AT&T Stadium’s turkey output, Chiefs fan presence and more

Notes from the sideline following a feast for football lovers on Thanksgiving Day as the Cowboys defeat the Chiefs 31-28 at AT&T Stadium…

Young cornerbacks stepping up: The Cowboys secondary took on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs passing attack without one of their starting cornerbacks, Caelen Carson, who missed practice time during the short week with a tight hamstring. The decision to make Carson a gameday inactive was made about two hours before kickoff following an on-field pregame workout with athletic trainers. Carson had missed most of the second half of Sunday’s win over the Eagles due to cramps/dehydration which an in-game IV couldn’t cure. If the game were played on a regular Sunday-to-Sunday schedule, maybe he could have been ready. But on a short week, Carson was a no-go.

The original plan for Thursday was for Carson and DaRon Bland to start outside with Reddy Steward coming into the game in nickel situations in the slot. Rookie Shavon Revel would have worked into the game having played 19 snaps in his debut two games ago followed by 39 snaps versus the Eagles.

Without Carson, Revel got the start and played 63 of 69 defensive snaps, a full workload for a rookie 13 months removed from major reconstructive knee surgery.

Cowboys

When Bland suffered a left foot injury late in the third quarter and had to head up to the locker room for an evaluation, another rookie took the field, Trikweze Bridges. Bland later returned to action, but Bridges – whether filling in for Bland or getting a few snaps for Revel – played a total of 27 snaps.

Veteran safety Malik Hooker was on-and-off the field in the second half because his back had stiffened up.

At one point in the third quarter, Mahomes was facing a secondary with two rookie corners on the outside, Steward in the slot, and Markquese Bell subbing-in for Hooker.

But the secondary held up well, thanks in large part to relentless pressure on Mahomes provided by the front seven, and forced four punts in the second half.

Looking back, the opening defensive series of the second half, in which the Chiefs had great field position at their own 46-yard line following a long kickoff return, set the tone for the remainder of the game. The Cowboys forced a 3-and-out (aided in part by an offensive pass interference penalty) and the Chiefs had to punt.

Overall, on the sideline, the defense exudes confidence. What a difference a month can make.

War of attrition: Do not expect the Chiefs or their fans to feel sympathy for a Dallas defensive backfield playing with young guys. KC played most of the second half without their two top offensive tackles. Starting right tackle Jawaan Taylor suffered an elbow injury late in the second quarter and missed the entire second half, replaced by Jaylon Moore. Starting left tackle Josh Simmons hurt his wrist in the third quarter and was replaced by Wanya Morris. Morris had been a healthy scratch four days earlier in the win over the Colts.

The Chiefs secondary played most of the game without starting safety Bryan Cook who hurt his ankle early in the first quarter. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo had praised Cook in a press conference earlier in the week for his standout play over the past month.

A sea of red: How many fans in the sellout crowd of 93,739 were wearing red and/or Mahomes shirts on Thursday? I don’t have a finite number, of course, but looking across the field towards the visitors side of the stadium it was a sea of red. It is not unusual to see lots of green in the stands when the Eagles and/or Packers come to play. Heck, there is a lot of red and gold when the 49ers come to town. But I’ve never seen anything like the amount of red we saw Thursday.

Was it half of the fans on the visitors’ side? Maybe not, but pretty close. There was a lot of red on the home side, too.

The Chiefs play in Arlington only once every 8 seasons and Thursday happened to be Mahomes’ first time to start as a Chief at AT&T Stadium, but wow. It was an impressive turnout by his fans, the Mahomies.

In Kansas City, as the national anthem as the songs concludes with “and the home of the BRAVE” the crowd yells “CHIEFS.” On Thursday there were so many fans that yelled “CHIEFS” at the end of the anthem that, if you were listening on Cowboys Radio, you would have thought the game was being played in KC. In fact, I mentioned on-air that it was important for the Cowboys to get off to a good start to take the crowd out of the game.

And while Dak threw an interception in the opening series which the Chiefs quickly converted into an early 7-point lead on a Mahomes to Rashee Rice 27-yd scoring strike, the Cowboys answered in the next series and quieted the Chiefs fans with the Dak-to-CeeDee Lamb 15-yard TD pass. It was game on and the Cowboys fans were back to bringing the noise. Dak was in command the remainder of the contest, playing one of the best games of his career.

Miscommunication averted: If you are shopping on Black Friday, can somebody please order a new headset for Coach Schottenheimer? His original pair may need to be replaced after they were slammed to the turf in frustration early in the fourth quarter.

