Brian Schottenheimer and the Dallas Cowboys finally had something to celebrate on Monday night. They beat divisional rivals Philadelphia Eagles 38-21 at Lincoln Financial Field to end a two-game losing streak and move to 3-4.
However, the head coach didn’t have much to say about it. His postgame news conference lasted all of four minutes. It ended a week in which Schottenheimer faced criticism of his play-calling and publicly challenged receiver George Pickens over his blocking.
Brian Schottenheimer Says Little After Cowboys Beat Eagles in Prime-Time
The win looked very different from the two losses before this: a 24-16 home defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a 23-13 road loss to the Green Bay Packers.
On Monday, Dallas ran 38 times for 204 yards. Javonte Williams had 25 carries for 155 yards and a touchdown, becoming the first Cowboys RB since Ezekiel Elliott in 2018 to top 150 rushing yards.
Dak Prescott completed 15 of 27 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to CeeDee Lamb, and the Cowboys didn’t commit a turnover. Pickens caught four passes for 57 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
According to The Athletic’s Jon Machota, Schottenheimer “was very short with his postgame responses.” When the coach was asked whether everything was OK, he answered, “I’m great. Excited for our guys.”
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Others in Cowboys media also noticed how short it was. Shan Shariff, a “105.3 The Fan” host, needed one word: “Uh-oh.”
Beat reporter RJ Ochoa had a different take, supporting Schottenheimer’s move: “Good for Schotty. Keep it tight. No need to say much at all about this. Consider it done. Lock it up. Move on to the next one. It is unfortunate if you are transparent like he is, but offering too much can create more harm than good sometimes. Seems he has learned that.”
105.3 The Fan, the home of the Cowboys’ radio, followed with a clip of Bryan Broaddus, Zach Wolchuk and Bobby Belt reacting to how short Schottenheimer had been with reporters.
Broaddus said, “He’s probably not too happy with all of us right now,” while Belt noted that Schottenheimer “probably gets too much hate” but added, “he’s deserved all the hell he’s gotten the last couple of weeks.”
Schottenheimer had plenty to say last week, with Dallas sitting at 2-4, which made him a target of criticism from former players and the media.
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On Pickens, he said: “He needs to understand that he impacts us in the running game as well. He’s got to do the same thing in the run game, picking up safeties and blocking corners, just like Javonte [Williams] does, picking up blitzes so he can catch balls.
“That’s part of the team-first mindset, and GP does understand that. When he’s going, they’re going to play soft inside. When he’s not going, the safeties get pretty good runs at our backs. And that’s got to improve.”
Reacting to criticism about his play-calling, Schottenheimer had said, “I think some of it is deserved. We got to play better. I got to coach better. No one likes it. I block out most of it. Some of it gets to me doing this job and having to speak to you guys is part of that. But at the same time, I’ve got strong shoulders. I know what a great coach I am.”
Dallas is second in the NFC East, and Philadelphia drops to 2-5. The Cowboys host the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at AT&T Stadium, the first of four home games in their next five.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.