PHILADELPHIA – Ever since he started coaching back in 1997 as an assistant under Dick Vermeil, Brian Schottenheimer dreamed of becoming an NFL head coach.
On Thursday night, he fulfilled his dream after 28 years of waiting his turn, leading the Cowboys out onto the field against the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, where Dallas came short losing 24-20.
It wasn’t the night that Schottenheimer or the Cowboys wanted, and they’re not taking any pleasure in just hanging around with some of the best teams in the league.
“I’m proud of how they competed, but I don’t find any moral victories when this team’s built on a culture that’s all about winning,” Schottenheimer said. “You don’t find moral victories in losing.”
During the national anthem, Schottenheimer’s emotions that had been built up nearly three decades all came pouring out.
He speaks to two people while the Star Spangled Banner is sung: God, and his father, legendary NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer. While his conversation was with his dad in the heavens above, his thoughts were on his players standing beside him.
“I’m surrounded by such great young men in that locker room and coaches – that was my main focus today,” Schottenheimer said. Just being around them, and I wish we would’ve found a way to get a dub.”
In the first half, the Cowboys looked primed to run up the scoreboard, scoring on all four of their possessions and head to the half with 20 points. The bad news was that the Eagles had the same amount of offensive success, scoring touchdowns on all three of their offensive possessions.
“We came out on fire on offense in the first half and defensively we struggled a little bit, and then I thought we made some great defensive adjustments in the second half and we flipped it,” Schottenheimer said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win and offensively we didn’t really do enough.”
Part of what played into not doing enough offensively down the stretch was some crucial drops in key moments from All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, who has otherwise been surehanded for the greater part of his previous five years with the Cowboys.
Schottenheimer isn’t worried about the drops in the slightest.
“Don’t worry about Ceedee Lamb. Ceedee’s going to be fine,” Schottenheimer said. “What a great player. Again, this was a team defeat and we own that. We understand where we can go as a football team. We understand.”
It was a disappointing loss, but the standard and expectations for the Cowboys from their head coach hasn’t changed.
“I still think we can win a Super Bowl,” Schottenheimer said. “That’s the goal. It’s not going to change. I mean, we’ve got the right type of guys. We’ve got good players.”
Ultimately though, Schottenheimer and the Cowboys weren’t able to capitalize in key moments, and that’s ultimately what hurts the most.
“We had chances out there and there’s no moral victories for us,” Schottenheimer said. “We had a chance to win that game and weren’t able to do it and it’ll sting.”
Now, the Cowboys get a 10-day break in between games ahead of their home opener at AT&T Stadium against the New York Giants on September 14.
