Dallas head coach Jason Garrett On getting Tony Romo back last week:"You know, he has always been such a good player for us for a long time and we thought our guys, Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel did a really good job for us competing and giving us chances to win over the last seven weeks, but to have Tony back as our starter and all that he brings obviously has a positive impact on our team. His leadership from that position, for the offense, but really for everybody on our team, and also his performance makes a big difference. It's good to have him back and running our football team again and playing the way he is capable of playing."
On Dez Bryant's ability:"Well Dez is a great player and has been, really since his rookie year. He is a difficult guy for defenses to guard. It's simple as that. Often times when he breaks the huddle since he came into this league, he has been a guy that defenses give extra attention to. They don't like to leave him out there by himself very much. Usually when they do, he can be really productive for us and is a big, strong, physical receiver. He can run. He has quickness and explosiveness. He has great ball skills. He has playmaking ability. He and Tony (Romo) have worked together a lot over these last few years and I think they know each other well and they have a real comfort level with each other. Dez does a great job presenting himself. He is quarterback friendly and he and Tony typically have been able to make a lot of little plays and a lot of big plays for us each and every week."
On Josh Norman and Dez Bryant matchup:"Well, like you said, Josh is playing very well for them week in and week out. He is guarding some of the best receivers in the league and he is out there by himself a lot and does a heck of a job for them. He makes a lot of plays on the ball and is just a playmaker on the back end, a very good cover guy. He really can cover all the different kinds of routes. He is a big, long guy, but has great quickness to defend the shorter stuff. He can run to defend the longer stuff and he's great at the ball, so he has done a great job for them."
On if he sees Cam Newton as an MVP candidate:"I don't get much into that. I know he is a heck of a football player and does so much for their team. He plays the position at a very high level, can attack in so many different ways. He is really a threat; a threat with his feet, a threat with his arm, a threat in the pocket, a threat out of the pocket. He is dangerous in a lot of different situations that come up over the course of the game. Clearly he is playing at a very, very high level."
On if he spoke to anyone on Panthers' staff before signing Greg Hardy:"I don't want to get too much into the Greg Hardy situation, but we did speak to a lot of people at the Carolina Panthers at all different levels."
On if it ever gets old playing on Thanksgiving Day:"I think it is great. It is a real privilege to be a part of this ball game. I was a part of this game as a player and now as a coach. What you do is you develop different traditions. You typically don't have that Thanksgiving Day dinner with your family on Thursday afternoon. You might have something late Thursday night or have a similar type dinner and get together on Friday. So, the traditions are different. We view it as a real privilege to be able to be a part of it."
O if Panthers' offense is particularly hard to prepare for with short week:"Well, it's challenging anytime you play them. They're a really, really good football team in all three phases and certainly their offensive scheme is a big part of that and the players running the scheme are a big part of that. They challenge you a lot of different ways and like you said, they do a number of different things offensively that you have to get ready for. You have to learn quickly, you've got to get your eyes on them quickly after the game that you play on Sunday and try to get acclimated as fast as you can to play your best ball. They attack you a lot of different ways. There is a lot of stuff to get ready for."
Dallas quarterback Tony Romo
On coming back last week and getting a win: "It felt good. It's good to just play football again and get back out there. Our team played well. Hopefully we can go out and play a good game this weekend."
On if a corner has ever forced him to avoid one side of the field:"I don't necessarily believe in not ever throwing at someone. I think what you do is you try and look at his skill set and, I'm assuming you're talking about 24 (Josh Norman), for me you want to see what they're really good at and you want to try and stay away from those things and then some of the stuff you find hopefully you can take advantage of. You try and put yourself in situations where you can gain an advantage. You look at a lot of things, but you have to be careful. He's a dynamic player who's played well for them."
On Josh Norman matching up with Dez Bryant: "It'll be great. Two great players going head-to-head. I'm assuming they'll follow him around and Dez gets that every week so it will be a great test. They're playing great football over there. They have a great scheme. The coaches really do some really unique and good things to present some problems to the opposing offense. I think you have to give Sean (McDermott) and Ron (Rivera) a lot of credit for what they've done over there. Then the players are great players, Luke (Kuechly) and those guys. The combination of having good coaching, talented players and a great scheme is what makes it difficult."
On what he thinks Greg Hardy may be like before facing his former team: "In general in the NFL when players move on from one team to the next there's always the emotional attachment, or detachment I guess you could say from your old place and you're going to want to play your best game, you want to go out and I guess show them a little bit, but I haven't seen that from him. He always works hard, you would know that from when he was there. He's going to compete, he's going to play hard and at the end of the day we need him to play a good football game for us to win so we're excited about the way he's approached it and we're excited about that."
On Cam Newton's season:"He's playing great. He's done some things that, just with his ability to move, his size, the ability to let him run and throw the football has allowed them to be a difficult matchup problem for each team they go against. The team's playing great ball and so the times when the quarterback, all of us, when we're playing good and the team is playing good, that's a great thing to have and that's what's happening right now. He's continuing to play at the high level the team is playing and that's why they're undefeated. I think that he has a bright future in this league for sure."
On the Vegas odds favoring the Cowboys at start of the week:"I wasn't aware of them. I think that when you play for a team in the NFC East sometimes it obviously gets more TV coverage that sometimes that part plays a role and the fact that there are more fans out there that have rooted for the Cowboys for years, so I don't really put too much talk into that. I think that Carolina is the best team in the NFC, if not football right now, and we have to play a really, really good game to win this week. We're going into it with our heads down, knowing that we have to go play a really tough, physical game and play our best ball to win."
