Blogging The Boys
“We’re looking for world class competitors. Guys that wanna compete every day to be the best version of themselves. We are looking for people with a relentless work ethic.”
Those were the words that Brian Schottenheimer said in his introductory press conference as the new head coach of the Cowboys. It wasn’t anything revolutionary – almost every new head coach talks about wanting competitors who are mentally and physically tough, etc. – but it’s something Schottenheimer has continued to preach to his team as he tries to navigate his inaugural season through some rather unusual and choppy waters.
Sunday may have proven that he’s onto something.
The Cowboys got blown out by the winless Bears two weeks ago on the road. Then they came home and, with CeeDee Lamb and others on the sidelines with injuries, took the Packers all the way to the final frame, quite literally. That right there suggested a form of resilience that Schottenheimer is trying to instill in this team.
Of course, we’ve been down this road before with other coaches. Jason Garrett had plenty of moments where his team played hard and persevered, and it meant nothing. Mike McCarthy made a habit out of his team responding to a loss by blowing out their next opponent; it never made a difference in January.
So who knew if this new show of resilience under the new coach would actually last? Recent history suggests it won’t. But Sunday’s game in New Jersey, even if for just a week, seemed to hint that this may actually be different.
Four different starters on the offensive line were ruled out for this one. Lamb was still out, too, and KaVontae Turpin joined him on the sidelines this time. Miles Sanders missed every practice this week, leading to Jaydon Blue’s NFL debut. And the defense was down two starters in Marshawn Kneeland and Malik Hooker, with Jack Sanborn exiting the game early on too.
All the odds were stacked against them. And, just like the last time this team went on the road, they were facing a winless team that was itching for their first taste of victory. Just like last time, they were led by a head coach who assisted Dan Campbell’s Lions the last four years and a quarterback who saw his career dragged down by the tenure of Matt Eberflus in Chicago.
Oh, and the Cowboys hadn’t beaten the Jets on the road since 2003; this rookie class hadn’t even been born yet. It felt like everything in the world was screaming that the Cowboys would lose this game.
That didn’t happen. Not only did it not happen, but it never even came close to happening, really. The Cowboys throttled the Jets, and for the first time all season, their defense actually looked competent. Good in some areas, if you can believe it.
The offense continued to move, too. It wasn’t as good as last week’s outing, but given the rash of injuries on that side of...
