“Yeah man, it felt good to play against my brother,” said a grinning Thomas. “As far as starting [goes], man, like I told you, I practice like a starter, so it was nothing. It was the same.
“It was the same thing, literally.”
With veteran safety Malik Hooker moved to injured reserve with a toe injury, Thomas will have, at minimum, the next three games to continue building upon his more-than-solid outing in the Big Apple. And as he works to do so, and to try and help the Cowboys’ defense continue it’s resurgence that was sparked by their play against the Jets, he’ll forever have the moments of Oct. 5 etched into his memories.
It was fun on all levels for Thomas, who did fail at one thing, though: trying to playfully talk trash to Azareye’h, as siblings tend to do in competitive situations, that competitiveness giving way to watery eyes and a full heart.
“So, pregame, I tried to talk a little junk,” he admitted. “But then I started to get emotional. Then I was like, ‘Ah, damn.’ I folded but, man, I just told him I’m proud of him and that I love him.
I looked up at my mom because she was there, too. She had nothing but tears, man. It’s a blessing. This is a blessing. Just looking at my mom, my sister, my lady and my brother and stuff — it’s a blessing, because everybody doesn’t get this chance to play against [their] brother.”
The aforementioned split jersey worn by their mother featured both the Jets, with Azareye’h’s name on that side, and the Cowboys, with Juanyeh’s name on that half, and there were also some custom kicks involved as a surprise gift.
Juanyeh Thomas shocked his younger brother before the game by giving him customized pink cleats that donned the family’s trademark triple cross symbol and the phrase “Stephanie’s kids” emblazoned across them. It’s exceptionally apropos to the tattoo on head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s left forearm reads: faith. family. football.
All three of those tenets took center stage for Juanyeh Thomas in New York which, for one fateful day in October, was the actual City of Brotherly Love.