB] DeMarco Murray is what they kind of hung their hat on this year to get going, but there is no doubting [WR] Dez Bryant's talent, [TE] Jason Witten's talents, [WR] Cole Beasley, [QB] Tony Romo when he's hot. So we did an okay job in the run game and the passing game is what got us. We gave up too many big plays, the first-half third downs were awful, and we had some penalties that we didn't need that hurt us. So they had a better night tonight than we did. We played hard and got it close again and let it slip away."
On whether Dallas made plays or if it was more a result of being out of position that caused the two long passes:
"They absolutely made the plays. They made a great throw and catch in single-high, man-free coverage. As for [CB] Bradley Fletcher, the first one wasn't as close as he was on the second one, but at the end of the day Dez made both plays. Good player, good throw, good catch, and we have to eliminate those from happening. We have to get ourselves off the field and we can't allow those plays to happen."
On whether the third-down plays are what bothered him the most:
"The first half it did. The first half on third downs, we couldn't get ourselves off and there were penalties. So we continued to struggle there and when you struggle on third down then all of a sudden the drives get sustained and now they have an 11, 12, and I think they had a 15-play drive in there somewhere."
On whether he sees Bradley Fletcher making repeated mistakes in coverage:
"No they're different ones. The first one he got beat on. I thought he looked too soon. He wasn't in phase with the receiver and the second one was just a throw and catch and he just got beat and the ball was perfectly thrown."
On whether the multiple weapons on Dallas's offense complement one another:
"Absolutely, they've got weapons all over the place. It's not just DeMarco Murray. You know Dez Bryant is a Pro Bowler in himself and Tony Romo is a well-seasoned vet and he was healthy again this time. So we got the best of all of them. They made more plays than we did, we got the score tight again and then they made a couple of more plays. They had a better night. The credit goes to them; they outplayed us today."
On if Dallas' ability to get Witten more involved in the passing game contributed to the change in the outcome:
"Tony Romo takes what you give him. We're changing who we're doubling and who we're giving help to on every snap and a lot of it Dez has been it. So he goes to the other guy that's open. He really does spread the ball well, he recognizes coverages early and gets the ball into single coverage."
LB Connor Barwin
On how deflating it is to lose control of playoff destiny:
"All I know is we have to win next week. I don't know what the scenario is but obviously we wanted to get the win today to control our destiny. All I know is we have to win next week and we have to find a way to do that."
On giving up the deep pass all season long:
"Yeah we have given up way too many long pass plays throughout the year. Those guys on the outside have made some great plays all year. We need to do our job up front and not let him make that clean pass. I have to take my hat off to [Dallas WR] Dez Bryant. He made some great plays tonight."
On why the outcome was so different this time against Dallas:
"We will have to look at the film tomorrow. They have played well and made some plays. I think what will happen is we will look at the film and there will be a lot of plays that we were a step away or one mistake here. They exploited those mistakes tonight. [Dallas QB] Tony Romo was a lot better tonight. He moved a lot better and you could tell the rest helped him. They still ran what they usually do, the stretch, and they took some shots downfield."
S Malcolm Jenkins
On the play of Cowboys QB Tony Romo today compared to his play on Thanksgiving:
"I think he had a little bit more time this time and he did a good job of really getting rid of the ball quickly, especially on the ones to [Dallas WR] Dez [Bryant] down the field. He was really getting the ball out, so there's no way for a safety in the middle to help on the ball and the rush is not getting there. [The rush] got to him a little bit, but he did a better job of not really holding onto the ball and trying to keep the timing."
On why it appeared as if there was little safety help on Bryant throughout the game:
"We didn't need it last time. That wasn't the game plan coming in. Our corners are big and physical and really have done a decent job, not only in the last game, but in previous years against Dez. Today, he just won those matchups and they did a good job of getting the ball out to him and he made some really good catches, high and away from a defender. We've covered our opponents in one-on-one all year. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don't."
On whether Dallas did anything differently on offense to buy Romo more time in the pocket:
"He didn't extend many plays. It was not necessarily more time, but he did a better job of getting the ball off on time and not holding it and he didn't really let the rush get there. The few times we took away his first read and his second read, he did get hit or he started to scramble. I think his back is feeling better. He was a little bit more mobile than he was a few weeks ago, but it really didn't hurt us much this game. They just did a better job of getting the ball out of his hands. We couldn't be as disruptive as we were last time."
CB Bradley Fletcher
On whether there was good coverage on the deep throws to Cowboys WR Dez Bryant:
"I have to check the ball better."
On whether there was supposed to be safety help over top:
"That's my man I have to make the play."
On the challenge of matching up against a receiver like Bryant:
"He's just another receiver in the NFL who made plays today. I didn't play well enough for our team to win."
On why the Cowboys had more success today than they did on Thanksgiving:
"They made plays downfield. I didn't play well today. I didn't do some things well today."
On how painful of a loss this is:
"It's definitely a game we wanted and we didn't get it. We knew what this game meant and we didn't get it."
On how disappointing of a game this was personally:
"I just didn't make the plays I needed to make. It's something that I have to live with. I just have to get back to work and get better. That's all I can do."
