PHILADELPHIA – In his year and a half as head coach, I'm not sure there had been more pressure on Brian Schottenheimer than there was before Monday's game with the Eagles.
It's one thing for the offense to struggle for two straight games, prompting plenty of criticism from the fans and media, to the extent of questioning whether he should give up the play-calling duties. But it's another thing to double down the way he did and call himself an "elite" play-caller in this league.
Oh, and if that's not enough, his Cowboys team was heading into Philadelphia for what seemed to be as must-win a game as you'll find in October.
Yeah, Schotty had tons of pressure on him going into this game, some of it self-inflicted after his own comments. So what does he do? He goes out and calls one of his best games since joining the Cowboys, and easily the best game he's called this year.
As Dak Prescott described after the win, Schotty was "hungry and pissed off" all week leading up to the game. Not only did we see a little of that after the game when he was pretty short with the media in all of the answers, but more importantly, we saw it in the way he called the game.
Personally, let's save all the "Eagles were banged up" stuff for another time. I get it. Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley was in and out, and the offensive line has been a mess. But is their defense decimated, too? Sorry, but what's the excuse for 400 yards of offense by the Cowboys?
No one cares when Dallas deals with all sorts of injuries, so let's put that to the side.
The Cowboys were very efficient all night – evident by the fact they scored at least eight points in every quarter, totaling 10, 10, 8 and 10 to finish the night with 38 points.
Schotty was in his bag Monday night, that's really the only way you can describe it. The running game was on point, and he was committed to it for most of the game. There were a few times when I was in the press box thinking they should run it even more, but they called a pass – and it was a touchdown.
The specific moment was in the second quarter when Javonte Williams had busted off a few big runs, and it was third-and-3 at the Eagles' 21-yard line. I was thinking to myself, "I'm running the ball twice for a first down here … no field goals." And what does Schotty call? A pass to George Pickens in the corner of the end zone, and he makes one of the best catches of the year with the concentration and toe-tap for the score.
What do I know? Honestly, that's the tricky part about play-calling. You just have to get a feel for the game. Sometimes your running back carries the ball four or five times in a row and he can't be stopped. Do you keep running the ball until they stop it, or do you mix it up and call a pass?
It's probably similar to a baseball pitcher who is just throwing fastball after fastball. Eventually the hitter is going to catch up to it and probably hit a homer, so at some point you throw a change-up.
Schotty was dealing like Greg Maddux on this night, just keeping the Eagles guessing the entire game.
Anytime you get over 200 yards rushing and passing, it's the kind of balance that helps you win.
And this is exactly the type of game we've been asking from them because it allowed the defense to get some rest. Again, the defense is far from perfect. Considering the personnel the Eagles had out there, the defense still gave up too many big plays and way too many third downs.
But as the game went on, they eventually made stops. They made the stops the Eagles just couldn't get.
Hey, I was in the press conference after the game and leaned over to a colleague and wondered if he thought Schotty was being short with us. You could just tell he was much more business-like with the media, and it was almost as if he was saying, "OK, was that good enough? You still want a different play-caller?"
Just to be crystal clear, that's NOT what Schotty said at all. He was just pretty short and calculated with his answers.
But that's OK. Guess what? He's a human being. No one in the world wants to be called out, especially when he's been pretty good for the first 21 games and had a couple of bad outings the last two weeks.
So he fired back, and his players responded.
That's pretty much what you want from your coach. He was "hungry and pissed off," so he channeled that and called the game that way. His players had his back, and they played that way.
The Cowboys are 3-4 and still have plenty of work to do. But for a team and coach that have taken a lot of shots the last two weeks, it was nice to see them fire a few "Schotts" back of their own.
And to land them in Philadelphia is icing on the cake!
