Brian Schottenheimer called Monday night’s 38-21 win in Philadelphia “a good step” and “one step” when he met reporters on Tuesday. The Cowboys ran for 204 yards and threw for 212, ended a two-game losing streak and improved to 3-4, and their head coach spent much of his press conference on the group that made that possible. “I thought the offensive line was just dynamite all night,” he said. “I thought the way they blocked the running game was great. The pass protection was awesome.”
“Some things that remind me of that group”
Asked whether a line getting that kind of push changes how he calls a game, Schottenheimer said the energy is real. “When you’re calling runs and you’re watching the line of scrimmage, you could see the forward progress that we were making. We were controlling the line of scrimmage. We were knocking them back,” he said. “As a play caller, it’s a lot easier to call those plays when you see that.”
He then reached back to his years as the New York Jets’ offensive coordinator under Rex Ryan. “We’ve had some really good offensive lines in my career, and maybe one of the best was the Jets years,” he said, naming D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold, Brandon Moore and Damien Woody. “There’s some things that remind me of that group.” Asked what, he said: “Physicality. The way these guys can move people,” using combination blocks to “win the line of scrimmage” and “create seams in the running game.” He added: “They’re all wired a little bit different, but man, they love playing football together.”
He singled out tackle Tyler Guyton as a player who has bought into “one play at a time.” “We actually don’t talk about him a lot because he’s playing really, really well,” Schottenheimer said, “playing at one of the elite levels in the league, in my opinion.” Of Tyler Smith, who missed a couple of weeks earlier this season, he said: “Finally, I think you see Tyler is much more comfortable playing football.” He also praised the tight ends’ blocking, including Jake Ferguson and Hunter Luepke, and said the run game set up the one-on-one throws that CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens turned into touchdowns.
A game ball for Christian Parker
Philadelphia opened the second half with a 17-play, 84-yard touchdown drive. After that, Schottenheimer said, the Cowboys’ adjustments forced four straight failed drives, and he gave defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who coached in Philadelphia before coming to Dallas, the game ball. “It was him coming back to Philly, a division rival. He had some family there,” Schottenheimer said, “but also because of the adjustments that he made after the long touchdown drive. … He earned it.”
He praised DeMarvion Overshown’s first game back, from the third-down stop to the interception, calling the pick “huge” for the momentum it created, and said Cobie Durant “did some really good things after being out for a while.” He hopes to have safety PJ Locke back this week. Asked whether a decision had been made on opening the practice window for Jalen Thompson, he said: “Not yet.” Shemar James, who started at linebacker, has “earned the responsibility,” he said. “At the moment, he’s the one that we feel the best about.”
He called the defensive tackles, Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark among them, the kind of group he wants as “the heartbeat of our football team,” and said Williams, who is closing in on a year with the team, “spoke from the heart and then he went and backed it up” in his pregame talk. “When he talks, everybody kind of stops and listens,” Schottenheimer said. Of cornerback Joey Porter Jr., he said: “He’s the same guy every day,” adding that “you can tell he grew up in a football family.”
Penalties and slow starts
Dallas leads the league in defensive penalties, and Schottenheimer did not defend the pre-snap ones. “Those have to stop. We can’t jump offside,” he said. “That’s not being very disciplined. So you saw, you jump offside, we take you out.” He said the Cowboys had five penalties early and eight in all on Monday, but only one in the second half, “and that was on purpose.”
He was also asked about a defense that has given up at least 14 first-half points in five of seven games. “We talked about that actually this morning,” he said. “We’re looking at all kinds of options. We’re not sure how exactly it’s going to play out, but we need to be better early in games.” Asked why the Cowboys have struggled to put wins together, he gave a one-word answer first: “Inconsistency.”
“I really do a good job of blocking you guys out”
His postgame news conference in Philadelphia had been unusually short, and he was asked whether anything said or written about him had set him off. “I’ll be honest. I really do a good job of blocking you guys out,” he said. “In this business you get paid to deal with the criticism and things that comes with the job. Remember, you’re talking to a guy that grew up for 25 years in a household with a head coach in the NFL.” His focus, he said, “was getting the team to be focused and motivated, and I think you saw that last night.”
Told that Dak Prescott liked the intense version of his coach, he said: “I’m always going to wear my emotions where I do. … I’m glad he liked it.” Wednesday is a walk-through day, so Schottenheimer said he would not have a clear read on the bumps and bruises until Thursday, but called them “nothing major.” The Arizona Cardinals visit on Sunday, November 1.
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