Blogging The Boys
Brian Schottenheimer wanted to “create one of the greatest cultures of professional sports.” With six games left to go in his first regular season as a head coach, he may be onto something.
It’s been nothing short of incredible to watch the Cowboys these past two weeks. Their emotional victory over the Raiders on Monday Night Football – punctuated by Schottenheimer proclaiming the team made Marshawn Kneeland proud – was followed up with a most-improbable victory over the reigning champions, tying the franchise record for biggest comeback win in the process.
Not only does it mark the first time the Cowboys have won consecutive games under Schottenheimer, it puts the team back at .500 on the year. That makes them officially “in the hunt” for the playoffs, though the odds remain long. Still, though, the Cowboys could be on the verge of something special.
For most of this season, they were a football embodiment of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Their offense was producing at one of the highest levels in the league, but the defense was making opposing offenses look just as good week in and week out. A modest uptick in defensive efficiency could turn them into contenders, and a modest decline in offensive efficiency could send them right to the top 10 of the draft.
For a moment, it looked like the latter may happen. Games against the Broncos and Cardinals still featured poor defense, but the offense suddenly looked rudderless too. Two straight losses heading into the bye had many fans crashing out, which made it hard for them to even be excited about trading for Quinnen Williams or Logan Wilson or the return of DeMarvion Overshown.
The resolve of this team to fight through it all, with Schottenheimer at the forefront, is stunning. Matt Eberflus deserves credit, too, especially after taking so many hits the first half of the season; he’s adapted his scheme, but also we’ve seen that maybe he was just lacking talent until now. Eberflus isn’t about to be named Assistant Coach of the Year, but his defense has turned a corner the last two weeks. Similarly, Schottenheimer deserves credit for sticking with him when it would’ve been easy to appease the calls to make him the sacrificial lamb.
Schottenheimer knows what he wants and how to get it. Case in point: he benched his top two receivers for the entire first series last week, as a disciplinary measure, and they both responded with monster games. Schottenheimer also embraced them both on the sidelines, reiterating his love for them despite having to send a message. That’s a line many coaches can’t toe these days, let alone a first-time head coach.
The culture in Dallas appears to be strong. How else would you characterize it after getting down 21-0 to the reigning Super Bowl champions and then going 24-0 the rest of the game to beat them? After Dak Prescott’s endzone interception in the second quarter, Philadelphia had a whopping 97% win probability....
