Eagles player explains why Cowboys’ coin toss decision was a ‘slap’ in the face

The Eagles defense had one of its best games of the season in last Sunday’s 34-6 win over the Dallas Cowboys, forcing five turnovers and holding the Cowboys offense to 146 total yards. According to one player, the performance may have been extra motivation for the  defense after they felt disrespected by a decision the Cowboys made before the opening kickoff.
On his “Big Play Slay” podcast, Eagles cornerback Darius Slay recapped the game and mentioned that the Cowboys won the coin toss. Typically, teams that win the toss choose to defer, opting to get the ball in the second half after halftime adjustments. However, the Cowboys elected to start on offense, even though starting quarterback Dak Prescott was out with a partially torn hamstring. Slay said the defense took the decision as a sign of disrespect.
“These (bleep) said offense up and they wanted to receive,” Slay said. “Oh, my goodness. If you don’t know football, when the offense takes the ball, that means they’re trying to slap you in your face, basically saying we’re going to go down there and score on y’all anyway, and it wouldn’t matter. It was crazy.”
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Slay, who left the game at one point because of an ankle injury while managing a groin issue that had him on a pitch count, said there was a focus on stopping the Cowboys quickly and getting off the field, which they did by forcing a three-and-out on the opening drive, gaining only three total yards.
“I understood they had Dak out and stuff like that, but they were going with their backups, and they had a lot of injuries on their side, so I thought these (bleep) think we are sweet, so we went out there and set the tone quick… We went out there and executed.”
When the Washington Commanders play the Eagles Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field, they may want to go in a different direction than what the Cowboys did.
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Chris Franklin may be reached at [email protected].