Near the end of the series in which Javonte Williams’ caught the 3-yd TD from Dak, the headsets went out which meant that Schotty could not get the call into Dak for the 2-point conversion. If you saw Dak run towards the sideline prior to the snap, it was because he couldn’t hear the play call in his radio helmet. The technical crew fixed the problem quickly and everything was alright before the next series, but if things appeared frenetic at the end of the drive it had to do with communication.

Should Mahomes have left the field for a play late in the game?: On the first play of the Chiefs’ final offensive possession, the one which resulted in the 10-yd TD pass to Hollywood Brown cutting the Cowboys’ lead to 31-28, Jadeveon Clowney sacked the QB at the Chiefs’ 25-yd line.

Mahomes helmet clearly hit the turf.

Well, clearly to everyone except the referee and umpire. The play happened towards the Cowboys’ sideline and the Cowboys’ staff and players on the far-right side of the bench had a great view. I had a perfect view, too, and his helmet hit the turf. The coaches and players were screaming at the officiating crew that play should be stopped and Mahomes should have to go to the Chiefs’ sideline for an evaluation.

The league has certified athletic trainers in an upstairs booth who serve as an “eye in the sky” and can call down to the officiating crew to stop play if they believe a player needs evaluation. I was expecting referee John Hussey to get a buzz from the booth, but none came. The Cowboys bench continued to yell at the officials but to no avail. On the next play, Mahomes hit Kelce for 13 yards. The next play was quintessential Mahomes, escaping pressure and whipping a pass 42 yards downfield to Xavier Worthy. Obviously Patrick looked like he always does, but I can’t help but wonder what would have happened in that series if Mahomes had to go to the sideline for a cognitive evaluation because he helmet made hard contact with the turf.

Posting up on a cot at Texas Stadium: During our weekly pregame “Owners Box” interview with Jerry Jones on the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network/105.3 The Fan, Jerry Jones told a sweet story about Post Malone who performed the Red Kettle Kickoff Halftime Show for The Salvation Army.

Long before he became global superstar Post Malone, young Austin Post could be found sleeping on a cot in the bowels of Texas Stadium as his father, Rich, sometimes had to work events that went later into the night as the director of concessions. Austin’s mom also had a job that sometimes went to 8pm or 9pm, so until she could pick her son up from the stadium, Austin would catch some shut eye on a cot. Fast-forward billions of streams later and the pride of Grapevine, Texas took center stage at AT&T Stadium and rocked the house while also paying tribute to the late Marshawn Kneeland, wearing a blue satin jacked with a “94” patch (Kneeland’s jersey number) and saying “We Love you, 94” in his final remarks to the sellout crowd.

An unsung hero of the game: For all the splash plays made by both teams, do not overlook arguably one of the biggest plays made by the smallest guy on the field. KaVontae Turpin touched the ball on offense six times, three of those on runs totaling 33 yards as well as two receptions for 28 yards. The sixth time he touched the ball on offense was recovering Pickens’ fumble at the Chiefs’ 8-yd line with 5:34 remaining in the 4 quarter and Dallas leading 28-21.

Turpin was the only Cowboy in the area besides Pickens, but he was hustling through the end of the play, got on the ball, and preserved the chance for Aubrey to kick a 26-yd FG to extend the lead to 10 points.

Turpin, who missed practice earlier in the week because of a shoulder injury, was in obvious pain when he reached the sideline and received congratulatory high-fives and hugs from teammates and coaches. Turpin was wearing an ice pack on his left shoulder in the locker room earlier in the week, but he showed toughness and resilience in making a key play late in the game which allowed Dallas to extend their lead to two scores. They would need that field goal by Aubrey because the Chiefs cut the lead down to one score on Kansas City’s next offensive possession.

Final stat line: There were some impressive stat lines put up Thursday by the likes of Prescott, Mahomes, Lamb and Pickens, but since the Thanksgiving football feast also includes food, let’s check out the numbers from Legends Global regarding the amount of holiday-themed fare prepared by the AT&T Stadium Concessions Team.

Final numbers: 14,002 pounds of turkey; 252 gallons of cranberry sauce; 16,320 pounds of Cowboys Mac ‘N’ Cheese; 5,025 pounds of sweet and Yukon gold potatoes; 310 gallons of gravy; 5,300 pounds of ham; 5,131 pounds of cornbread dressing; 970 pounds of pumpkins for scratch-made pies; 425 pounds of pecans for scratch-baked pies; 210 gallons of whipped cream for dessert topping; and 5,000 Thanksgiving rolls.

And you thought you had a lot of dishes to wash following your Thanksgiving dinner! Whew!

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Kristi Scales is the sideline reporter for the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network. She writes this column for The Dallas Morning News after each Cowboys game.

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