Giants linebacker Dan Conner left last night’s game with what was described as a burner, and didn’t return.
But consider the Cowboys suspicious when defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins left on the next play, but returned after missing just one snap.
It just so happens that the Cowboys were trying to play at a faster tempo during that second quarter stretch, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn’t think it was a coincidence.
“I thought us experts on football were the only ones who could see that,” Jones said with a laugh, via Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com. “No, it was so obvious it was funny. It wasn’t humorous because we really wanted the advantage and knew we could get it if we could get the ball snapped.”
The NFL sent out a memo warning teams about the practice last week, and Cowboys coach Jason Garrett was talking with officials during the break as the “injured players” were being attended to.
“I thought we got them moving a lot and got them pretty tired during that stretch,” Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo said. “They obviously had a bunch of injuries in that stretch. Tough break, I know. Seemed to come back pretty good after that though.”
Jenkins did, anyway. The fact Connor didn’t takes away a bit from their claim, which underlines how hard it’s going to be to prove in some cases.